2:06:17 PM Wed 31 March, 2004
http://collingwoodfc.com.au/default.asp ... eid=140604
Williamstown Reserves
Brayden Shaw
The one who impressed in the reserves was Brayden Shaw, who kicked four goals, playing half forward and centre. He was very good, so he’ll be in contention for the seniors.
Brent Hall
Played a little bit more footy. We’re trying to get some more games under his belt. He looks a likely prospect. We’ll just take it slowly with him.
Billy Morrison
Kicked 4 goals playing up forward, but again, we won’t rush him, because we’ve got a fair few talls in the senior team. His shoulder itself is OK, but his strength is an issue because of the shoulder. But he’ll get better. He’s just got to lead, start to move around a bit.
Julian Rowe
Rowey kicked a couple of goals from the wing and picked up a few touches, which will be good for his confidence. He’ll be under consideration for the Willi seniors.
Nick Maxwell (rookie)
He just needed a game under his belt. I was thinking of him as a senior player this year and he played well against Werribee two weeks ago, so he’ll come under consideration.
Williamstown seniors
Anthony Rocca
I wanted to get him off and he didn’t want to come off, he was happy out there, so Mick said just let him go.
Dane Swan
Played half back flank all day. I was pretty happy. 21 touches. He certainly could do more the fitter he gets, (after appendicitis) but he took 8 marks and was steady every quarter.
Bo Nixon
Had 30 touches and kicked two goals. He played wing, midfield, half forward. I think we’ve got to try to develop him as a midfielder now. He has a high workrate and he is accountable. We are working on a couple of technique things with his kicking, but he’s coming along well.
Mark McGough.
I was really happy with Mark’s game. He had 24 touches and played 85% of the game. His accountability and hardness was good. He looks determined to keep things tight, make an impression.
There was a classic passage of play where he set it up from the backline, followed up and then dived in to hold it in, which was exceptional.
He worked really hard on all the things we’ve asked him to do defensively. He is still building his fitness after his injury, but he would be in the mix for Collingwood selection depending on whether there is a role for him there.
Luke Shackleton
Missed with a minor knee injury, jst a twist. He should be back this week.
Luke Mullins
We gave Luke a run in the backline in the second half. He had 22 touches and did OK. We tried him back once last year and he was too loose, but he’s a lot fitter now and he did a better job this time.
Cameron Cloke
Cameron played centre half forward then in the ruck. He probably went better in the ruck. His workrate is good, but his timing is out with his marking at the moment, so we’ll have to work on that.
Justin Crow
Played centre half back and full back. He was in our best 3 weeks ago and was just about there again. He’s playing very well and if he continued in this form would be a fair chance to get on the senior list if we needed someone else there.
Guy Richards
It was not one of his better games. He lost a bit of confidence on the hard centre square – he said it was like an ice rink. He lost confidence to jump, which is his greatest asset.
David King
He was back to form, picked up 19 possessions. He had been down on his possession rate pre-season, but he’s been doing everything right to get back in form.
Tom Davidson
He kicked 3 goals, but only had 8 possessions. He just needs more time and match conditioning. He’s showing signs.
Ben Kinnear
Ben only played the first half. He jarred his ankle on the hard ground. He had 3 marks and 11 possessions in the first half, so he was going OK. He wouldn’t have been too far out of the mix for the seniors the week before.
Heath Shaw
Heath showed signs off half forward and the wing, but he only played half the game. It was his first run in the Williamstown seniors, though he played some time against Melbourne for the Collingwood seniors.
He’s showing good signs, but he got very tired. We’ll just use him as a burst player until his fitness and endurance is up.
The final practice game.
It was a good win in the end. Coburg had 13 Richmond listed players. They probably could have beaten us if they had taken their opportunities, it was 18 scoring shots to 21, but it was good for our guys to get a win.
It was the first win for either Willi or Collingwood for the year so far. The intensity certainly tightened up.
This week, our first game is against Werribee at Chirnside Park, their home ground. They’re old rivals and Werribee was chosen by the Western Bulldogs over us a few years back as their feeder team, so there’s a good rivalry.
We beat them down there for the first time in ten years last year. They requested us in the draw first up, so they’re going all out to make a big day of it. I suppose with us being reigning premiers they could promote it even further. So it’ll be a big test for us, to see where we are.