Watch out for Collingwood’s plan of attack

There’s been a lot of talk about the Magpies’ game plan in the pre-season, which has been predicated on using more handball to generate run out of defence through the corridor. The style left Collingwood 40-odd points in arrears of Gold Coast at half-time of a recent practice match. Only when the black and whites reverted back to long kicking to Travis Cloke did they haul in the Suns and emerge victorious. It will be interesting to see how they play against Ross Lyon’s ‘boa-constrictor’ team defence.


Watch out for Freo stepping it up

Matthew Pavlich admitted it in a recent media conference: “…yeah we might have left a little in the kit bag.” The Freo captain was referring to the side’s two losses in the pre-season and how muchimprovement there would be when the real stuff begins in round 1. “But you can’t play around with the game plan too much because it’s not something you can switch on straight away,” he added. ‘Pav’ said there had been elements of Freo’s defensive best throughout the pre-season, but he hoped it would all click at Etihad against the Magpies. “We’re ready to attack it full on this Friday night,” Pavlich said.


Watch out for Collingwood’s man in defence

With Heath Shaw moving to GWS, the Magpies had earmarked youngster Marley Williams to be the club’s go-to guy out of the backline. But Williams is out of football until he resolves a matter regarding the law. The other obvious candidate is Paul Seedsman, who emerged in 2013, but he’s out injured. Perhaps Alan Toovey, resuming from a knee reconstruction, could be the player Nathan Buckley looks to.


Watch out for Aaron Sandilands

That line is probably best aimed at the Collingwood ruckmen who have the task oftaking on the Freo giant. ‘Sandi’ has been devastating in the pre-season, comfortably accounting for one of 2013’s best big men, Will Minson, in a NAB Challenge match. Collingwood will rely on the pairing of youngsters Jarrod Witts and Brodie Grundy to match it with Sandilands.?


Watch out for an attacking Freo

A major focus for Ross Lyon has been to make his side more potent in the attacking department of the game. Can this be done without sacrificing the brilliant team defence game plan? Time will tell, but on Friday night we could see the first signs of a slightly more adventurous Fremantle, starting in the backline. "We'd certainly like to be a bit more aggressive out of defence, to move the ball with a bit more penetration," defender Luke McPharlin said in a Thursday media conference. "That all comes into it to find those extra goals, so there's certainly opportunities for us to be more attacking off half-back." Watch this space.