Coach Nathan Buckley has implemented a more direct game plan. Picture: Nicole Garmston Source: Herald Sun
COLLINGWOOD has ditched its boundary-hugging game plan.
The Herald Sun can reveal the Pies have become one of the AFL's corridor kings, using the NAB Cup to launch a more aggressive pattern of ball movement.
Statistics provided by Champion Data reveal Nathan Buckley's men are ranked fifth in the league for moving the ball from defence through the centre square.
Last year, Buckley's first as coach, the Pies were ranked 18th and last going down the middle. In 2011, Mick Malthouse's final season, they were 17th and last.
It is only the NAB Cup and, admittedly, early days, but it's a dramatic strategic shift over four pre-season games. Heat maps best illustrate the change in philosophy, with the 2011 and 2012 versions showing a distinct avoidance of the centre square.
But the early 2013 map highlights a willingness to take the riskier, albeit most direct, avenue to goal.
The statistics focus on ball movement out of the defensive 50m zone - a better measure than all midfield possessions because teams have direct control over how they launch attacks.
Collingwood has gone from going down the middle 13.4 per cent of the time in 2011 and 15 per cent last year to 29.7 per cent so far this pre-season.
Former full-back Simon Prestigiacomo, who helped execute Malthouse's defence-first philosophy before retiring in 2010, offered an insight into the old strategy.
"If you were going to kick it in the corridor you had to be 100 per cent sure that you weren't going to turn it over because if you did it would be an almost certain goal (the other way)," Prestigiacomo said.
"Even if you came into the corridor too early going forward and turned it over they would kick it straight over the top for a goal. Because we were playing that pressing style, where you pressed right up, it left three or four of their forwards on their own.
"We would rather go the long way around than take the risk. It wasn't constantly drilled into us or anything but, if it didn't come off, you would feel the wrath on the scoreboard and the wrath of the coaches."
Collingwood's overhaul had its origins at the start of summer. An early February intra-club match and hour-long match simulation session revealed the Pies' clear plan to kick the ball shorter and move the ball quicker through the middle.
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