While the second half of Saturday’s match ‘wasn’t much of a spectacle’ in the words of Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, it provided an intriguing insight into the changes the Kangaroos made at the long break.

Speaking in his post-match media conference, Buckley was candid in his appraisal of how the match panned out.

“They (the Kangaroos) changed the way they wanted to move the ball and made us adjust our defensive attitude in the second half,” he said.

A quick look at the scoreboard proves that the changes had at least some effect. After a 10-goal first half, Collingwood kicked just the three in the second half, outscoring its opponent by just three points.

With more numbers around the ball, the Magpies weren’t able to move the ball as quickly. Any turnovers from North weren’t able to be punished.

Collingwood scored 48 points from 44 turnovers in the first half, an excellent strike-rate. After half-time, it was just 19 points from 39 turnovers.
While the turnover rate from North clearly was still high, the adjustments made at half-time proved valuable in restricting Collingwood from scoring with the same ease.

Buckley said Collingwood’s outside players proved critical.

“We were challenged during the week with what North were presenting, the way they had been playing and whether we were going to adjust our processes for them or whether we were going to stick to ours and our wingers came into that.

“To look after our wingers we had to look after the contest and across the four quarters we won the contested ball.”

During the first half, the Magpies were able to win the ball in packs repeatedly, finishing with 18 more contested possessions than North.

With that in mind, it’s clear that the adjustments Brad Scott made at half-time had some effect in slowing both Collingwood and the game down. North narrowed the gap to just three contested possessions in the second half.

Despite it proving too little, too late, the effect was clear. The game was much more even all around the ground.