Development coach Brad Scott says the club’s tough, one-on-one style of football is one of the main reasons behind the emphatic victory over Brisbane at the Gabba.
Scott, a two-time premiership player with the Lions and regarded as a fierce and physical competitor himself, said on CTV’s The Weekend That Was that the style of play being instilled into the young players has been extremely effective.
“There’s no doubt that’s when we play our best footy, when it’s tough and one-on-one and we’re really trying to develop that style of footy,” Scott old CTV at the Lexus Centre on Monday.
“We think that’s the footy that will win finals football, whether that’s this year or in the future, we want to develop a game style that’s going to hold up under pressure.
“Brisbane are a very good one-on-one side too, they pride themselves on that, and we were able to match them and beat them in it on the night.”
Scott, in his first season at Collingwood as development coach after retiring from AFL football at the end of 2006, discussed the performances of four Magpies who played significant roles in Saturday night’s win.
Ben Johnson, who played one of his best games for the year, finishing with 24 disposals and one goal, was one player who caught Scott’s eye.
“He’s a really important player to us Johnno, he’s a terrific bloke and a terrific player.
“He can play in a variety of positions, he can hold down a back pocket or a back flank, and with his great sideways movement he’s a goal kicker as well, so going through the midfield he’s a very dangerous player.”
Simon Prestigiacomo also earned praise from Scott for his efforts on Brisbane gun Jonathan Brown, with the Collingwood defender’s performance indicative of the way the entire team went about it.
“He (Prestigiacomo) deserves all the accolades he gets for that job on Jonathan Brown.
“The previous week against Essendon Jonathan Brown was held pretty tightly by two of the best defenders of all time in Dustin Fletcher and Mal Michael. We chose not to go that way.
“We trusted Presti with the job one-on-one and he did us proud. It was a fantastic effort. One-on-one football against Jonathan Brown is just about as hard as it gets so Presti did a great job there.”
Scott also spoke about Scott Burns and Guy Richards, so don’t miss the chance to watch CTV’s The Weekend That Was to find out more and watch highlights of selected players.