Patrick Dangerfield looks down field for an option. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Michael Klein / News Corp Australia
PATRICK Dangerfield is expecting Brent Macaffer as his opponent tonight, but doesn't know what to expect because he hasn't played on him before.
But Dangerfield does know he's dealing with taggers far better than what he was in the first four weeks of the season.
"I think I will get him," he said of Macaffer.
"Maybe Macaffer goes to Sloane and maybe (Dayne) Beams sort of runs-with in attack and runs off when they get the ball.
"If it wasn't Macaffer, maybe Beams because Beams and I played opposite each other last year, but I did my shoulder early in that match and played predominantly forward."
If it is Macaffer — and surely it will be — then the Magpies stopper has an enormous task.
Magpies tagger brent Macaffer in action. Picture: Getty Source: Getty Images
He was let go by GWS in Round 5 and carved them up, he punished Lin Jong from the Western Bulldogs in Round 6, and was almost the matchwinner against the Demons in Round 7 playing mainly against former teammate Bernie Vince.
While he was a contested ball monster in the first four weeks — 47 contested possessions to 34 uncontested possessions — he has found a better balance in the past three weeks.
In that time, the ledger is 58 uncontested to 29 contested.
"The real key is being on the move more around stoppages, rather than standing still and being an easy target," Dangerfield told the Herald Sun yesterday.
"They'd prefer you just to stand still and blanket you that way. I've been a bit more smarter, getting on the move a bit more.
"If you don't win the ball inside that 5m-10m radius, then you can actually move and have the speed to get to that 20-30m area, the next play.
"That's helped a lot and I've played predominantly more in midfield in the past three weeks."
As one of the premier midfielders in the competition, he is rarely without a run-with player, yet you don't hear him complaining.
"If you start to whinge after the game and say, "Gee, I've been hard done by' ... well it doesn't work that way," he said.
Dangerfield hunts the ball during the Crows' match against St Kilda. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Corp Australia
Dangerfield called tonight's game "massive" and says the Crows, who are 11th with three wins from seven games, have to improve their consistency from quarter to quarter.
Clearly, the Magpies are in good form and to stop them, you must curtail their star-laden midfield.
"They are pretty even up forward and pretty even down back and I think where it's going to be won is through the midfield,'' Dangerfield said.
"They have a potent midfield with well-established stars and our challenge is to nullify the impact of their guns and try to get an even performance from our end."
He said that Daniel Talia would likely get first crack at Travis Cloke, they had to be aware of Steele Sidebottom rolling back to play the plus-one in defence.
Dangerfield asked that Crows fans show Tex Walker patience as he returns after a year on the sidelines with a knee injury.
"It's a massive game for us," Dangerfield said.
"We've played some teams that I believe we have competed well against and beaten sides we should have.
"We haven't played really good footy against a really good side, and they (Collingwood) are a top-four side.''
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