COLLINGWOOD 1.5.11 4.12.36 7.14.56 10.15.75
ESSENDON 2.3.15 6.4.40 12.8.80 18.13.121
SCORERS
Collingwood: Cloke (2.3), Blair (2.0), Goldsack (2.0), Pendlebury (2.0), Sidebottom (1.2), Elliott (1.0), Lynch (0.2), Dwyer (0.1), Hudson (0.1), Russell (0.1), Seedsman (0.1), Swan (0.1), Thomas (0.1)
BEST
Collingwood: Swan, Pendlebury, Reid, Sidebottom, Shaw
INJURIES
Collingwood: Toovey (left knee)
SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Goldsack (replaced Sinclair in the third quarter)
REPORTS
Collingwood: Nil
OFFICIAL CROWD: 93,373 at the MCG
| THE MEDIA | ||
A disturbing trend has emerged at Collingwood and it was the focus of Nathan Buckley's address to his side following the disappointing 46-point loss to Essendon at the MCG on Thursday. When the Pies get beaten, they get beaten handily. They led Hawthorn by 22 points late in the second term at the MCG 12 days ago and ended up losing by 55 points. They trailed for most of the Anzac Day clash against Essendon, but with 10 minutes to go were within striking distance of the lead. "We have to find an elevated minimum level. We can't afford to let games slip away when they're in the balance," Buckley said afterwards. He was referring both to the collective at Collingwood and to the individual. Feted for his career-best seven goal haul last week, Travis Cloke spilled half a dozen reasonably simple marking opportunities and finished with just two goals on a dirty day. Going back to last year, the Pies have been opened up late in games. Hawthorn has made a specialty of it against Collingwood during it's four-match winning streak, Sydney kicked away late in a tight preliminary final and the Bombers did so again on Thursday. "It's not sides coming at us, it's just us dropping away," Buckley added. "It's not what's happening to us, it's what we're doing about it. It's in our control and something we will attend to and review." "There's a positive and a negative," noted star midfielder Scott Pendlebury afterwards. "We're in games and in the second term we dominated the game, but didn't get reward for effort. We were 4.12 at half-time." "But the alarming thing is that we get blown away. It's over once we feel the game is over. "There's nothing wrong with losing by three goals and hanging in there and hanging in there because that carries on to the next week. "But now there will be questions every time we're behind. And it's not just this year." There will be questions internally at Collingwood about a pair of momentum-killing free kicks that the Bombers received late in the third term that blew the margin at the final change back out to four goals. Both were for interference and while the first to Scott Gumbleton was debatable, the second, to Tom Bellchambers, was downright soft. "They could have gone either way," said the diplomatic Buckley. "We lost both of them - so be it." What won't be debated internally is the disappointment at losing Alan Toovey to what almost certainly will be a season-ending ACL injury. "'Toovs' is a fantastic competitor, he would rate just about number one among his peers in terms of who's most dependable," said Buckley. "Any way you cut it, he's going to be a loss for us. We hope for the best, but it's likely a rupture, so it provides an opportunity for those remaining to pick up the slack that he's going to leave." "He's a heart and soul player of our team," added Pendlebury. "When you talk about the first picked in the team, it's usually Alan Toovey every week." Better news for the Pies is that Luke Ball resumes after his knee reconstruction and subsequent complications, playing for Collingwood in a VFL game on Friday night against Bendigo. And Pendlebury, for one, cannot wait to have him back. He said the Pies ran ahead of the ball and were smashed at the contests for too long against the Bombers and that Ball's eventual return will help address that. "What went wrong in the last 15 minutes is what Bally does naturally," he said. "He hunts the footy and we need that." Notable - In his first three games for Collingwood, Ben Hudson has played in front of a total of 247,577 fans (an average of 82,525 per game). To put that into perspective, in his 161 games at Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs and Brisbane, the biggest crowd he had played in front of was 78,245 for the Bulldogs against St Kilda in the 2009 Preliminary Final. That he has not played in front of a crowd of less than 72,254 in the past three weeks speaks volumes for the strength of the Magpie Army and the power of the big drawing clubs when they meet at the MCG. - Travis Cloke's return of 2.3 was his lowest against Essendon since he kicked 1.2 in Collingwood's loss to the Dons on ANZAC Day in 2009. Tellingly, in the Magpies' seven wins over their rival sandwiched between the two losses, Cloke never kicked less than three goals. - Dane Swan's 30 disposals was his smallest tally against the red and black since gathering 24 touches in the corresponding fixture in 2011. In the three games in between, he gathered 45, 42 and 42 possessions. |
As Essendon celebrated finally overcoming Collingwood on Anzac Day and breaking a seven-game winless record against the Magpies, Collingwood acting captain Scott Pendlebury lashed his fellow midfielders for letting down the side by ''cheating'' and running forward of the ball and being lazy in the critical last quarter. Pendlebury said it was a disturbing trend that Collingwood was allowing itself to be overrun by teams once the Magpies realised a game was lost. ''We started running forward of the footy ... we just thought we were going to run over the top of them and they burnt us pretty badly by playing honest football and we started cheating,'' Pendlebury said. ''I think it is the same as the Hawthorn game, where in the fourth quarter they blew us out of the water and 10 or 15 minutes today, then we got blown out of the water. It is a concern for us ... as midfielders we let the side down, we started getting ahead of the ball.'' Pendlebury said the issue meant there were Collingwood players who had to re-earn the trust of the team by not relaxing their efforts when confronted with tough situations. He said there was honour in losing by three goals yet fighting until the end, but Collingwood had appeared unprepared to do that. ''We have to answer questions now and get the trust in everyone who runs out on the field that no matter what stage of the game, we know everyone is going to toe the line,'' he said. ''The alarming thing is how quickly we can get blown out of the water once we feel the game is over. There is nothing wrong with losing by three goals and hanging in out there, hanging tough, because that carries into next week. ''Now we have questions every time we are behind, we are getting blown out of the water. Not just this year, last year [against] Sydney in the finals.'' Pendlebury's comments were supported by Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley, who said the ability of teams to score heavily against the Pies was disturbing. ''It is not sides coming at us, it is just us dropping away,'' Buckley said. ''It is not what is happening to us, it is what we are doing about it. So it is something in our control and it is definitely something we will attend to in our review.'' Compounding the loss was the season-ending knee injury to Alan Toovey. Essendon's fortunes were brighter, the Bombers breaking a losing streak against Collingwood to be undefeated for what has been a tumultuous year off the field, and on top of the ladder. Jake Carlisle had only a sprained mid-foot and would be all right to play next week, coach James Hird said. ''It's another step towards where we want to be,'' Hird said. ''Today is a massive day for our football club and the Collingwood Football Club ... But it is early in the year and we saw last year what happened to us halfway through the year when we didn't get our players out there.'' Resilience Resilience wasn't a quality much in evidence as Essendon's season crumbled around it last year. But it's becoming a trademark of the 2013 Bombers, exemplified on a week-to-week basis by wins in Adelaide and Perth, and now against Collingwood on Anzac Day, three times in one game alone. The Bombers held sway in general play and on the scoreboard the entire afternoon, but that didn't necessarily make their eventual 46-point win a comfortable exercise until the final 10 minutes. Until then, Collingwood always threatened to, and indeed did strike. But good sides find a way to weather the storm, and this Essendon line-up is proving it is a seriously good one. The Pies first came knocking just on half-time through two quick goals, Collingwood having enjoyed eight of the last nine inside-50s of the half. Here we go, thought plenty with fresh memories of last week's third-quarter rout of Richmond. Instead, when the second half began, it was Essendon doing the routing, four goals in 10 minutes blowing the margin out to a then game-high 32 points. Cue a second Collingwood charge, three goals in five minutes taking the gap back to two goals, the big names Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan and Dale Thomas exerting more and more influence on proceedings. Again the Bombers steadied, the final two goals of the term restoring order, and a 24-point lead. Still the Magpies came at the start of the last, goals from Jamie Elliott and substitute Tyson Goldsack, the latter a real lifter from 55 metres, again leaving a margin of just 12 points. Pendlebury was making the centre clearances his own, the momentum was shifting again. Or so it seemed. This time, Essendon didn't just hold back the tide. It created its own tidal wave, which swept Collingwood away once and for all with six of the final seven goals of the game. |
Collingwood vs Essendon: 10 things we learnt 1. Essendon are the real deal Two successful interstate trips against highly-fancied opponents and now a streak-snapping victory against the Pies. Punters were shying away from the Dons in the lead-up to Anzac Day, with the absence of Dustin Fletcher and Paddy Ryder tipped as the difference, with Travis Cloke running riot last week against Richmond. But the Bombers now have the 'D' word - depth - and genuine competition for spots among about a dozen players both in and outside of Thursday's 22. We said this last year (and look what happened), but if the five-from-five Bombers can get past Geelong in a fortnight, they should already be eyeing a top four finish. 2. Two games do not a Cloke autumn make Travis Cloke was being whispered about as a source of Buddy-like dominance after two stellar performances in two weeks. But the Collingwood forward hurtled back to earth in a big way under that weight of expectation and was well held by Jake Carlisle and his mates. Cloke received plenty of attention but dropped the kind of marks he was clunking last week and kicked just a couple of majors. That's two ordinary showings out of five for the big man. He ain't No.1 yet. 3. Stay out of the weights room It's best not to be too strong, apparently. Two confusing umpiring decisions - both in favour of Essendon - were blights on what was otherwise an enthralling battle. First, Ben Reid turned Tom Bellchambers in a contest deep inside 50, pushed the Bomber in the side and chest and was pinged, resulting in a goal (see Nathan Buckley's reaction above). Then Quinten Lynch was later rolled for muscling Bellchambers out of a ruck contest. Whatever the rulings, they were physical duels that should have been let go. Please explain, ump. 4. Pendles is peeved When you collect 29 possessions and kick two goals - including one from 40m out on your opposite foot - you can pretty much say what you want. But stand-in Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury raised more than a few eyebrows when he ripped into his teammates post-game, accusing them of "cheating" by floating downfield in search of cheap kicks. An angry Pendles is a scary Pendles. 5. Carlisle is all he's cracked up to be Could Essendon stop Travis Cloke? Without Fletcher to float across contests with those spindly arms, it was the question on everyone's lips before the bounce. Three hours later, Carlisle had yet another scalp, having spoiled most of Cloke's best chances or spooked him into spilling the rest. Yes, the young defender often had help, but the he could hardly be faulted on another remarkable performance. 6. Goldsack won't be in green for long Can't see Tyson Goldsack being given the sub's vest again. The Pies utility had more influence inside 50 in his quarter-and-a-bit, after coming on for Ben Sinclair, than most of his teammates had in the entire game. Maybe it's the headband, maybe it's the red beard...either way, he showed plenty in his eight-possession, two-goal cameo. 7. The Pies and Dons can have their day No team deserves Anzac Day more than any other team, but after Collingwood and Essendon pulled the third-biggest home and away crowd in AFL history yesterday, surely we can end the argument about those sides having the rights to it. They do it well, they fill the MCG every year and the game is almost universally watched on the box by supporters of other clubs. 8. Toovey loss will hurt... Innocuous as it was, Alan Toovey's knee injury will sting the Pies more than they'll care to admit. Already short on defenders who can lock down small forwards, Toovey was one of Collingwood's best before his leg gave way in the second half. With Ben Johnson still to return and Nick Maxwell watching from the sidelines, things are looking very thin down back. 9. ...but there is some good news Toovey can take plenty out of Jason Winderlich's performance. Winderlich had 19 disposals and kicked three goals in the Bombers' win, after returning from a horror run of injuries that included rupturing his ACL in 2011 and ripping his hamstring last year. Winderlich was back to his explosive best at the MCG and was among the most influential players on the ground. 10. Alwyn Davey is tiny No earth-shattering revelation there, but it'd be great if his Essendon teammates learned it, too. At least 10 times this season a fellow Bomber has seen Davey one-out against a (much taller) opponent inside 50 and promptly launched a mortar on top of his bonce. Fact: Davey has more chance of winning an arm wrestle against Travis Cloke than he does of outmarking someone overhead. Stop kicking it there. |
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