| 2018 AFL Round 6 COLLINGWOOD v RICHMOND Time & Place: Sunday April 29, 3:20pm EST MCG TV: 7mate / Fox Footy 3:00pm EST Weather: Min 10 Max 19 Chance of rain 5%: < 1mm Wind: SSW 10kph Betting: Collingwood $2.78 Richmond $1.45 |
ESSENDON 3.3.21 4.4.28 4.8.32 7.10.52
GOALS - Collingwood: Sidebottom 3, Treloar 2, Hoskin-Elliott 2, Stephenson 2, Cox 2, De Goey, Reid, Phillips
BEST - Collingwood: Treloar, Grundy, Sidebottom, Dunn, Howe, Pendlebury
ANZAC MEDAL: Treloar, Sidebottom, Pendlebury, De Goey
INJURIES - Collingwood: Nil
REPORTS - Collingwood: Nil
OFFICIAL CROWD - 91,440 MCG
| 1. Goddard's emotions spill over Brendon Goddard won't enjoy watching the tape back after a third quarter to forget. As Collingwood piled on the goals, Goddard engaged in an argument with teammate David Zaharakis in defence. Then at the final break, Goddard trudged off towards the huddle with no teammates in sight, the rest of the Bombers trailing by 50 metres after assembling for a chat at centre half-forward. Captain Dyson Heppell pulled Goddard aside for a word before the veteran's demonstrative finger pointing continued in another exchange with Joe Daniher. The veteran finished with 29 disposals but his demeanour will be the post-match focus, rather than his football. 2. Daniher's dirty day despite career best When Joe Daniher kicked the first goal of the game, he looked set to break the shackles of a lacklustre start to the season. But it was all downhill from there. Despite a career-high 22 disposals, Daniher butchered the ball at 46 per cent disposal efficiency. With the game on the line in the first half, he also gave away four free kicks as Lynden Dunn had his measure, playing in front. The 2017 Anzac medallist's signature mark and wheeling kick from beyond 50 metres failed twice either side of the main break before he missed a stock-standard set shot from 40 metres in the third term. 3. Early injuries could take huge toll on Dons Essendon will have a tough task to back up off a four-day break on Sunday against Melbourne after its players were stretched in the second half. Reduced to two rotations after half-time, the Bombers kicked just one goal from the 21-minute mark of the first term to 12 minutes into the final term. As Josh Begley (knee) and Josh Green (hamstring) nursed injuries, the extra load carried by their teammates will be a concern ahead of the clash with the Demons. Kyle Langford picked up 33 touches to be Essendon's best in the VFL, while carryover emergencies Shaun McKernan, Ben McNiece and Mason Redman will be considered. |
4. Young Magpies deliver the goods again After announcing himself last week on the road in Adelaide, fifth-gamer Jaidyn Stephenson's blistering pace was again on show. The 19-year-old broke the game open in the second term when he collected nine touches, and finished with two goals. Defender Sam Murray won a free kick before the ball was bounced to start the game and looked composed across half-back, ending with 21 disposals at 80 per cent disposal efficiency. And Matt Scharenberg continued his long-awaited rise in his 18th match, collecting 19 disposals in his best game of the season after being overlooked in round one. 5. Treloar's Anzac performance A nine-possession second term, which included a goal, set-up Adam Treloar's Anzac Medal performance. Coach Nathan Buckley credited Treloar's work in tight, finishing with a game-high 13 contested possessions among 34 touches. "The thing that I've loved about his development in recent times has been his willingness to be involved in the clinches in the hard stuff," Buckley said post-game. "Sticking tackles, his defensive and pressure numbers have been huge." Treloar said it was an "honour" to be recognised among champions to have previously won the medal, including his coach. The only clip on his stellar day, Treloar was quickly reminded by the boss, "I didn't win one mate, I was robbed." "The thing that I've loved about his (Adam Treloar's) development in recent times has been his willingness to be involved in the clinches in the hard stuff. Sticking tackles, his defensive and pressure numbers have been huge." |
| THE MEDIA | |
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COLLINGWOOD has climbed into the top eight for the first time in 56 rounds, thrashing an injury-hit Essendon by 49 points on Anzac Day before a crowd of 91,440 at the MCG. The Magpies opened 2018 with two losses, but their dominant 14.7 (101) to 7.10 (52) victory over the Bombers was their third in a row and vaulted them into fifth on the ladder after five rounds. Collingwood led by just seven points after a high-intensity first term and could only extend its lead to 17 points at the main break despite dominating the second quarter. However, Nathan Buckley's men put the Bombers to the sword in the second half, holding them to just three goals – and none in the third term – as they piled on eight goals of their own. Essendon's cause was not helped by the fact it lost Josh Begley (knee) and Josh Green (hamstring) to injuries in the first half, with both players sitting out the entire second half. The Magpies were brilliantly led by captain Scott Pendlebury (27 possessions) and vice-captain Steele Sidebottom (25 possessions and three goals), who were the most influential players on the ground when the contest was alive, carving ways through the Bombers' defences with their uncommon ability to find time and space amid chaos. Adam Treloar (34 possessions and two goals) provided Collingwood with damaging run through the middle, especially in the second half, and was a deserving winner of the Anzac Medal. Jaidyn Stephenson (two goals), Jordan De Goey (one) and Will Hoskin-Elliott (two) were livewires in attack, while Lynden Dunn enjoyed a decisive win over Dons spearhead Joe Daniher, and Jeremy Howe short-circuited Bomber attacks time and time again with his intercept marking. However, the performance of Mason Cox might have brought the biggest smile to coach Nathan Buckley's face. The 211cm American gave the Pies a strong aerial target in attack, finishing the game with two goals and eight marks – five of them inside 50 and three contested – and providing the strongest evidence yet that he can cut it as a key forward. The Bombers' loss saw them slide to 13th on the ladder, while they have yet to win consecutive games this year. It was a dismal day for the club, but key defender Michael Hurley (29 possessions and 10 marks) battled valiantly to keep the Pies at bay, and David Zaharakis (34 possessions), Zach Merrett (33) and Darcy Parish (28) never stopped working in the midfield. Brendon Goddard (33 possessions) was a prolific ball-winner but his animated on-field discussions with clearly frustrated teammates including Zaharakis and Daniher were a bigger talking point. MEDICAL ROOM Collingwood: The Magpies escaped with a clean bill of health. NEXT UP The Magpies will play Richmond at the MCG on Sunday, having lost four of their past five games against the Tigers. COLLINGWOOD has immediately switched its focus to what coach Nathan Buckley calls the “benchmark team of the competition”, saying he expects the Magpies to front up in good shape physically and mentally against Richmond in a blockbuster clash on Sunday. While the Magpies have only a four-day back-up from their imposing 49-point Anzac Day win over Essendon, Buckley is confident the short turnaround won’t impact on his side coming off three successive wins. “We had contingencies about where we thought the dust would settle out of this game, and what we need to look forward to on Sunday,” Buckley said. “We will spend the next 24 hours executing those and being really clear on the way we are going to attack the challenge, understanding that Richmond are the benchmark side of the competition at the moment. “We are looking forward to that challenge and the challenge of looking forward to looking after our own backyard to front up in as good a nick as we possibly can, and to impose our game style against a really good opponent for as long as we can on Sunday.” The Magpies emerged unscathed from today’s big win — which pushed the club back into the top eight for the first time since Round 15, 2015 — and could have as many as four players knocking on the door for selection. Taylor Adams, Jamie Elliott, Darcy Moore and Josh Smith are all a chance to be available. After naming an unchanged line-up from the team that upset Adelaide, Buckley said it would be hard to displace the 22 players who took the field against Essendon — though the quick back-up might have a say in selection on Thursday. He praised Anzac Medallist Adam Treloar for his commitment and his performance, not only today, but across the season. “It is a massive honour,” Treloar said after his 34-disposal, two-goal best afield performance. “I didn’t come into the game expecting this whatsoever. It is something I will look back on once I have retired.” He said it was a good to follow on from past champions to have won the award, though his coach corrected him when he said incorrectly that Buckley had won one in his career. Buckley said Jordan De Goey had fitted well into the line-up in the past fortnight, and could now be used in number of different roles, and added that Mason Cox was making a real contribution to the side. And he said the club had made good progress with its ball use — both at breakneck speed and in patient delivery. “We didn’t like our first quarter, but we were able to reset and play the game more consistently beyond that,” he said. “We ended up winning every quarter which was positive and we ground it out.” |
If the concept of a rampant Richmond isn’t enough, we now to have consider the possibility that Collingwood – dormant for the past four seasons, out of the finals and largely irrelevant – might also be experiencing an awakening of sorts. In an underwhelming Anzac Day game, the more skilled Magpies – that's right, more skilful – comprehensively routed a mediocre and injured Essendon in a match that, like the Melbourne-Richmond one the night before, was not within cooee of the Anzac-themed occasion. In fairness to the Dons, they faced Hunger Games odds from the middle of the second quarter when they were down two players, as Josh Begley injured a knee and Josh Green pinged a hamstring. That said, the game was already taking an ugly shape for the Dons, who had terrible trouble not only with executing basic skills, but with moving the ball with any purpose or composure against a reinvented and impressive Collingwood defensive method that has restricted the Crows and Dons to an aggregate of 16 goals. In four short days, we will learn more about the mettle of Nathan Buckley’s team – and whether they’re a clear and present danger to top sides – when they meet the Tigers, a match that will probably produce the largest crowd yet seen in the unfashionable 3.20pm Sunday time slot. Two factors were decisive in Collingwood’s canter to victory. The first was that the Pies handled and moved the ball with greater surety. The second was that their defensive actions completely snuffed the Bombers. The Anzac Medal winner, Adam Treloar, would say that Collingwood’s impetus came from their defence. Essendon managed just seven goals, and only four after quarter-time. Often, the Dons players would have possession behind the ball, look up and then pause, seemingly without any viable option. Eventually, there would be a turnover. This confusion was evident when Essendon’s veteran Brendon Goddard twice remonstrated heatedly with teammate David Zaharakis in a dialogue that reflected the Bombers’ lack of cohesion. Goddard was understood to be upset with Zaharakis’ not looking for teammates – not lowering his eyes – when either having a shot or kicking forward. Goddard then had a third animated exchange at the three-quarter-time huddle with Joe Daniher. On this occasion, Goddard was asking Daniher – who is leader of the forwards – why the forwards weren’t manning up when the Pies had the ball. Daniher replied that the midfielders had to do the same. John Worsfold would defend Goddard’s right to make these comments afterwards. The Pies did not play with particular flair. They simply made better decisions with the ball with much greater frequency and – in what is a credit to Buckley and his revamped coaching panel – had a method that the Dons couldn’t score against. It looms as the second biggest match on the AFL calendar and the teams didn't disappoint with Collingwood running out 101 -52 victors. No player personified Collingwood's superior composure more than its skipper Scott Pendlebury, who hitherto this season had found himself eclipsed as a prime mover by Steele Sidebottom and Brodie Grundy. In stark contrast to many Bombers, who either rushed their disposals or were too ponderous, Pendlebury made excellent decisions, either by foot or hand. The skipper was well supported by Sidebottom, the most influential player afield in the first quarter, and Treloar, who eclipsed Pendlebury and Sidebottom for both possession tallies and in the voting for the Anzac Medal. Any of that trio might have won the medal, but it was Treloar’s stronger finish that gave him the nod of the judges. Jordan De Goey also thrived as forward/midfielder. Treloar also provided a rare highlight in a game that contained relatively few for the non-Collingwood purists, when he booted a long, running goal in the second quarter, as he and Jack Crisp ran down the field together, exchanging handballs, as if they were breaking from the peloton. Collingwood owned the midfield, despite the anomaly of Essendon having a statistical – as opposed to actual – advantage in the clearances (34-25). The Don clearances were not really clear. Elsewhere, the ageing war horse Lynden Dunn managed the improbable feat of restricting Joe Daniher, albeit Daniher was undone by his woeful kicking as much as by the discarded Demon defender. For the Dons, Zach Merrett was effective early, but faded, with his team. Darcy Parish worked hard. Zaharakis won the ball, without bursting into space in a threatening manner. Collingwood’s ascendancy was gradual and became more and more pronounced from time on in the first quarter. By half-time, while the margin was just 17 points, the game had taken a form that meant it was difficult to see the Dons challenging the Pies. By the final quarter, the Dons were exhausted – their losses having told – and Collingwood’s Mason Cox was taking full advantage, plucking a couple of towering pack marks and booting his second goal. The most exciting moments, though, were provided by youngster Jaidyn Stephenson, whose acceleration – and willing to use it – stood out. Sidebottom booted two superb goals in the first quarter, one from a clever soccer in which he out-manoeuvred his opponent, in a similar manner to Jordan De Goey’s opening goal, an athletic soccer volley with an even higher degree of difficulty. The game finished with a flat feeling, in defiance of the fact – surprising as it is – that Collingwood have won three on the trot. On Sunday, we’ll learn more about them, when they confront Richmond, another team that, like the Magpies, had been 13th and subject to an intensive review a year earlier. |
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