AFL 2021 Round 16: St Kilda 70 Collingwood 61

AFL 2021 ROUND 17 COLLINGWOOD v RICHMOND Time & Place: Date & Time TBC MCG TV: TBC Weather: TBC Betting: Collingwood TBC Richmond TBC ST KILDA              3.1.19   4.5.29   10.8.68   10.10.70 COLLINGWOOD     1.2.8   1.5.11     3.7.25     8.13.61 GOALS - Collingwood: Mihocek 2, Cox, Daicos, De Goey, Elliott, Hoskin-Elliott, Thomas BEST - Collingwood: Adams, De Goey, Pendlebury, Daicos, Quaynor INJURIES - Collingwood: Daicos (finger) REPORTS - Collingwood: Nil SUBSTITUTES - Collingwood: Macrae (replaced Daicos) OFFICIAL CROWD - 18,082 at the MCG Media Clippings Herald Sun St Kilda’s unlikely bid for finals footy this year has a pulse after they survived a major final-quarter scare against Collingwood at the MCG on Sunday. After only managing three goals in the opening three quarters, and falling 49 points behind, the Magpies’ woke up in spectacular fashion to kick the final six majors of the game to trim the margin to eight points. But Collingwood left their run too late, and the Saints held on for a nine-point win after being the better side for the majority of the day. Fox Sports St Kilda has survived an incredible late scare to register an unconvincing win over a Collingwood side that, ultimately, left too little too late. ... the Saints, who led by as much as 49 points late in the third term, cost themselves significant percentage in the final quarter as the Pies finished with a rush, which included kicking the last six goals of the game unanswered. In a familiar tale of their 2021 campaign – both before and after Nathan Buckley – the Pies only kicked three goals from the first three quarters as they struggled to hit the scoreboard and move the ball with fluidity. Then the six-goal avalanche came, which seemingly was only a result of the Pies showing more intensity at the contest then being more prepared to move the ball quickly when they moved it to the outside. The change in approach frustrated former Magpie Brian Taylor. “Why is it now that they’ve got the freedom to go and play quick?” the Coleman medallist asked on Channel 7. “Why couldn’t this have been earlier?” The Age Conventional wisdom suggests that installing a caretaker coach releases the shackles and allows a team’s players to play with greater freedom and dare. On the evidence of the first three quarters from a bleak Sunday afternoon at the MCG, Robert Harvey is not a subscriber to conventional wisdom. Rarely can a Collingwood side have played as dishearteningly for its supporters as the Magpies did until the final change on Sunday. And then, out of nowhere, came a flood of goals. From 49 points down to St Kilda late in the third term, the Pies played direct and dominant footy. When Mason Cox, a non-factor for most of the game, kicked his first major deep in the final term, the Pies trailed by just eight with more than two minutes remaining before losing by nine points. It was a run that left more questions than answers. Where had that been? The back half of a season like the one the Pies are enduring should be laden with enticing tastes of a sweet future to come, but until the last quarter there was barely a redeeming feature from this performance. Collingwood were outdone at the contest while playing grim, error-riddled football, thrashed by a St Kilda side that will somehow end the round only half a game and percentage outside the top eight. AFL St Kilda did what it had to against a Collingwood line-up that kicked one goal in the first half before storming home to boot five (to none) in the last quarter and give Brett Ratten's side a fright ... Taylor Adams (34 disposals) and Jordan De Goey (32 disposals, 1.2) were Collingwood's best in what was an uninspiring showing until its final-term flurry.