COLLINGWOOD 3.6 7.6 11.9 13.12.90
HAWTHORN 2.1 7.5 15.9 22.13.145
SCORERS
Collingwood: Cloke (5.3), Elliott (3.1), Blair (1.1), Brown (1.0), Fasolo (1.0), Hudson (1.0), Lynch (1.0), Swan (0.2), Goldsack (0.1), Pendlebury (0.1), Shaw (0.1), Sinclair (0.1), Thomas (0.1)
BEST
Collingwood: Cloke
INJURIES
Collingwood: Reid (jarred knee)
SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Alex Fasolo replaced Jack Frost in the third quarter
REPORTS
Collingwood: Harry O'Brien for rough conduct in the second quarter
OFFICIAL CROWD: 72,254 at the MCG
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The intangible known as 'will' was the difference between Collingwood and Hawthorn on Sunday, according to Magpies coach Nathan Buckley. Although he said his players did not give up for one second he said the Hawks' ability to win the ball in close after half-time brought their runners into the game and pushed the Magpies structure beyond breaking point. Hawthorn scored 14 goals, nine behinds after half-time as it racked up 33 inside 50s. Collingwood kicked six goals, three behinds in that period from 31 inside 50s. Hawthorn had 11 goalkickers and kicked 20 goals against Collingwood for the fourth consecutive time since round one, 2012. "We don't like giving away those scores," Buckley said. Only twice since 2008 has Collingwood conceded a higher score. That was against the Hawks in round seven, 2008 and Geelong in round 22, 2009. "We can win games scoring 89 points but you're not going to win too many games giving up 145. That is where it starts and ends," Buckley said. The reasons were clear to everyone at the ground. Once Collingwood began losing in the scrimmages, Hawthorn was able to release its runners into space. With players such as 'Buddy' Franklin, Luke Breust, Liam Shiels, Jed Anderson, Brad Hill, Isaac Smith, Grant Birchall and Cyril Rioli possessing both pace on the outside and the ability to kick goals, the Hawks held sway and were able to hit the scoreboard quickly. The Hawks also controlled territory, winning crucial centre clearances and putting the Magpie defenders on the back foot. "(We) pride ourselves on being harder for longer but we weren't today," Buckley said. "If you have too many days like that then all of a sudden you start questioning, are you harder for longer? Have you got the capacity to be able to do it? And today we weren't able to do it. "Does that mean that is what we are? No I don't think that is what we are. We just had a bad half." Despite an injury list that includes Dayne Beams, Luke Ball, Clinton Young, Darren Jolly and the skipper Nick Maxwell, Buckley would not entertain that as an excuse. He said the Magpies had 22 players capable of beating Hawthorn. He bemoaned more the lapses in concentration that led to Hawthorn goals when the game was tight. He singled out the mistake that led to Hawks skipper Luke Hodge kicking a goal from a stoppage just before half-time. Hodge drifted down from defence with no one between him and the goals at the stoppage and was able to kick a torpedo goal as Steele Sidebottom tried valiantly to catch him. Who was to blame was unclear but it cost the team. "When you are coming up against good sides you need to be right all of the time," Buckley said. "You can't afford to give an inch to these good sides and we did that." Collingwood conceded the last six scores of the first half and the last three goals of the third quarter. Although one of the goals late in the third quarter was from a mystifying ruck decision to Jarryd Roughead against Quinten Lynch, it was clear the Hawks were able to grind the Magpies down. Buckley said that although the club prided itself on being harder for longer, Hawthorn outworked and outsmarted the Magpies in close as the game wore on. Buckley said Ben Reid had pulled up OK having jarred his knee in a marking contest late in the second quarter. Reid returned to the ground and competed well. "If you want to be a good footy side, you lick your wounds and you back up. You don't capitulate," Buckley said. "This was a poor result for us, the second half in particular was very disappointing. It's round three. We've got a lot of work to do and we think there is plenty of improvement in us," Buckley said. |
Of the many reminders logged by Hawthorn on Sunday of its frightening powers, and of the stranglehold it has on Collingwood, one stood out. It was midway through the third quarter and the Hawks had the momentum, but the Magpies were clinging tenaciously. A goal to Travis Cloke, one of his five, and a subsequent behind had closed the margin to six points. In Collingwood's goal square, Hawk defender Brent Guerra surveyed the fan of players across the MCG. Spotting Ben Stratton ranging towards the centre, he launched a torpedo punt. The retreating Stratton marked it and played on, knowing the entirety of the Hawthorn end of the ground was empty. Heath Shaw made a lunging tackle, but not before Stratton slipped a handball to the blur that was Lance Franklin. A shiver ran down Collingwood spines. Franklin had neither time nor inclination to sidestep. Rather, he leapt over the fallen tangle of Stratton and Shaw, in a manner reminiscent of a long-ago Tim Watson manoeuvre in a faraway night game. The goals were open in the sense there was no one between Franklin and the goals - but they were 80 metres away. To him, this was mere detail. With one more step, he sunk his boot into the ball. The game stopped; this was now exclusively the goal umpire's business. The ball bounced to, and by him, leaving him to perform the formalities and theatrics. With two kicks and a handball, the Hawks had collapsed the MCG to pocket-sized. They had also loaded another weighty straw onto Collingwood's back. ''They don't come off very often, those ones,'' said Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson, smiling. ''It was a really important part of the game. To get a coast-to-coast goal like that was really important for us.'' The day became an illustration of two phenomena that will have to be reckoned with by any team that wants to threaten the Hawks for the premiership this year. One is the Hawks' formidable scoring power. As Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley ruefully noted: ''It wasn't one or the other of them, it was all of them.'' Franklin, with four, was one of 11 to kick goals. They kicked them leading into space, doubling back, through snapshots and when there was no other avenue, by seizing on a tap-out and thumping them through off one step, sight little seen, from outside 50. This was Luke Hodge, twice. Here is Hawthorn's other ace. The Hawks have eased Hodge into this season, his 13th, and have had their reward for patience. On Sunday, Hodge gave a command performance, beginning as a defensive sentry, then answering the call to move to midfield and wrest control from Collingwood. There, he personified what both coaches saw as crucial to this result: the ability to adapt to the conditions and play uncomplicated football. Buckley might have been thinking of Hodge when he said: ''It was their will, I reckon. They were tougher, more physical.'' Rejoined Clarkson: ''He's been a warrior for our club for 10 years. You saw today how tough and hard he is, how he willed himself to so many contests.'' Early, Collingwood threaded Hawthorn like a loom, though frayed near to goal. Franklin was always a latent threat, rumbling like thunder, but far away. Two incidents marked the turning. One was what appeared to be a free kick to Harry O'Brien against Hodge for sliding in, but was paid against O'Brien, who also was reported. The other was the hyperextension of Ben Reid's knee in a marking duel. Although the key Magpie defender returned, he was ginger thereafter. His charge was Franklin. Already, Hawthorn had elbowed its way back into the contest. In the second half, it romped away, kicking a 20-goals-plus score against Collingwood for the fourth time in a row. In the end, the Hawks scored with blithe ease. Buckley noted that they kicked goals from 72 per cent of forward entries in the second half, which is as close as you get in the AFL to at will. Clarkson affected to be clueless about Hawthorn's mastery of Collingwood. Their games always were great contests, he said, but when they opened up, it was invariably to the Hawks' advantage. It was the converse of Hawthorn's rivalry with Geelong. Again on Sunday, Hawthorn had the win that needed no explanation; Collingwood the defeat that had no alibi. |
COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley says his team was overpowered at the MCG yesterday by a Hawthorn side with a greater will to win. Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson praised his players' ability to run out matches, particularly after taxing clashes with Geelong and West Coast at Subiaco in the opening rounds. A stunning 15-goal-to-six second half set up a 55-point win for the Hawks in front of 72,254 fans, a fair chunk of whom were left delighted with the form of captain Luke Hodge in his second game back from a knee injury. Buckley refused to use the club's early-season injury woes as an excuse for yesterday's defeat. "We had 22 who could have won the game," Buckley said. "We pride ourselves on being harder for longer but we weren't today and if you have too many days like that, then all of a sudden you start questioning are you harder for longer? Have you got the capacity to be able to be able to do it? "Today, we weren't able to do it. We were beaten in those areas by a side that was able to control the scrimmage and control the inner (contest) and that allowed their runners on the outside to come into the game as it progressed." The win was Hawthorn's fourth in a row against Collingwood and the fourth consecutive time it had kicked more than 20 goals against the Magpies. Clarkson was glowing in his praise of the team's aerobic capacity as a whole after compiling an impressive second half for the second week running. "We're confident in our fitness base," Clarkson said. "Obviously because we finished on the last day of September last year, we're probably two or three weeks behind some clubs in terms of their preparation. "But we've got a great fitness team . . . and got an experienced group of players who know how to get their bodies right. "We've run out games really well in the last two weeks in particular against West Coast over there in 32-degree heat and again today in the rain. That's been really pleasing." Clarkson said reporting Harry O'Brien for his collision with Hodge in the second quarter was "a bit harsh", while Buckley said the match review panel's finding today would be an interesting test case for the rest of the season. "It is a grey area," Buckley said. "It could have easily been a free kick to H . . . and yet he's up on report." Buckley said Ben Reid was "OK" after hyperextending his right knee. |
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