WEST COAST 2.2.14 3.4.22 3.6.24 5.9.39
SCORERS - Collingwood: Reid (4.1), Cloke (3.1), Swan (2.1), Lynch (2.0), Thomas (1.2), Didak (1.1), Kennedy (1.1), Seedsman (1.0), Grundy (0.2), O'Brien (0.1)
BEST - Collingwood: Swan, J.Thomas, Seedsman, Pendlebury, Williams, Reid, Grundy
INJURIES - Collingwood: Dayne Beams (tight back) replaced in selected side by Paul Seedsman
SUBSTITUTES - Collingwood: Luke Ball replaced by Alan Didak in the third quarter
REPORTS: Nil
OFFICIAL CROWD: 41,198 at the MCG
| - Collingwood's eight goals and three behinds marked its highest ever first quarter score in 43 games against the Eagles since 1987. It narrowly surpassed the Magpies' 8.1 in the Qualifying Final at VFL Park in 1990. - Not only was it Collingwood's greatest ever first quarter against the Eagles, it was its best for the season (ahead of its 5.7 against Geelong in round eight). In fact, it was Collingwood's best first quarter since it kicked 8.2 against the Cats in round 16 last year. The last time the Magpies managed more than 8.3 in an opening quarter was back in round four, 2011, when they beat Richmond by 71 points. - The win continues the Pies' winning run against the Coasters at the MCG. It was Collingwood's eighth successive win against the Eagles at the home of football, with the run beginning with Brodie Holland's eight goal performance in round two, 2002. The only time the Eagles have ever beaten the Magpies at the MCG was in round two, 1995, when they were fresh off their 1994 premiership triumph. The match was Nathan Buckley's 25th for Collingwood and John Worsfold's 158th for the Eagles. Other notable names to feature for the Magpies included Brett James, Brad Rowe, Shane Kerrison and Nick Hider, while the West Coast line-up comprised Fraser Gehrig, Chris Mainwaring and Guy McKenna. - A fact that has quietly slipped beneath the cracks is that West Coast's 5.9 (39) was Collingwood's equal lowest score against all season (level with Melbourne in round 11). In fact, four of the Magpies' seven lowest scores against for the season have been registered in the past five weeks – a sure sign that the Collingwood machine is beginning to fire on all cylinders. |
- It's high time that Josh Thomas received his dues. The 21-year-old
banana bender had to wait patiently for his injured feet to heel
during his first three years at the club but it has proven to be worth
the wait for both player and club. In his 17th match, Thomas feasted
on 35 possessions (19 kicks, 16 handballs), of which seven took the
ball inside 50. He also won a career-high 27 uncontested possessions
and notched four clearances (one behind Scott Pendlebury who led the
way with five). Thomas' 35 possessions easily outstripped his previous
career-best of 28 against Fremantle in round seven. Importantly, he
hit the scoreboard for the third week running after a four-week dry
spell. Having featured in every match since round 10 and with a new
two-year deal in his back pocket, it now appears that Thomas is a
fixture in Collingwood's best 22. |
| THE MEDIA | |
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Collingwood played the best football of its season in its first-quarter thrashing of West Coast on Friday night, according to coach Nathan Buckley. But Buckley insists his side needs to step up another gear to compete in September action after sealing an elimination final in Melbourne. The Magpies had the game won by quarter-time against the Eagles, holding a 37-point lead after booting 8.3 (51) in the first term – their highest-scoring opening quarter of the season. They did not continue at the same rate, ending up winning by 62 points, but Buckley was pleased the damage was done early. "The first quarter is as good as footy we've played," Buckley said. "[Our] contested ball, [we] defended really hard, put great pressure around the ball, and was able to take it inside 50 and be really damaging. "That's as good as we've played in in all three phases." It continued what Buckley described as the club's best form patch of the year, on the back of impressive wins over Essendon and the Sydney Swans, and a competitive showing against Hawthorn last week. "Our most sustained, solid batch of football has been in the last month against pretty good opposition. We fell short against Hawthorn last week but I thought there was some areas in our control that we could do a lot better when we next play Hawthorn," Buckley said. "There's no guarantees on that. We've got to keep winning if we want to meet them, and that's another thing in our control. "We're playing decent footy, but we're going to need to improve and go up a couple of rungs, which we're more than capable of, if we want to do the damage we'd like to inflict in the next five weeks." Collingwood is confident key midfielders Dayne Beams and Luke Ball will be available for next Sunday's clash with North Melbourne. Beams was a late withdrawal after pulling up with back tightness following training this week, while Ball was subbed off at half time with calf tightness. Buckley said medical staff advised him Ball was fine, and part of his substitution was to bring veteran Alan Didak into the game. Collingwood has enjoyed a timely confidence boost on the eve of the finals, dominating a flat West Coast to win by 62 points at the MCG on Friday night. After being humbled by Hawthorn seven days earlier, the Magpies bounced back in a powerful performance that re-established them as a September threat. In an even performance that will leave coach Nathan Buckley with selection headaches, Collingwood ran out 15.11 (101) to 5.9 (39) winners to improve its record to 14-7 for the season. The severity of West Coast's fall, however, is sure to be a major talking point after its lowest-ever score at the MCG, which came a week after its lowest score at Patersons Stadium. Incredibly, it was less than 12 months ago these two clubs played off at the MCG for a place in a Preliminary Final. The Eagles' inability to be competitive meant the contest fizzled by quarter time, with Collingwood 37 points clear and in no danger of surrendering that lead with its season still alive. Brownlow Medallist Dane Swan was best on ground, winning 34 possessions and kicking two goals, tearing through a lethargic Eagles midfield with his running power. The only concern for the Magpies was a possible injury to midfielder Luke Ball, who was substituted in the opening minutes of the third quarter with what appeared to be a calf concern. Otherwise, it was a night for the Magpies' faithful to enjoy, with the club's young players superb as they fought for positions in the team going into finals. Alan Didak, who was substituted into the match for Ball, also earned loud applause every time he won the football in his third appearance this season. Every Magpie on the ground ran to him when he kicked a goal halfway through the final term. Young midfielder Josh Thomas starred in the first half with 22 possessions and a goal, and he kicked on to finish with 35 disposals. Paul Seedsman was a late inclusion, replacing midfielder Dayne Beams (back tightness), and he took his chance, winning 30 possessions and kicking a good running goal from long range. Key forward Travis Cloke took the lead in the Coleman Medal race, kicking three goals to take his season tally to 61. Ben Reid remained forward and kicked four goals, while Scott Pendlebury (37 possessions), Marley Williams (27) and ruckman Brodie Grundy (11 and 23 hit-outs) were impressive. Scott Selwood (33 disposals) battled hard for the Eagles, as did Matt Priddis (32 and nine tackles) in his 150th game. They lacked support, however, on a dark night for the Eagles. Rubbing salt into the wound, young forward Jack Darling was substituted out of the clash early in the third quarter with a possible hamstring concern. Collingwood produced its best first quarter for the year and its best start ever against West Coast, racing to 8.3 (51) at the first break, with the Eagles held to just two goals. From that point there was a sense of inevitability about the result. "The first quarter is as good as footy we've played," Buckley said after the match. "(Our) contested ball, (we) defended really well, put pressure around the ball, and were able to take it inside 50 and be really damaging. "That's as good as we've played in in all three phases." While they held their own at the coalface early, the Eagles couldn't contain the run of their desperate opponents who had options and space whenever they won the football. By half time the Magpies had won 29 more uncontested possessions than West Coast, taken 19 more uncontested marks and laid eight more tackles. Out-of-contract coach John Worsfold said he knew what the Eagles needed to do to improve, but conceded the season had undoubtedly been disappointing after West Coast had been tipped by many as a flag favourite. "This club's always measured success on premierships, but also on performing up to expectations," he said, admitting the meek end to the season had challenged his self-belief. "This year we've been under expectations, and that's been really disappointing. "Whether it's a wasted opportunity or not, I'm not sure." There is a changing of the guard underway at West Coast as premiership heroes retire and others near the end of their decorated careers. The question that arose on Friday night was who, other than Selwood, is ready to drive the Eagles' response from a horror year in 2014. WITHIN 10 minutes of the opening siren at the MCG last night, Collingwood had five goals on the board and West Coast was beaten. Ostensibly, the Eagles were playing for a finals spot given the prospect that Essendon will be stripped of premiership points within days over the supplements scandal. Yet bar the odd effort here or there, West Coast gave nothing when beaten by 62 points, losing 15.11 (101) to 5.9 (39), though for a period it seemed the margin might blow out to triple figures. If any Eagle had September on his mind, it was not another date in Melbourne in a fortnight playing football, rather an escape from Perth on holidays to avoid Fremantle make its run at a maiden flag. Such was the lack of early intensity, West Coast's next board meeting may be interesting should coach John Worsfold confirm that he wants to continue next season, for the Eagles were woeful against Geelong last week and worse last night. The club has effectively offered him an extension, yet the team's form has mirrored that of a bottom side over the past fortnight, not withstanding the fact several topline players are missing. With West Coast now out of contention, the battle for ninth position - and a most unusual finals berth - now rests between the incumbent in Carlton and North Melbourne, with Brisbane the roughest of chances. That could be decided by tonight should Carlton, which is a game clear, beat the demoralised Bombers at the MCG, and North Melbourne, which boasts a vastly superior percentage, falter against premiership favourite Hawthorn at Etihad Stadium. With their opposition barely competitive, the goal for the Magpies last night was to build percentage and finish injury-free to face the finals. On that count, Luke Ball was taken off in the third quarter with calf soreness. The scale of the win will make it hard for Richmond to reclaim fifth spot tomorrow, even though it faces Greater Western Sydney. The Magpies' only casualty happened before the match, with Dayne Beams withdrawing with a tight back. But there were many positives. Midfield stars Dane Swan (34 possessions) and Scott Pendlebury (37 touches) ran amok. Josh Thomas, 21, also shone, gathering 35 touches in a performance aimed at securing his position come the finals. Young ruckman Brodie Grundy went up against champion Eagle Dean Cox and proved extremely competitive again. Alan Didak, the flecks of grey hair beginning to appear, played his first game since round 11 as a substitute yet was lively when injected into the match in the second half. A last-term goal pleased teammates and fans alike. Nathan Brown, too, gained some timely confidence when holding star Eagle forward Josh Kennedy goalless. That did his teammate Travis Cloke a favour, for the Magpie was able to claim the lead in the Coleman Medal with three goals in what is an extremely tight race. Cloke, who has kicked 61 goals, leads Kennedy, Hawk Jarryd Roughead and young Giant Jeremy Cameron by one, though the latter two both have a game in hand this weekend. While luck deserted Kennedy, who missed with the opening shot of the night and never looked likely thereafter given the poor quality of delivery into the West Coast forward line, it was certainly with Cloke, for all three goals could be considered the result of fortune. His first two came from the goal line courtesy of 50m penalties awarded against his opponent Eric Mackenzie. Both appeared generous. A third was a handball from a teammate while straight in front. Nonetheless, should Roughead and Cameron fail to fire this weekend, Cloke is a chance to claim his first Coleman Medal and it will not be the three garnered last night that he will remember. |
On a wintry night at the MCG, West Coast picked up where it left off in last week's thrashing by Geelong, and Collingwood resumed its late season purple patch after last week's statutory interruption by Hawthorn. The result was an eight-goals-to-two first quarter, seven goals to three in the balance of the match and a 10-goal win for the Magpies. Since they had nothing materially to gain from this match, and the Eagles nothing at all, it made for a dry business, sensed in advance even by diehards, which meant that the crowd was 10,000 fewer than expected. For Collingwood, there was plenty to cherish. Dayne Beams was a late withdrawal, but into his role stepped bullocking Josh Thomas to play his best game. Ben Kennedy and Paul Seedsman, replacing Beams, were crucially involved, gratifyingly relieving Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury of some of their burden. Tyro ruckman Brodie Grundy, confronted with Dean Cox, took another step, and you can be certain it was straight ahead. Heath Shaw and Quinten Lynch, both latterly beset in their different ways, both found semblances of form. Ben Reid kicked four more goals as the remodelled forward line structure again produced. Nathan Brown put his Kurt Tippett nightmare a further match behind; he kept Coleman leader Josh Kennedy goal-less and his cohorts kept the Eagles to their lowest ever score at the MCG. Luke Ball played a finals standard first half - earning as many possessions as all bar five of the Eagles for the entire game - but did not appear for the second because of an apparent injury, and it must be said that Collingwood's hard edge was blunted by a degree or two then. A reckoning awaits. Best of all in terms of entertainment, Alan Didak, upon replacing Ball, was cheered to the echo for his every hard-running touch, and when he kicked a goal in the last quarter, gift-wrapped by Swan, he was mobbed as if he had had just put away the winner in an FA Cup final. Forgetting or ignoring protocol, he did not run off the ground. This all was stimulating for the Magpies as they draw up the blueprint, but it must set against what was at first another insipid performance by the Eagles, rising in the second half to adequate. Their only joy from the match was, well, the knowledge that their season's travels are done. The two signal of Collingwood's eight first quarter goals were kicked by former Eagle Lynch in his first appearance against his old club. Latterly wretchedly out of form, he began as if the Eagles had awakened something in him. The first was on the run, not really a term much associated with Lynch. But another goal was just as telling. As the ball trickled over the boundary line on the wing, Jack Darling inexplicably pulled at Shaw's jumper, though the ball was dead. Doubling his mistake, Darling then made for the interchange gate, leaving Shaw with the free kick and no opponent. Seconds later, Thomas had converted the break into a goal. Darling's dereliction summed up the Eagles. Inexplicably, on a damp night, they tried to sweep the ball by hand on a great arc, and under the Magpies' ferocious pressure invariably came unstuck. The Magpies also used plenty of handball, but under less pressure, and so more cleanly. Effectively finished at quarter-time, the match became for the Eagles an exercise in shutting the gate after the horse has bolted. They tightened, reducing Collingwood's scoring, but as a corollary creating even fewer scoring chances of their own. For the Magpies, it became a rehearsal for September, but scarcely full dress. Didak's entry enlivened the entertainment, but had no other bearing. Inevitably, as the margin widened, the intensity fell. The keynote moment was at the end of the third quarter when Cox was lumbering towards goal with no one ahead of him, fumbled a bounce and by the time he recovered the ball, the siren had rung. It would have been a mercy for all if, like the AFL and Essendon, they had agreed then on a suitable margin and all gone off to rehab. CLOKE IN FRONT Travis Cloke took the lead in the race for the Coleman Medal when he accepted a handball from Sam Dwyer and booted his third goal for the night, from the goal square 10 minutes into the second half. The big forward edged ahead of Jeremy Cameron, Jarryd Roughead and Josh Kennedy, who were tied on 60 goals at the start of the round. Importantly for Collingwood, Ben Reid provided a second target and the pair worked well together; Cloke grabbed a typically strong mark on the boundary line and delivered to Reid to present the former defender with his fourth. Kennedy was goalless for the second week in a row. GOAL GIZMO The second of Reid's goals gave the umpires the first chance to play with the AFL's new toy. The revamped goal review technology gives the umpires multiple camera angles on one screen, designed to improve accuracy and cut down the time taken to reach decisions. Reid's soccered kick seven minutes into the match looked like a goal, and it was a goal. It just took five camera angles on one screen, of West Coast's Mitch Brown lunging in an unsuccessful bid to touch the ball, to establish it. WELCOME RETURN When Luke Ball was subbed out of the match after half-time, veteran Alan Didak came on for his first AFL match since round 11. Didak ran hard and gathered seven touches for the quarter, and every Collingwood player ran to him when he waltzed into an open goal in the last term. REMEMBER how a finalist squandered an eight goals to two opening quarter to lose at the MCG a week ago? Well, Collingwood was never going to relive Richmond's embarrassment and effort on Friday night. Tigers coach Damien Hardwick witnessed first-half from the grandstand how the Magpies maintained the intensity to bury West Coast by 62 points. Nothing fancy. Just a relentless attack on the ball and the ball-carrier to run and spread or force a turnover. And the Pies kept at it, despite getting a little tardy at times in the second half when it had long ceased to be a geniune contest. Collingwood built on the 8.3 opening, its best ever first quarter against the Eagles, with clinical efficiency, laced with gut-running to complement that intense harassment. Admittedly, the depleted and demoralised Eagles was vastly inferior opposition than the Tigers encountered with Carlton last Saturday afternoon. But Magpies coach Nathan Buckley would be hard to please if he wasn't satisfied with the collective commitment of his hard-working team. Only left calf soreness that forced midfielder Luke Ball to be subbed out at half-time could dim the Magpies' performance. And Ball had virtually completed a night's work anyway with 18 possessions in an outstanding first half contribution. His early night allowed the Pies to get valuable game-time into the experienced Alan Didak whose every touch prompted rousing cheers as the second half meandered to its limp and inevitable conclusion. Nearly every teammate ran to Didak to deliver their own welcome-back pat when he goalled on the run from close range in the last quarter. Aside from Ball's soreness, everything fitted like a Travis Cloke glove for the disciplined Magpies. From key defender Nathan Brown severely denting Eagle Josh Kennedy's Coleman Medal aspirations, to the understanding between tall targets Ben Reid and Cloke at the other end to share seven goals. West Coast was like a group on an early footy trip to Melbourne, a Friday night outing in which, sadly, several were almost as ineffective as if they were sitting beside Hardwick in the stand. Collingwood's only other concerns may be video checks on first half incidents involving Ball and Heath Shaw. Ball found himself confronted by inevitable front-on contact, albeit light, when Jamie Cripps ducked into a tackle in the first quarter. And Shaw was fortunate Eagles forward Jack Darling wasn't injured after a push from the Pies defender propelled him into the advertising hoardings on the boundary fence in the second term. Collingwood was relentless almost from the opening minute. Little Jarryd Blair displayed that valued forward pressure with a tackle to dispossess Blayne Wilson and chipped a pass to Quinten Lynch for the first goal after just three minutes. By the 10-minute mark, the menacing Magpies had set the agenda, running up a dozen pressure acts inside their forward 50 compared to a measy three from West Coast. It was the contrasting pattern of the contest. Collingwood players hungry for the ball, particularly those younger ones whose positions aren't secure in the team. Like Paul Seedsman, a late replacement for onballer Dayne Beams' back soreness, with his run and rebound out of defence. And Ben Kennedy's attack on the loose ball up forward. Kennedy's contesting instincts, in fact, induced a rare Eagles show of aggression. The Magpie was a little over-exhuberant with a tackle on Darren Glass early in the second quarter, prompting the veteran West Coast defender to pin the smaller Kennedy in a brief but violent wrestle behind play. Not only did the Eagles struggle to match Collingwood's leg speed, they emphasised the frustration with costly ill-discipline at times. Even normally reliable defender Eric MacKenzie, who had held Travis Cloke goalless at their past two meetings, gifted his foe two goals in the lopsided first half. A late push after Cloke had marked on the lead provoked a 50m penalty. And the same occurred when Cloke was dragged to the goalline again when the Eagles defender backchatted the umpire midway through the second term. Literally pushing Cloke closer into Coleman Medal contention was an illustration of West Coast's inability to even hold their own in the mental games on a forgettable night.
SUPERFOOTY
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