COLLINGWOOD 4.3.27 6.8.44 6.13.49 10.15.75
GOLD COAST 2.2.14 5.3.33 8.7.55 11.14.80
SCORERS - Collingwood: Cloke (2.3), Young (2.3), Kennedy (2.0), Goldsack (1.0), Seedsman (1.0), Sidebottom (1.0), Thomas (1.0), Beams (0.2), Swan (0.2), Witts (0.1)
BEST - Collingwood: Pendlebury, Cloke, Witts, Beams, Kennedy
INJURIES - Collingwood: Nil
SUBSTITUTES - Collingwood: Josh Thomas on for Sam Dwyer in the third quarter
REPORTS - Collingwood: Nil
OFFICIAL CROWD: 24,032 at Metricon Stadium
| - 49, 53, 36, 40, 26, 32, 34, 37, 29, 31. Those numbers represent Gary Ablett’s disposals in each of his last 10 games against Collingwood, be it as a Cat or a Sun. Pitted against tagger Brent Macaffer, Ablett was motoring along nicely without threatening to break any records until he landed awkwardly on his left arm in a tackle and left the field. Ablett dislocated his shoulder and was assisted from the field. - Ben Kennedy was not involved as a substitute on Saturday evening. It doesn’t sound like much, but it was only the seventh time in his 16 game career that he was afforded a full game. In fact, he had not played in more than 35 per cent of a match during his first three games of 2014. He made the most of his 82 per cent game time against the Suns with 18 disposals (at 72.2 per cent efficiency), three tackles and two crucial final quarter goals. What’s more, his pace and ability to burst away from contests shone through. Expect to see more of Kennedy as the year progresses. | - The first half was all about one man: Travis Cloke. The key forward began like a shot out of a canon, earning nine disposals, three marks and three scoring shots in the first term. By the time he kicked the opening goal of the second quarter, Cloke had kicked eight goals in his last three-and-a-bit quarters at Metricon Stadium (he kicked six in the second half of the Magpies practice match against the Suns on 2 March). But a short time afterwards, Cloke appeared to inadvertently poke himself in the eye as he attempted to gather the bouncing ball. He later returned but was unable to exert the influence he had in the first half. - A special mention must go to Scott Pendlebury. The captain won 25 disposals, the equal second most of any Magpie, and used the ball at 96 per cent efficiency. It was a particularly good effort considering that he won 12 of his disposals in a contest. - The near sell-out crowd of 24,032 represented the biggest crowd to any match at Metricon Stadium (nee Carrara). The ground has hosted 110 games since opening its doors to the Brisbane Bears in 1987. |
| 1. Brownlow up in the air When Gary Ablett fell onto his elbow under the challenge of Brent Macaffer it wasn’t just the Suns’ finals hopes that blew wide open. What seemed to be the most one-sided procession to a Brownlow Medal in recent memory has become a lot more precarious. Although no one in football would have enjoyed seeing the little champ leave the field holding his shoulder, Scott Pendlebury, Josh Kennedy and Joel Selwood will all go into Sunday’s games knowing their chances of taking home Charlie have been greatly improved. 2. Young's drop Herschelle Gibbs in the 1999 Cricket World Cup, Shane Warne in the 2005 Ashes - they will know how Clinton Young feels. When Dayne Beams centred for possibly Collingwood’s best kick twenty-five out and just left of the sticks inside the last three minutes, it seemed like the points were going to the Pies. Instead Young, who if you are being generous you could say had his eyesight impaired by a head clash with Sean Lemmens earlier in the quarter, let the ball slip through his hands and the Pies did not get another chance. 3. Heroic Suns As well as a probable absence for Gary Ablett, the injuries that curtailed Charlie Dixon and Trent McKenzie’s involvement on Saturday will also test the Suns’ bid for a first top-eight finish. Dixon was substituted in the third quarter and promptly had ice strapped to his leg. McKenzie limped off with what appeared to be a hamstring strain. To make matters worse, Sean Lemmens also did not return in the final quarter after a head knock. It was to Gold Coast’s enormous credit that without any substitutes they held on for a victory that saw the outnumbered home supporters let out an enormous roar on the final siren. |
4. Wasteful Pies When the Giants kicked ten straight behinds to open their game against the Crows earlier on Saturday it seemed a stat we may not see again this season. Instead the Pies matched it in a goal drought lasting from the seventh minute in the second quarter to the first minute of the fourth quarter. Collingwood’s big names Travis Cloke, Clinton Young and Dane Swan were all culpable, recording eight behinds between them. 5. Cloke dominant early Steven May has accumulated a number of scalps in the season so far including Matthew Pavlich and Tom Hawkins, but halfway through the first quarter it was clear he would not add Travis Cloke to his list. He even had the indignity of having responsibility for the key forward passed onto Rory Thompson, which could cost May when All-Australian selections are weighed up. Cloke had nine disposals, three marks and two goal assists before the first break, as well as a goal which he added to early in the second. Shortly afterwards he poked himself in the eye and was less of a force from then onwards. Although no one in football would have enjoyed seeing the little champ (Gary Ablett) leave the field holding his shoulder, Scott Pendlebury, Josh Kennedy and Joel Selwood will all go into Sunday’s games knowing their chances of taking home Charlie have been greatly improved. |
| THE MEDIA | |
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Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has bemoaned his side’s inability to battle out a whole game, after an undermanned Gold Coast held on for victory on Saturday night. As well as the huge loss of Gary Ablett with a dislocated shoulder, the Suns went into the final break defending a six-point lead without Charlie Dixon who suffered a corked calf, and just minutes into the fourth term lost Trent McKenzie with a hamstring injury and Sean Lemmens to a suspected concussion. Despite this advantage in numbers, Collingwood did not lay siege on the Suns goal as expected, even struggling to get the ball into their forward 50, and ended up losing by five points. “They still had the ability to get into and out of the contest in the second half in particular and we couldn’t match it,” Buckley said. “(The Suns injuries) will be part of the story of the night. We had fit men on the bench but you only play with 18 on the field. “They were able to keep going and their contested ball was good. “We couldn’t get the ball forward. We lost territory in the last quarter. It was in the Gold Coast forward-50 for 60 per cent of that last quarter. “The message at three-quarter time was to get it forward and be prepared to have those 50-50 contests closer to their goal. “Their intensity was pretty good throughout the night and they maintained it through that last quarter. “We weren’t clean enough or efficient enough to get out of their contested scrimmages and give our forwards a clean enough chance, they defended pretty well when we did get it in there and we weren’t able to score heavily enough.” That Gold Coast were ahead at three-quarter time was due to Collingwood’s errant goal-kicking, especially a run of ten straight points from early in the second quarter to the last break. “We clearly controlled the game in the first half but didn’t maximize our opportunities,” Buckley said. “It’s part of the game, it’s poor footy if we don’t take advantage of those opportunities. “Whether it’s a little bit more composure to find a better option going forward, whether it’s taking grabs or finishing off. “That’s pretty well where we’re at now. Gold Coast are a top eight side and we’re level on points. “We came to their venue expecting to win, prepared to win and we executed a lot of what we planned but missed out in crucial areas - ball use being one of them.” Collingwood’s plight was summed up by Clinton Young dropping an easy mark in front of the sticks in the closing minutes of the game – when a goal would have given the Magpies the lead. However Young’s coach refused to lay the blame on him. “It’s an isolated incident (but) it’s a snapshot of what we missed tonight,” Buckley said. “He had some good moments, he had some poor moments. He happened to have a bad one in the last couple of minutes that might have got us over the line.” It happened in the ninth minute of the third quarter: Gold Coast Suns defender Kade Kolodjashnij popped the ball up a little too high for Gary Ablett's comfort. Ablett's shadow, Brent Macaffer, closed to make the spoil, then tackled Ablett into the turf. The distress on Ablett's face was immediate. The champion was straight down the race, his shoulder dislocated - the first serious injury Ablett has sustained in his time at the Suns, and one that will surely test his young team's mettle in the weeks ahead like never before. But Brownlow medal markets, and the results of Ablett's scans on Monday, would have to wait. In the meantime, the Suns still had a game to win: a match they'd managed to claw their way back into, in no small way due to Ablett, who'd begun to climb on top of Macaffer Collingwood, having established a handy lead, was kicking itself out of a contest it should have already had in its keeping. From the moment Tyson Goldsack sent through a long bomb seven minutes into the second quarter, the Pies couldn't hit the side of a barn: they had 10 behinds in a row. The longer it went, the more Collingwood's delivery inside 50 disintegrated, and the more the Suns, after a terrible start, gained in belief. They'd just hit the front, courtesy of a wonderful piece of evasive play by prodigy Jack Martin, who delivered the ball to Tom Lynch on a plate. But they were running out of men. Charlie Dixon, who'd dominated Lachie Keeffe, was already wearing the red vest with a sore calf. By early in the last quarter, Trent McKenzie was gone for weeks with a torn hamstring. Sean Lemmens had a gash spouting blood over his eye and was off with concussion. Less than half way through the last quarter, the word went out to the Suns: there were literally no men left to rotate. The final tally was 105 to 78. No matter the ultimate cost, you really couldn't talk up a Suns victory more after that, the home side raising its intensity to destroy the shell-shocked Magpies. Their best win? Don't even ask. And what to say of Collingwood, unable to overrun its crippled opponents? Perhaps that's best left to coach Nathan Buckley. There were heroes, and villains too. Sam Day's fourth goal, in the 25th minute, gave the Suns a 10-point break. Day had been on the verge of being dropped, but the Suns' three-pronged tall forward line is a hard one to counter, and even though young Ben Kennedy replied immediately for the Pies, it was enough to get the job done. And then there was Clinton Young, who dropped a sitter in front of goal 15 metres in the clear. Had he marked and kicked truly, the Magpies would have been in front, and likely held on. Young, whose kicking had been a weapon early in the match, had lost his mojo entirely; despite being a solid contributor, he will long rue this game. David Swallow was a prime mover for the Suns, a bull at the clearances and a leader in Ablett's absence with 31 possessions. Jaeger O'Meara again showed poise beyond his years. The Magpies just couldn't call on that depth of leadership, despite Scott Pendlebury again being among their best. Dane Swan was particularly poor. Really, they should have buried the game long earlier. After an early goal to Tom Lynch, Young had bobbed up with two goals, the second a trademark shot from beyond 50. Cloke, meanwhile, was getting so much of the ball (nine possessions in the first quarter alone) that Steven May had to be replaced by Rory Thompson. Between them, Cloke and Young could have finished the Suns off by half time, until afflictions, both familiar and bizarre, struck. First, Cloke managed to poke himself in the eye while trying to gather a bouncing ball. Then he did the same to his team, spraying two simple shots on his return. Young also missed twice, and a paltry return of two goals followed by 10 behinds - in a row - simply begged to be punished after the Magpies had spent far longer in attack. Forget the Magpies being just a game from top spot ahead of the match. They are pretenders. Their final eight spot is not even assured. The Suns? They will suffer for this victory, and everyone will be sweating on the result of Ablett's scans. But this was a win for the ages. |
GARY Ablett’s bid for back-to-back Brownlow Medals is in tatters and the Gold Coast’s finals hopes are on a knife’s edge after a night of carnage at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night. Ablett sent shock waves throughout the AFL when he dislocated his left shoulder in the third quarter as the Suns produced their best-ever win with a courageous five-point victory over Collingwood in an absolute thriller. The Suns played most of the final quarter with no players on the interchange bench as Ablett (shoulder), Charlie Dixon (calf), Trent McKenzie (hamstring) and Sean Lemmens (concussion) were all out of action. Ablett will have scans on Monday to assess the extent of the damage and time out of the game but the fact the shoulder went straight back into the socket relatively easily is a positive sign for the dual Brownlow Medallist. But any time on the sidelines for the AFL superstar could cripple the Suns’ bid for a maiden finals berth with the Gold Coast clinging to eighth spot on the ladder. Ablett was imposing his considerable will on the contest and was well on top of Macaffer and had 19 disposals to his name after being held to just six touches in the first term in front of a record crowd of 24,032. Gold Coast led by four points when Ablett was taken from the field after goals to Tom Lynch and Sam Day saw the home side surge to the lead on the back of the captain’s blistering start to the third quarter. The Suns led by as much as 10 points late in the final quarter but the Pies surged home late. Clinton Young dropped an uncontested mark in the dying minutes that would have led to a certain goal and put Collingwood in front. The Suns led by a goal at the last change after Collingwood kicked just five behinds in the third quarter. The Pies’ last 10 scoring shots up until three-quarter time break were all behinds. Collingwood led by 11 points at the main break after dominating most of the first half without really putting the Suns to the sword on the scoreboard. They should have been much further in front given the 29-16 advantage in inside 50 entries. The Magpies enjoyed a 19-point buffer early in the second term and looked set to tear the Gold Coast apart but the home side showed maturity beyond their years to stem the flow to claw their way back into the match. The Suns were flustered, frustrated and flighty for a large chunk of the opening two quarters as they were guilty of butchering too much ball and handing the Sherrin to the Pies on a platter. But Collingwood kept the Suns in the contest with inaccurate kicking and poor decision-making in the second term as they failed to capitalise on their early superiority. Collingwood led by 13 points at quarter-time after dominating clearances (15-9) and inside 50 entries (15-9) in the opening term with Cloke (nine disposals), Swan (eight disposals) and Dayne Beams and Pendlebury with seven touches each. Ablett was kept to six disposals for the opening quarter but had nine touches in the second term as he led the charge to keep the Suns in the hunt. Cloke had a roller-coaster ride of a night. He poked himself in the eye with his own thumb and had five shots at goal up until half-time with a return of 2.3. Suns coach Guy McKenna said before the match his players would target Cloke verbally but he looked dangerous early and force the Suns to move Steve May in favour of Rory Thompson for the one-on-one match-up. Gold Coast came of age with a remarkable five-point win over Collingwood on Saturday night, despite losing skipper Gary Ablett with a dislocated shoulder. The Suns played most of the final quarter with no-one on the bench but held on for a gutsy 11.14 (80) to 10.15 (75) victory in front of a Metricon Stadium record crowd of 24,032. They overcame a poor first half to strangle the Magpies and retain a spot in the top eight. But Ablett's third quarter injury could send their finals aspirations into a tailspin. Not only did the Suns play the final 50 minutes without their skipper, but also finished the game minus Charlie Dixon (calf), Trent McKenzie (hamstring) and Sean Lemmens (concussion). The Suns had no rotations for the final 20 minutes but gutsed it out. David Swallow (31 disposals) was magnificent, Harley Bennell (26) lifted after a slow first half and Sam Day found form with four critical goals. His fourth from 55m with just minutes remaining sealed the deal when the Suns were being challenged. Clinton Young missed a golden chance to put the Magpies in front late when he dropped a simple chest mark 30 metres out with just two minutes left to play. Ablett's injury will send shockwaves through the competition after he was helped off by trainers in severe pain after falling awkwardly in a Brent Macaffer tackle. Ablett appeared to break his fall with his left elbow, forcing the shoulder out of place. He will have scans on Monday to determine the amount of time on the sidelines. The champion had racked up 19 disposals before his injury, which came just minutes after Dixon was subbed off with his injury. Collingwood was brilliant in the opening term and settled much quicker in front of the near sell-out crowd to lead by 13 points. Travis Cloke caused all sorts of headaches early, and after kicking 1.2 and giving off two goals to Clinton Young, forced Suns coach Guy McKenna to shift Steven May and put Rory Thompson on the star forward. In the second quarter Collingwood kept the pressure on, but somehow the Suns reduced the lead to 11 points at the main break. The visitors had a run of 10 straight behinds during the second and third quarters to kick themselves out of the match.
Nathan Buckley
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