COLLINGWOOD 4.3.27 5.3.33 6.6.42 8.8.56
BRISBANE 6.1.37 10.7.67 15.11.101 18.15.123
SCORERS - Collingwood: Broomhead (3.0), Fasolo (1.1), Young (1.1), Cloke (1.0), Goldsack (1.0), Swan (1.0), Grundy (0.2), Beams (0.1), Blair (0.1)
BEST - Collingwood: Nil
INJURIES - Collingwood: Elliott (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Young, Pendlebury (quad) replaced in selected side by Armstrong, Reid (hamstring), Beams (knee), Cloke (ankle)
SUBSTITUTES - Collingwood: Ben Reid, replaced by Tony Armstrong in the first quarter
REPORTS - Collingwood: Nil
OFFICIAL CROWD: 32,926 at the MCG
| 1. When things go from bad to worse The Pies had an atrocious run of luck when it came to injuries, which started when Jamie Elliott pulled out with a hamstring complaint when the team sheets were lodged. Then, Scott Pendlebury joined him after hurting his quad in the warm-up. Ben Reid was next, tweaking a hamstring four minutes into the game and forcing an early substitute before Travis Cloke hurt his ankle in the second quarter and didn't return. Then Ben Kennedy accidentally crashed into Dayne Beams' legs and forced his left knee to buckle backwards, which ended his night in the third quarter. It left the Pies with one fit player for a quarter-and-a-half, and rueing the massive cost of a night where nothing went right. 2. Armstrong's big day Clinton Young and Tony Armstrong were the two emergencies called up to replace Elliott and Pendlebury, but there was a considerable difference in how each player spent their Saturday. While Young was held over from the Pies' VFL team's 14-point win over Geelong in case of a late change, Armstrong played in the game, which started at 11am. He was a solid contributor in the club's win and was named in the best. Less than six hours later, he found himself on the MCG seven minutes into the first quarter after Reid hurt his hammy. He started well against James Aish and had five touches in the first quarter and took it to 12 before half-time. Understandably, he trailed off after the main break and ended with 17 disposals. ... the Lions enthusiastically bounced back from their 105-point humiliation by the Crows to record their first win over Collingwood since round 10, 2010, in their first night game at the MCG – played in chilly, Melbourne fog – since round 22, 2011. It was also their first triumph over the Magpies at the MCG since round 17, 2007. |
3. Lion-hearted While it was easy to focus on the Pies as they unravelled with setback after setback, it was hard to ignore the fact the Lions were playing pretty decent football. They locked the ball inside their forward 50 for the majority of the second term and raced to a 34-point lead by the main break. With Dayne Zorko racking up 23 disposals in two quarters, Pearce Hanley dominating at the clearances despite the attention of Brent Macaffer and Daniel Merrett proving a force at full-forward – and kicking an inspiring goal on the half-time siren before hurting his knee in the fourth term – the Lions were simply good to watch. Their pressure was good, their youngsters won plenty of the ball, Tom Rockliff had another day out and they looked strong up forward with second-gamer Jonathan Freeman slotting four goals. 4. Cool Lions While Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson was quick to use the six-day break between last week's clash with the Lions combined with the warmth in which it was played as why the Crows could struggle against Richmond on Saturday night, the Lions weren't so concerned. And, while the Crows looked sluggish early against the Tigers at Adelaide Oval, last week's game was no issue for the Lions as they enthusiastically bounced back from their 105-point humiliation by the Crows to record their first win over Collingwood since round 10, 2010, in their first night game at the MCG – played in chilly, Melbourne fog – since round 22, 2011. It was also their first triumph over the Magpies at the MCG since round 17, 2007. 5. Tom's ton Tom Rockliff and Jarryd Blair both celebrated their 100th games and Alex Fasolo racked up 50, but it was the Lions vice-captain who celebrated his milestone with not only a win but a memorable performance. As the Pies ran out of legs, Rockliff had plenty of mates in collecting possessions – Dayne Zorko had 36, Pearce Hanley 34 and Stef Martin dominated in the ruck. Rockliff's 43-disposal game takes him to 12 occasions this season where he has accumulated 30 or more touches, and four where he's had more than 40. |
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Collingwood is bracing to be without Ben Reid and Dayne Beams for the rest of the season after a costly night coach Nathan Buckley labelled a "perfect storm". The Magpies' injury crisis went from bad to worse when Beams and Travis Cloke joined Reid, Scott Pendlebury and Jamie Elliott as casualties on Saturday night against the Brisbane Lions. After being rocked by the late withdrawal of Pendlebury (quad) and Elliott (hamstring soreness), the Pies had to contend with losing Reid to a hamstring four minutes into the game. They had to replace Reid with Tony Armstrong, who was the late substitute after Pendlebury hurt his leg in the warm-up. Armstrong played a full game of VFL earlier in the day. Buckley said the Pies' night went as wrong as things could. "I have been in the caper 20 years now as a player and coach and I can't remember a night like it," Buckley said. "And what is more, I thought we came up against an opposition that were clearly up and about, they were running as strong at the end of the game as they were at the beginning. "It was going to take a bit of work to curtail them, meet them and surpass them even with all of our troops at our disposal." The Pies lost by 67 points after being reduced to one fit player on the bench when Beams went down in the third quarter. Buckley predicted Reid's year could be over with a right hamstring strain while the initial diagnosis on Beams' left knee injury was an issue with his posterior cruciate ligament. Cloke (left ankle) and Pendlebury (right quad) require scans and the Magpies expect to know more in the next 24 hours. Buckley said Saturday night's loss was a snapshot of the Pies' season where "too much has been left to too few too often" because of personnel constraints. He said the soft tissue plague, which has now claimed another three players, could have occurred because some Magpies have been "exposed" when called upon to stand up. "That's probably a product of the load blokes have been asked to carry throughout the year as well, it's accumulative," he said. "It all comes into play. Part of being able to perform is having your best players on the park. "Having everyone - the depth of your list - up and running, and available, feeling good, physically, mentally, emotionally. And we haven't had that. "We've had some guys that played tonight that have been exposed because they haven't had pre-seasons. "So we will need to get a full pre-season into our squad, we will need to be physically better prepared, and to this point, we haven't been able to share the load often enough." Buckley said the Pies wouldn't "go meekly into a corner" despite the tough ask they now face to make the finals. He said Saturday night was a reminder of the ruthless and uncompromising nature of the competition where players had to get "everything right". But he said the night's scenario, where Armstrong had to play two VFL games, youngsters Ben Kennedy and Tim Broomhead couldn't rotate in the second half and Jarrod Witts was spent after a long season, wasn't something you expected to combine. "You can’t leave anything in the tank," he said. "There’s not one weights session, not one recovery session, not one team meeting or review...every fibre of your being needs to be invested in giving yourself the best chance of being the one that is standing at the top of the heap when everyone else falls, or, when anyone else breaks mentally, physically, emotionally – don’t be the one that breaks. "We were the one that broke tonight physically. I reckon we held on mentally for a while but by the end you are pushing the proverbial up hill with a pointy stick and it was tough going." Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley could not recall a night as cursed as the miserable one he endured in the team’s loss to the Lions on Saturday. Four of the club's best players sustained injuries one after the other, after the team had already lost Jamie Elliott to injury before the game. Ben Reid re-did a hamstring injury, Dayne Beams hurt his posterior cruciate ligament and Travis Cloke injured an ankle. All three will not play again this year. Captain Scott Pendlebury was a late withdrawal in the final minutes of warm-up with a quadriceps injury. Elliott withdrew before that with hamstring tightness. Emergency Tony Armstrong was forced to play his second full game for the day. He ran almost 30 kilometres in the two matches after being the late call-up to the team for Pendlebury’s injury. “I have been in the caper 20 years now player and coach and I can’t remember a night like it,” Buckley said. To add to all these problems, when Buckley went down to the rooms at half-time to show players footage of the first half - which is the normal procedure in a game - the computers didn’t work. There was no footage. “There are things outside of our control and I have focused on things in our control. I think there are things that we can still do better, but you don’t anticipate to get dealt a hand that we got dealt this evening and to be honest it’s a snapshot of our whole season because too much has been left to too few too often due to not having available personnel,” Buckley said. With the defeat coming after the loss to West Coast last week, the Magpies have slipped to 10th on percentage. But despite the loss of key players for the remaining two games against GWS and Hawthorn, Buckley said he was not willing to give up. “When I say we're still not out of it, I mean it because we can still win our last two games,” he said. “We're not going to just crawl meekly into the corner and not compete. We've got a game against GWS next week and we'll play.” Buckley said the injuries had forced greater responsibility on young players and they had been exposed by the burden. “It’s exposed a lot of our players, some guys who have been great role players for a long time have been asked to be movers and shakers and that hasn’t come to fruition. A lot of young blokes have been asked to play very important roles in the side, they are not yet up to it, they are still going to get there and some of our most senior players our A-graders have had to turn themselves inside out just to keep everything together and it was a bit of a perfect storm this evening." Neither Tim Broomhead – who booted three goals in the first half – nor Ben Kennedy were rotated on the bench in the second half. Buckley said the injuries would not alter the philosophy for the remaining two games. “If the young bloke is the fittest bloke to play that role, and ready to play to go, I mean Jarrod Witts looked spent tonight. He's had a long season. He's played number one ruck for a long time. Brodie Grundy looked OK but Stefan Martin just turned them inside out all over the field.” Young ruck Corey Gault played well in the VFL where Jesse White also kicked four goals. Patrick Karnezis again played well and could come into the team while Paul Seedsman and Josh Thomas would be looked at again despite not having strong VFL games. |
COLLINGWOOD lost of a host of star players to injuries, dropped to 10th on the ladder and took a percentage hammering, but remains to determined to play a role in this year’s finals. The Magpies have lost five of their past six matches, the past two by at least 10 goals, but coach Nathan Buckley remains defiant. “When I say we’re still not out of it, I mean that, because we could still our last two games,’’ Buckley said. “So we’re not going to just crawl meekly into the corner and not compete.’’ It seemed as if everything that could go wrong for the Magpies did in their 67-point loss to the Brisbane Lions. Buckley described it as “a perfect storm’’. Jamie Elliott was a late withdrawal with hamstring complaint, captain Scott Pendlebury pulled out moments before the match with quad tightness, forward Travis Cloke injured his ankle in the second term, midfielder Dayne Beams appears to have damaged his posterior cruciate ligament and Ben Reid sustained what might be a season-ending hamstring strain in the fourth minute of the match. “Pendles is a bit of a quad on his right side and we don’t know. We’ll have that scanned and see how it is,’’ Buckley said. Pendlebury and Elliott remain a chance to play against Greater Western Sydney on Saturday, Cloke seems doubtful, while Reid and Beams look unlikely to play again this season. “I’ve been in the caper for 20 years now as a player and coach and I can’t remember a night like it,’’ Buckley said. “You don’t anticipate to get dealt the hand that we got dealt this evening, and to be honest it’s a snapshot of our whole season, because too much has been left to too few too often due to not having available personnel. “It’s exposed a lot of our players. Some guys who have been great role players for a long time have been asked to be movers and shakers and that hasn’t come to fruition. A lot of young blokes have been asked to play senior roles or very important roles in the side and they haven’t. They’re not yet up to it; they’ve still got to get there. Such was the coach’s night that at half time, when he went to show the players some match footage – as is his habit – the football department’s computer was not working. “And what’s more I thought we came up against an opposition who were clearly up and about,’’ Buckley said. “They were as strong at the end of the game as they were at the beginning.’’ Collingwood now plays the Giants and Hawthorn in the remaining two matches. COLLINGWOOD'S finals chances have taken a massive hit after a chaotic night at the MCG ended with the Magpies suffering a 67-point loss to the lowly Brisbane Lions. Needing a win to stay in touch with teams on the lower rungs of the top eight, the Pies were dealt an early blow when star forward Jamie Elliott withdrew due to hamstring soreness and was replaced by Clinton Young. Skipper Scott Pendlebury then suffered a quad injury in the warm-up and was forced out of the game. Pendlebury was replaced by Tony Armstrong, who had played a full game for Collingwood's VFL team at Geelong during the afternoon. The Magpies' night went from bad to disastrous when key position player Ben Reid suffered a hamstring injury in the opening minutes and had to be immediately subbed out. That meant Armstrong, who started as Collingwood's sub, had to play eight quarters of footy for the day. If all that wasn't enough to have coach Nathan Buckley tearing his hair out, key forward Travis Cloke went down with an ankle injury during the second quarter and took no further part in the game. And to top off a horror night, Dayne Beams hobbled from the field early in the third quarter with a knee injury after teammate Ben Kennedy accidentally fell across his leg. That left Buckley's team with just one player on the bench for the final 50 minutes. "I have been in the caper 20 years now as a player and coach and I can’t remember a night like it," Buckley said. "And what is more, I thought we came up against an opposition that were clearly up and about." The Lions, who six days earlier had lost to Adelaide at the Gabba by 105 points, made the most of the Magpies' bad luck and charged to an 18.15 (123) to 8.8 (56) victory. They did the majority of the damage in the second and third quarters, when they kicked nine goals to two. Having been 59 points up at the last change, by which time most of the Collingwood fans in the crowd of almost 33,000 had gone home, they coasted to their first win over the Pies since 2010. The stats sheet told much of the tale. The Lions finished with 430 disposals to 318 and 59 inside-50s to 43. "We … played our best football probably for the year, so that was pleasing," victorious coach Justin Leppitsch said. "I said to the players, 'Nothing's as good as it seems, nothing's as bad as it seems.' "We're not as bad a team as we were last week, but also understanding tonight that we (played) a very depleted side that had their issues as well. "We were able to take advantage of that, but we have to keep that in check as well." Speedy midfielder Dayne Zorko was among the many outstanding players on the winning team. He gathered 23 disposals in the first half and finished with 36 and two goals. Tom Rockliff, who picked up 43 touches in his 100th game, and Pearce Hanley were also prominent in the middle of the ground. They received some great service from mobile ruckman Stefan Martin, who ran Brodie Grundy and Jarrod Witts off their feet. In his second game, key forward Jonathan Freeman led the way in attack with a game-high four goals, while experienced big man Daniel Merrett slotted three. But Merrett was taken from the ground on a stretcher late in the last quarter after suffering an ankle injury when he fell awkwardly in the goalsquare. Collingwood's best players were Steele Sidebottom, Brent Macaffer, Dane Swan, who was back after three weeks on the sidelines with a foot injury, and Young. Small forward Tim Broomhead showed some spark early on, kicking three goals in the first half. Armstrong, who played across half-back and had to man up on pacy youngsters like James Aish and Jack Crisp, racked up 17 touches in a commendable performance. The Magpies, who lost to West Coast by 10 goals last weekend, now have a 10-10 win-loss record. They will need to win their last two home and away matches, against Greater Western Sydney (Spotless Stadium) and Hawthorn (MCG), to have any hope of making the finals. “I have been in the caper 20 years now player and coach and I can’t remember a night like it.”
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