COLLINGWOOD 3.3.21 7.6.48 12.11.83 12.14.86
BRISBANE 2.3.15 3.5.23 7.6.48 11.8.74
SCORERS - Collingwood: White (2.3), Cloke (2.2), Blair (2.0), Sidebottom (2.0), Crisp (1.1), Elliott (1.1), Fasolo (1.1), Varcoe (1.1), Langdon (0.1), Swan (0.1)
BEST - Collingwood: Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Cloke, Swan, Adams, White, Grundy
INJURIES - Collingwood: Steele Sidebottom (broken thumb)
SUBSTITUTES - Collingwood: Jordan De Goey replaced Adam Oxley in the third quarter
REPORTS: Nil
OFFICIAL CROWD: 31,240 at the Gabba
| 1. Pies' pressure puts nightmare week behind them If there was a question on how the Magpies would react after their tumultuous week, they answered it in emphatic fashion. Sure, they ran out of legs as the Lions stormed home in the final 40 minutes, but the Pies' intensity was relentless for most of the night. The provisional suspensions for Lachlan Keeffe and Josh Thomas early in the week might have sent a shock through the club, but you would never have known it from the on-field performance. They smashed the Lions in contested possessions (164-152) and gave their opponents no room to move. The attitude was spot on and it was a suffocating defensive effort that Collingwood fans should get excited over. 2. Rocky's broken ribs rub it in As if the loss wasn't bad enough for the Lions, inspirational skipper Tom Rockliff has suspected broken ribs. Early in the third quarter new Magpie Travis Varcoe flew for a mark at half-forward and collected Rockliff in the ribs with his right knee. The 2014 All Australian and best and fairest winner was in agony and assisted from the field by Lions' medical staff before being subbed. His team rallied in his absence, but losing the skipper was a cruel blow. 3. Adams ambushes Beams' big match He was the centre of attention all week, and Dayne Beams busted his backside in his first game since leaving Collingwood for the Lions - but Taylor Adams might have just got the points. Beams got plenty of the ball, racking up a game-high 32 disposals, but 25 of them were handballs, and many of them backwards. With regular tagger Brent Macaffer sidelined with an ACL injury, Adams (who had 29 touches of his own) might have put his hand up for a regular run-with role. On the flipside, ex-Lion Jack Crisp was more than serviceable in his first game for the Magpies, finishing with 13 disposals and a classy right-footed snapped goal in the third quarter. |
4. Man of Steele steps up The Magpies lost Beams in the off-season, Thomas during the week and are still without Clinton Young (hamstring), but Steele Sidebottom picked up any midfield slack in spades before breaking his thumb early in the final term. The classy on-baller had just 19 disposals, but it's the quality that counts and he laid two goals on a platter in the dominant first half and added two of his own to set-up the match-winning lead. Dane Swan (31) and skipper Scott Pendlebury (25) were their usual prolific selves, and showed they're also in top touch to start the season. 5. What's the weird hand contraption on Collingwood's bench? Just when you think you've seen everything possible to do with recovery and rehabilitation, AFL clubs continue to surprise. When sitting on the bench during the first half, ruckman Brodie Grundy and defender Nathan Brown were seen sporting a strange 'claw' like contraption over their hand. Whether it was a mini ice glove or not, it certainly worked, because Grundy was superb against the Lions' tandem of Matthew Leuenberger and Stefan Martin, while Brown was also solid at the back. "If there was a question on how the Magpies would react after their tumultuous week, they answered it in emphatic fashion. Sure, they ran out of legs as the Lions stormed home in the final 40 minutes, but the Pies' intensity was relentless for most of the night. The provisional suspensions for Lachlan Keeffe and Josh Thomas early in the week might have sent a shock through the club, but you would never have known it from the on-field performance. " |
| THE MEDIA | |
|
COLLINGWOOD withstood a dramatic fightback from Brisbane to register a hard-earned, but richly deserved 12-point win at the Gabba on Saturday night. The Magpies led by as many as 53 points during the third term but were given an almighty scare when the Lions booted the last seven goals of the match to almost pinch an unlikely victory. However, a visibly tired Collingwood outfit dug deep and found a way to hold on for the 12.14 (86) to 11.8 (74) result. The win was soured by the injury to Steele Sidebottom with the midfielder to miss a few weeks after breaking his right thumb. Compounding Brisbane's hurt, skipper Tom Rockliff suffered suspected broken ribs after copping a knee to his side midway through the third quarter. The collision occurred in a marking contest with Collingwood's Travis Varcoe, with Rockliff in clear agony as he was substituted out of the match and later taken to hospital. Rockliff was Brisbane's best at that stage with 18 possessions and four clearances. Star Lions recruit Dayne Beams also saw plenty of the football, amassing a game-high 32 disposals in his first match since his move from Collingwood - but he only kicked the ball seven times, and was minded closely by Taylor Adams for most of the night. After missing almost all of the 2014 season following a knee reconstruction, Daniel Rich made a sensational return to football with 29 possessions and two goals. Quelling fears their midfield would struggle without the former All Australian and 2010 premiership star, the Magpies easily outpaced, outmuscled and outmanoeuvred the disappointing hosts for most of the night in front of 31,240 fans - Brisbane's best crowd in five years. The humid conditions didn't help but the Lions were too clumsy with the ball and often timid going forward when the game was up for grabs - in stark contrast to Collingwood's rapid play. All the pre-match focus was on Brisbane's improved midfield and their hopes of a top-eight breakthrough following the key additions of Beams and Allen Christensen. But it was Collingwood's usual suspects Dane Swan (31 possessions) and Sidebottom (19) who ran riot, while Taylor Adams (29) and Scott Pendlebury (25) were equally impressive. Travis Cloke was the game's dominant forward with two goals, manhandling defenders at will and providing his side with exactly the kind of focal point the Lions lacked. Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said his side's control of stoppages slipped in the second half, allowing the Lions back into the contest. "We basically dominated the game for the best part of three quarters and gave the opposition a sniff because we didn't finish a couple of chances," he said. "We gave ourselves a bit of a scare but the leadership and the pluck in that last eight minutes to hold the game and do what we needed to do was pretty good. Brisbane coach Justin Leppitsch was struggling to wrap his head around why his side were so poor early and so good late. "It's extremely frustrating to start like that," he said. "Three quarters of watching us get completely obliterated in contested possession and effort and tackling and all those key indicators, to somehow turn it around ... I'd love to know (what it was). "I'd love to get to the bottom of it because we've been pretty competitive in the pre-season and that's probably as poor as we've gone." It began tightly, two middling teams finding their way tentatively into the season. After the early struggle, the ascendancy was taken, and for a significant portion of the match, a walkover loomed. And then it was a thriller. Played in slippery, humid conditions in Brisbane, this game had more faces than Melbourne's weather. In the end it finished with a Collingwood victory in heavy rain, rain that might have taken some momentum away from the charging Brisbane Lions. It was probably a fair result – the Pies held a 53-point lead late in the third term – but they had to dig deep to secure the win, their players visibly flagging as the game wore on. The Lions had looked shot. They'd lost their captain Tom Rockliff in a disastrous beginning to the third term, packed off to hospital after getting a knee in the ribs from a new Magpie, former Cat Travis Varcoe. Only three goals in red time in the third quarter had given them a ghost of a chance. But Daniel Rich's scrambled goal from the first clearance of the last change forced flagging Collingwood into lock-down mode. They were able to hold the Lions out for 10 minutes, but Josh Green's second – and the sight of Steele Sidebottom on the bench with ice on his thumb – sent a shiver through the Pies' camp. Then Allen Christensen found another from a free kick, reducing the margin to 16 points with ample time left for a team on the charge. Dayne Beams, who'd found plenty of the ball but barely got his foot to it, picked out Green for his third. That could have been a cue for panic, but older, wiser heads prevailed. It was a good game, played in front of the biggest crowd at the Gabba in years, but one that answered few longer-term questions hanging over both clubs. The Lions looked most vulnerable, with the promising but raw Daniel McStay the only genuine key forward in their set-up, with ruckman Matthew Leuenberger in support. Collingwood have their own problems up forward, but they do boast size and experience in Travis Cloke and Jesse White. They've been overly reliant on Cloke and his often malfunctioning radar, but from the start the big man was leading up the ground, leaving White and smaller players Jamie Elliott and Alex Fasolo at his feet. It was a canny move, because it left Justin Clarke – the only player who could run with Cloke – to be rag-dolled by the big man, while Daniel Merrett (the only player capable of matching Cloke's brute strength) stayed deep in defence on White, who played one of his best games for his club. Cloke, too, looked free – mentally and physically – and was among the most influential early, seizing on a woeful error by Claye Beams to toe-poke a ball through in the goal square, then ripping Clarke off the footy to set up Varcoe for his first goal as a Magpie. A second goal to Cloke, Varcoe this time returning the favour, saw the Pies to half-time with a handy 25-point break. The Lions were winning enough possessions, but couldn't convert. That, you suspect, will be a recurring problem. Collingwood's other trump was Sidebottom, who looks ready to move into the league's top bracket. He kicked Collingwood's first goal, had a devilishly clever hand in two others in the first half, then kicked the Magpies' first of the second to instantly make the Lions' job far more difficult. A goal to an ex-Lion in Jack Crisp swiftly followed and quietened a sizeable home crowd, and while Jed Adcock mustered a badly needed reply, Elliott and White came close to finishing the match. When Rockliff left the field in agony, that really should have been it. But Collingwood sprayed some opportunities to let the Lions back in with a flurry of majors. |
SUSPECTED broken ribs to Brisbane captain Tom Rockliff was the injury. The agonising 12-point loss at the hands of Collingwood was the insult for the fast-finishing Lions who left their charge at the Magpies too late at the Gabba. Brisbane kicked the last seven goals of the game to give Collingwood a mighty fright after the Magpies held a commanding 53-point buffer at the 25-minute mark of the third term. They closed to within just 10 points but Collingwood held firm in the dying minutes. The expected fireworks between the sides over ex-Magpie and new Lions recruit Dayne Beams never really eventuated and neither did a genuine contest until Brisbane’s stunning surge at the back-end of the match. The victory was all the more remarkable given the Magpies were engulfed in a drugs drama at the start of the week after Lachlan Keeffe and Josh Thomas tested positive for performance enhancing drugs. But if any club is used to absorbing drama, it’s Collingwood. And that is the way it played out as the Magpies were sure by foot and hand and Brisbane struggled to hang on to the Sherrin that was made all the more slippery due to the humidity until their last quarter heroics. The tacking pressure and ferocity of Collingwood also played a big part in Brisbane’s early error-prone effort in front of 31,240 spectators. The rib injury to Rockliff was the salt in the wound for the home side who carried great expectations into the clash after a highly successful summer. Rockliff copped a knee in his rib cage from Magpies forward Travis Varcoe in a marking contest midway through the third term and slumped to the turf. He was in considerable pain as he was assisted from the field as he struggled to stay on his feet. He was taken to hospital for tests before the match concluded. Beams was at the centre of two minor scuffles — one at half-time and another after he missed a target in the second quarter and his former teammates swooped to let him know about it. He was booed the first time he touched the ball with the Gabba full of Collingwood supporters but still finished with a game-high 32 touches and nine clearances. Dane Swan (31 possessions), Brodie Grundy (31 hit-outs and 13 touches) and Taylor Adams (29 possessions) were the best for the Pies while Daniel Rich was the central figure in the comeback and was Brisbane’s best with 30 touches. Collingwood held a 25-point lead at half-time but could have been further in front given the dominance of the visitors in super slippery conditions. Apart from the opening five minutes when it was all Brisbane, the Pies controlled proceedings. At the main break, Collingwood had nine less disposals than Brisbane but six more tackles, three more clearances, 11 more contested possessions and five more marks inside 50 and 10 more inside 50 entries. Even in the humid conditions that made the Sherrin like a cake of soap, the Lions were guilty of some terrible skill errors that gifted possession to the Pies. Brisbane jumped out of the gates through a strong mark and goal to Daniel McStay but the Magpies responded with goals to Steele Sidebottom, Jarryd Blair and Jesse White to seize the momentum. Lions ruckman stopped the rot with a goal late in the first term but the Magpies still held a one-goal buffer at the first change. Collingwood came out with all guns blazing to start the second quarter with Travis Cloke, Alex Fasolo and Travis Varcoe piling on the pain with goals as the Lions continued to miss targets and turnover the ball. Dayne Zorko offered some hope for the home side with a clever snap but Cloke’s second major for the term allowed Collingwood to stamp their authority on the contest just before the main break. Magpies defender Alan Toovey hit Lions livewire Lewis Taylor with a heavy bump late in the second quarter. Toovey appeared to be bracing for contact and hit Taylor in the chest and shoulder but the incident is still likely to be looked at by the Match Review Panel. Lions players wore black armbands last night following the passing of Ray Black — the father of club legend and Brisbane assistant coach Simon Black. COLLINGWOOD midfielder Steele Sidebottom will miss "a few weeks" after breaking his thumb in Saturday night's gutsy victory over the Brisbane Lions. Sidebottom was one of the Magpies' best in the 12-point win before suffering the injury early in the final quarter. The 24-year-old had 19 disposals, kicked two goals and set up two others before his injury allowed the Lions roar back into the contest. Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said Sidebottom copped a kick to the thumb. "The early diagnosis is a break," Buckley said. "We'll need to know whether that's going to need a pin, but he'll miss a few weeks with that." Sidebottom's injury took the gloss off a superb performance from Collingwood, just four days after Lachlan Keeffe and Josh Thomas were provisionally suspended for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Collingwood destroyed the Lions in the first three quarters to lead by as many as 53 points, and despite the Lions' late surge, Buckley was full of praise for his men. "We basically dominated the game for the best part of three quarters," he said. "We gave the opposition a sniff because we didn't finish a couple of chances at the end of the third quarter and gave ourselves a bit of a scare. "But I thought the leadership and pluck in that last eight minutes to hold the game and do what we needed to do was pretty good." Buckley said skipper Scott Pendlebury, defender Alan Toovey and ex-Cat Travis Varcoe were among the experienced heads that kept composed under pressure. He said despite the players overcoming a tumultuous week off the field to get the four premiership points, the impact of the drugs situation was far from over. "It takes some time for that shock to settle in," Buckley said. "I wouldn't think it would be truly absorbed yet by the players. "Their immediate reaction is to feel for their teammates, to support them. The club's immediate reaction is to provide support for those two players and the players and staff of the footy club and we'll continue to do that. "It's not going to be done in a week, it's not going to be done in two weeks. It will transpire as the season progresses. "I've spoken to the players but I have deliberately not asked about specific events because I'm not sure where that takes the investigation." "We gave the opposition a sniff because we didn't finish a couple of chances at the end of the third quarter and gave ourselves a bit of a scare. But I thought the leadership and pluck in that last eight minutes to hold the game and do what we needed to do was pretty good." Nathan Buckley |
No comments :
Post a Comment