THE BLOWTORCH being applied to Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has been doused - momentarily at least - with his Magpies opening their season's account with an astonishing one-point win over Sydney at the SCG.
Facing their first 0-3 start since 1999, Collingwood looked to have relented when the Swans hit the lead in the 20th minute of the final term for the first time in the match.
However, a magnificent set-shot goal from the pocket by Will Hoskin-Elliott put the Magpies up again and they stretched their lead to seven points with two behinds, before second-game player Nic Newman scored a goal to make it the solitary point again.
In a frantic final confrontation, the Magpies held on to secure a pressure-relieving win in front of a breathless crowd of 35,310.
"You can't get anything from the first two weeks back, but it's a lot better feeling when you're on this side of the ledger. We had to fight pretty hard for it," Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said.
"Once again tonight we had some periods of dominance, as we had through the first couple of weeks. It'll be our job to make sure that we're more consistent in the application of that.
"[The belief] has been there. We worked really hard through pre-season, but it was important for us to open the ledger on the season. We put ourselves in a little bit of a hole the first couple of weeks. So, to be able to get that results, as narrow as it was, it's a positive one for us."
The Magpies' triumph ruined Lance Franklin's 250th match celebrations - the superstar forward went goalless, too - and leaves the Swans winless from their first three matches of 2017.
The Swans have been hit hard by early season injuries, forced to field five debutants already, but coach John Longmire made no excuses.
"We always try to be competitive no matter how many young players we have in the team, or who we're playing," he said.
"There's been a number of them that have been pretty good over the last couple of weeks, and a couple were good again tonight."
Collingwood's victory was built on a superb opening quarter, Alex Fasolo's four first-half goals and a remarkable tackle count of 113 that will quieten critics of their defensive efforts so far this season.
The Swans midfield got moving as the game progressed but gave up too much early. Youngster Will Hayward was a bright spot, scoring three goals in an energetic display.
Collingwood made an explosive start, clobbering Sydney's lethargic midfield and piling on 23 inside 50s to just two to earn a 21-point quarter-time lead.
Fasolo made the most of his three scoring opportunities and Jack Crisp added another, though the Pies' dominance might have earned even more on the scoreboard.
Remarkably, it took until the 18th minute for Sydney to enter their attacking 50 and it resulted in second-gamer Robbie Fox's first AFL goal. It was one of just two entries for the term.
A furious spray from coach John Longmire must have resonated because by half-time Sydney had narrowed the gap to just nine points, edging Collingwood's advantage in contested possession and clearances.
Hayward and Kieren Jack kicked two goals each, as Josh Kennedy and Dan Hannebery started getting more of the ball and the Swans' intensity rose noticeably.
Yet the Magpies' defensive effort absorbed well, yielding a goal to Fasolo and two neat set shot goals from the pocket by Jesse White and Levi Greenwood, who was back from injury.
In the third, Travis Varcoe, Collingwood's other inclusion, scored early and Adam Treloar's super effort on the run from outside the arc was one for the highlights reel, but Sydney got back to within nine points with majors to Hannebery and Kennedy, as the midfield arm-wrestle began to bite.
Sam Reid potted a free kick from beyond 50 metres to start the final term and get the Swans to within a kick.
Varcoe and Hayward swapped their second and third, respectively, before a pin-point centering kick by Franklin found Oliver Florent, whose resulting goal made it a one-point game.
From there it was anyone's to win and Collingwood were able to hang on in a thriller.
MEDICAL ROOM
Remarkably, after such a torrid contest, both sides appear to have emerged without injury.
NEXT UP
Collingwood heads back to Melbourne for a Sunday afternoon meeting with St Kilda.
NATHAN Buckley was right.
The early obituaries meted out for Collingwood's 2017 season — potentially for their coach's tenure — were, on the raw evidence of Friday night's morale-boosting one-point win over Sydney, premature.
And while it remains to be seen if Buckley's team can somehow transform this first win of 2017 into a template for the season ahead, it at least alleviates the pressure that was hovering over everyone at the Holden Centre like a black cloud.
But what the manic last few moments of this thrilling match showed was the players were desperate to crack in for their coach, even if they almost dragged another loss from the jaws of victory until first-year Magpie Will Hoskin-Elliott nailed a crucial goal 21 minutes into the last term to regain a lead stolen from them for the first time a few moments earlier.
It was a critical goal after a series of misses from Levi Greenwood, Alex Fasolo (who finished the game with four first-half goals), Jesse White, Adam Treloar and Steele Sidebottom, and the delight in the coach's box gave a hint of the pressure that was affixed to him all week.
Buckley had said during the week skipper Scott Pendlebury and Treloar had thrown themselves on a grenade during the week in saying the players had been at fault for the losses to the Western Bulldogs and Richmond.
But last night it was 22 Magpies committed to the task — even if still a little wasteful — and a coaching group that came with a plan to upset last year's grand finalists.
Incredibly, it was Collingwood's first win at the SCG since April Fool's Day 2000, but there was no joking around about this result, nor the gallant and desperate effort in the last term that saw the Magpies hold on.
Buckley entrusted Henry Schade to start on Buddy Franklin in his 250th game, and the milestone man finished the game without a goal, despite almost clawing his team back into it.
Collingwood dominated the stats count for most of the night, as they had in the previous fortnight, but this time the visitors were able to be a little cleaner with the ball.
They led the marks, the uncontested possessions and the tackle count, as well as, most importantly, the scoreboard.
Critically, Collingwood was as desperate as it had been all season.
It had 115 tackles, with Treloar (14), Sidebottom (12), Taylor Adams (11) and Scott Pendlebury (10), many in the frantic dying moments as the Pies clawed their way forward against a Sydney tide that kept coming.
And Treloar kicked a remarkable third-term goal from 50m that lifted his team.
Pre-game Buckley said the Magpies had done their best to "clear their mind" and wanted to try and slice their way through the Swans' defence.
That they did the opening term, and had 23 inside 50s to two. It was what Channel Seven stats guru Josh Kay tweeted was "biggest first quarter discrepancy of the 2000s".
The Pies led at every change, by 21 at quarter-time, and by nine at the last two changes, but when challenged in the last term, they responded magnificently, even if they squandered chances to give the coach an easier time of it in the frantic last minutes.
But a win is a win and, for Collingwood and its coach, this blue-collar effort was worth its weight in gold.
"He (Henry Schade) was the right match-up [on Franklin]. One thing he doesn't waver on is his positioning. He knows exactly where his man is, where the ball is and he's really aggressive with his positioning. He takes the game on in that regard. His offence has been pretty strong. He rarely makes the wrong decision. If you're going to collapse after a couple of bad ones, you're not going to make it in this caper. He's a strong, resilient young man and we're seeing him stand up. There's still a lot of growth in him and we're looking forward to that. [Franklin's] a gun. We've got enormous respect for him."
Nathan Buckley
|
What was supposed to be a year of redemption for the Swans is fast turning into their annus horribilis after a one-point defeat to Collingwood on Friday night - the first time since 1999 they've lost their opening three games of the season.
Celebrations of Lance Franklin's 250th AFL were put on ice as the Magpies eased the pressure on embattled coach Nathan Buckley with a superbly determined effort in a pressure cooker at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Ex-GWS Giant Will Hoskin-Elliott kicked the match-winner with less than five minutes on the clock, marking 40m out hard up against the left boundary line before going back and threading the needle.
The Swans pressed hard after Hoskin-Elliott's goal with Nic Newman slotting home from the goal square after Franklin had marked, but the clock ultimately cut short their comeback. Franklin was left goalless in his milestone match, after collecting four apiece in the opening two rounds, while fellow spearhead Sam Reid finished with just major.
"We've got enormous respect for him [Franklin] and I think most clubs spend a fair bit of time in their match committees working out how they're going to handle him, and making sure they've scored the direct opponent or the back six up on taking away his time and space," Buckley said.
"Even tonight he looked very dangerous at times which is probably why we're so proud of Henry [Schade] and his job on him and the rest of the team to be able to quell his influence.
"Schade's been fantastic, he's earned his spot there. It's a lot better feeling when you're on that side of the ledger."
Collingwood was led by Alex Fasolo's superb four-goal first half, and a hard-running midfield of Taylor Adams, Adam Treloar, Hoskin-Elliott and the ageless Scott Pendlebury.
Schade and Tyson Goldsack also did their jobs admirably on Franklin and Reid respectively.
Sydney were favoured as one of the major premiership contenders in season 2017 after losing last year's decider to the Western Bulldogs - the Swans' second grand final loss in the past three years. But nothing has gone right for the red and white.
Friday's loss to the Magpies, which can be largely blamed on an insipid opening quarter, follows defeats already to Port Adelaide and the Bulldogs.
The club boasts a growing casualty ward that already includes stars Dane Rampe, Isaac Heeney, Jarrad McVeigh, Kurt Tippett and Tom Papley, while embattled board member Tim Worner resigned on Thursday night.
All of a sudden the AFL's most consistent club over the last two decades, certainly in terms of finals appearances, faces a monumental battle to fight their way into the top eight this season.
"It's a really tough one with the things you can't control, whether it's compartment syndrome or glandular fever or a bloke tripping over a fence," Longmire said.
"The aim was always to be as competitive as we could possibly be for that first month and that's still our aim.
"Sometimes you can worry about that but in the end I've just got to focus on the things I can control and who is available and who's playing and make sure we get the little things right for longer during the course of a game.
"The problem was we lost the first quarter by 21 and that certainly had an impact.
"We were a bit rushed and not as composed as we should have in the first quarter. We tried to play on too much and we were under the pump.
"We addressed it after that after quarter time and adjusted quite well. We won the scoreboard from that point onwards we just didn't get our noses in front."
The Swans' opening term was quite possibly the worst quarter of football the club has produced since John Longmire took over as head coach in 2011.
It was uncompetitive to the point of being unbelievable, and as un-Sydney like as one could imagine.
The inside-50s read 23-2 in Collingwood's favour. The Magpies marked the ball 28 more times, had 147 disposals to 85 and six more clearances.
That the visitors only managed to kick four goals amidst such dominance was a minor miracle. Fasolo booted three in that quarter alone including a brilliant banana bender late on, while Jack Crisp also helped himself to a six-pointer.
Franklin touched it three times in the first term, and two of those possessions led to shots on goal. Robbie Fox converted a set shot for his first in AFL football, while Callum Sinclair's long shot from hard up against the boundary was punched onto the post for a behind.
Sydney started turning the wheel after the first break, and forced their way back into the contest, sending the ball into their forward 50 on 12 more occasions than Collingwood in the second term.
Fasolo popped up for another goal while ex-Swan Jesse White dobbed a pearler from hard up against the boundary line to a volume of jeers from the home side, but it was two late goals by Kieren Jack that just about swung the momentum going into the main break.
And that's how the second half continued to play out. The Swans desperately tried to reel in the margin that had been stretched too far at quarter time, but Collingwood kept doing just enough to repel the home side.
Reid did his best to get Franklin involved in the third term when he marked 25m out from goal right in front and gave a looping handball over the top to Buddy in the goal square.
Collingwood's defence had also spied Franklin loose on his own, and were able to apply enough pressure to worry him into a behind. It summed up Franklin's night.
Right on three-quarter time he broke free on the wing, and charged towards goal before unloading a typical long bomb from outside 50. It narrowly missed, scraping through for a behind instead - his third of the night.
All Australian defender Nick Smith was dispatched to shut down Fasolo after the main break and he remained goalless from then on.
Second-gamer Will Hayward was a shining light in a losing team, kicking three goals as one of the Swans' best but his best efforts weren't quite enough.
Longmire's Swans have now lost four games in a row for the first time under his tutelage with a daunting trip to Perth against West Coast to come, while Buckley can now take a momentary breather from the ravenous blowtorch being applied to his coaching ahead of St Kilda next week.
COLLINGWOOD made a remarkable 113 tackles in their duck-breaking one-point win over Sydney at the SCG on Friday night, but perhaps no individual defensive effort made coach Nathan Buckley more proud than that of Lance Franklin's tagger for the evening, Henry Schade.
The former Gold Coast key defender, who was picked up by the Magpies this season, was given the mighty task of shutting down Buddy in front of his home crowd in his 250th match.
And, after a tough couple of games to start the season, the 23-year-old did just that, restricting the superstar forward to 17 touches, seven marks and keeping Buddy goalless.
Buckley said he had no doubts about placing Schade on Franklin.
"He was the right match-up," Buckley said.
"One thing he doesn't waver on is his positioning. He knows exactly where his man is, where the ball is and he's really aggressive with his positioning. He takes the game on in that regard. His offence has been pretty strong. He rarely makes the wrong decision.
"If you're going to collapse after a couple of bad ones, you're not going to make it in this caper. He's a strong, resilient young man and we're seeing him stand up. There's still a lot of growth in him and we're looking forward to that.
"[Franklin's] a gun. We've got enormous respect for him. I think most clubs spend a bit of time in their match committees trying to work out how they're going to handle him. Even tonight he looked very dangerous at times, which is why we're so proud of Henry and his job on him, and the rest of the team, to be able quell his influence."
Schade was well backed up by Tyson Goldsack on Sam Reid, with support from Jeremy Howe and Brayden Maynard, who Buckley said had played his best game for the club.
"We've got some guys in there that are prepared to play footy the right way, which is encouraging," he said.
While the back six pleased the coach, he also made a point of praising the pressure applied across midfield, which has come under some scrutiny in the Pies' opening two losses.
"Scott [Pendlebury], Steele [Sidebottom] and Taylor [Adams], their leadership was first class," he said.
"They were our highest pressure players. There's been a little bit of criticism around about their defensive pressure but they're elite players, hardened players. I think Adam Treloar, also, has been fantastic for us.
"They continue to be really strong midfielders that work both ways. We want them to continue to round their games out and show us what they've got." |
