MATHEMATICALLY, Collingwood's season isn't dead. But on almost every other scale of judgment, the Magpies would need to be Lazarus with a triple bypass to be still alive this September.
The simple fact is, they aren't good enough at the moment.
That much was evident for the majority of Saturday's game at the MCG when Port Adelaide stamped itself as a serious contender in its first match at the MCG this year, outplaying and almost bullying Collingwood in the process.
And star forward Robbie Gray matched the Magpies on the scoreboard for the best part of three quarters, finishing with five goals and five other scoring assists.
Gray was clean and clinical, which was almost the antithesis of Collingwood's day.
The final margin was 31 points, even if it could have, and should have been more.
Still, it was the club's heaviest defeat of what has been a stuttering, yet mostly competitive season.
The loss leaves Collingwood 5-8 on the ledger. Given the way it played, the Magpies don't have seven more wins left in them for the remaining nine games of the year to break what looks like being a four-year finals drought.
In many ways, the only reason their season since has a pulse is because of the ridiculously even spread on the AFL ladder.
The disappointing loss, before a poor crowd of 35,933, will once more spark the debate on Nathan Buckley's future as coach.
Leaving that aside for the moment, because it won't be determined until much later in the season, Buckley was bitterly disappointed in the way his team was so easily pushed aside by an impressive and powerful (pardon the pun) opponent.
The one thing that Buckley and his team have prided themselves on this season has been their competitiveness, but not on Saturday.
It seemed as if only once during the match that the Magpies seemed as if they were capable of getting things back on an even keel.
They kicked the first goal of the third term to cut the margin to 11 points. Then, on the next move forward, Tom Langdon sprayed the ball going into attack, which was symbolic of Collingwood's disposal woes all over the ground.
The Power responded with the next five goals of the match, and it was game over.
Robbie Gray was everything Collingwood didn't have — a polished, creative forward who made the most of his opportunities.
In contrast, Collingwood's forward line was the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle — the ball went in and mysteriously (yet predictably) came out beyond reason at times.
The Magpies struggled for an effective forward all day, with Alex Fasolo trying hard, Darcy Moore well beaten but kicking three late goals, and with the sort of headaches caused by a scoreline of only nine goals.
It was made worse by the fact that Collingwood's gun midfielder brigade had 132 disposals between them, but none troubled the scorers.
Disposals clearly everything. The Magpies had the ball 78 more times than the Power, and had only six fewer inside 50s, but so much of this game comes back to what you do with it, rather than how often you get it.
That has been the story of Collingwood's missed opportunities this season, and unless that changes, the narrative won't either.
There's been much scepticism all season about Port Adelaide regardless of how many wins the Power have clocked up.
Despite their current top-four status, there was plenty even in the lead-up to Saturday's MCG clash with Collingwood.
Never mind the fact the Pies sat nine spots lower on the ladder with two fewer wins, or even the Power's recent history at the venue, four wins in their past five, indeed a 67-point belting of the Pies the last time they'd played at the 'G a year ago.
Saturday's sequel, an emphatic 31-point win over the Pies, still might not persuade a few that the Power are the real deal. But you can say with some certainty that they are a much, much better team than Collingwood.
While it took well into the third term for the visitors to build a margin they could feel certain was a winning gap, so superior were they in general play, so much more dangerous up forward, and so much slicker in their ball use, that the difference in this game was far more than a glance at the scores would indicate.
Port were on a mission at the start of this game, one which yielded four first-quarter goals but could easily have produced seven or eight such was their edge over the Pies.
The Power had already missed a couple of opportunities when Jarman Impey raced in to post the opener. Robbie Gray made it two with a lovely banana from a forward pocket, Port speedster Matthew White setting that one up and seemingly everywhere on the ground. Not into time-on, he'd already had five touches, three score involvements and a "poster".
It was Alex Fasolo who finally got Collingwood on the board, but rather than a steadier, that merely proved the catalyst for another Port burst, Jake Neade replying almost instantly after a quick handball from Travis Boak.
And the Pies were in a deal of bother after Gray got his second from a courageous mark following a long driving ball from Charlie Dixon.
A margin of 21 points already come quarter-time was arguably a decent result for Collingwood given what had unfolded. And the Pies did turn out in the second term like a team which knew it might have got off the hook and could still make their opponent pay.
Skipper Scott Pendlebury, already conspicuous, had a massive quarter with a dozen further disposals. Fasolo booted a second. Jordan De Goey, very quiet, suddenly exploded from a stoppage and snapped a ripper on his left foot.
But Port sensed the tide turning, too. And they also had their own trump card in Gray. By the long break, the brilliant forward/midfielder had four goals and a couple of score assists, and his two goals within three minutes when the Pies started to threaten were crucial.
The first saw him pounce on a quick centre bounce clearance and snap on his right. He followed that up with a beautiful mark running with the flight and under severe heat from Tyson Goldsack, duly converted to another goal.
Collingwood did at least keep hanging around for a while. The Pies booted the last goal of the first half, and the first of the second. But no period emphasised the yawning gap in class here than what followed in the third term.
Gray continued his influence by cleverly putting a handball into the path of White to soccer one through. He did the job himself for the next, his fifth before midway through the third term.
From the next bounce, Chad Wingard smacked one home from all of 60 metres. Sam Gray marked and popped through another after Impey's centre. And when Ollie Wines gratefully cashed in on a free near goal, Port had added five goals in a row, four in under six minutes, and the difference now was 42 points.
Everything that happened subsequently, a "hanger" by Brodie Grundy, a couple of late goals to the very quiet Darcy Moore, was, in the context of the result, mere window dressing. Not that five-goals-plus isn't a decent margin anyway, but this one felt, on the balance of play, a lot closer to 10.
So it's five out of six now for Port at the MCG, with one more game to play there in the lead-up to the finals, good reconnaissance for what's coming up in a couple of months. Which is now a "gimme".
The doubters aren't likely to go away before then, but it hardly matters, really. Because neither are Port. |
A ROBBIE Gray masterclass has steered Port Adelaide to a critical 31-point victory on its season debut at the MCG against an overwhelmed Collingwood on Saturday.
The brilliant forward kicked four of his five goals in the first half to give the Power a 17-point edge before the visitors put the Magpies to the sword with five-straight third-quarter majors.
Four of them came in a six-minute burst as Port surged a match-high 42 points clear, kick-started by Gray's fifth when he bobbed up with the ball behind a pack of players and strolled into goal.
Collingwood launched a brief fightback, but never seriously threatened as Ken Hinkley's men recorded a 13.15 (93) to 9.8 (62) victory in front of 35,933 fans to entrench itself in the top four.
The Pies remain off the top-eight pace as they desperately seek a first finals appearance in four years.
"I'm proud of the performance today by the boys and any time you travel interstate and win games is big when you build a football season," Hinkley told reporters.
"Collingwood has been in really strong, solid form and some might say we still haven't beaten a top-eight side.
"We love coming to the 'G, first and foremost … but when you play in a national comp, it's a challenge to go interstate – whether it's in Melbourne or any of the other states – and we just look forward to going there and giving our best and coming away with wins."
Collingwood's sole third-term highlight was ruckman Brodie Grundy's towering grab in defence, but even that resulted in teammate Ben Reid leaving the field courtesy of an accidental knee to the head.
The Power were strong inside the contest all day, thanks in large part to midfield bulls Ollie Wines and Sam Powell-Pepper.
The first-year NAB AFL Rising Star nominee was bold and cheeky enough to bury Pies skipper Scott Pendlebury into the ground after one of his bruising tackles.
They had 26 contested possessions and nine clearances between them. Forgotten speedster Matt White complemented their efforts inside with his trademark hard running.
Forgotten speedster Matt White complemented their efforts inside with his trademark hard running.
The ex-Tiger was a late replacement on Friday for defender Matthew Broadbent (ankle) and made a scintillating start to what was just his third game in the past two seasons. He had a hand in Port Adelaide's first three goals.
But Robbie Gray – opposed firstly to Tom Langdon, then Tyson Goldsack – was the difference, booting his second goal to the first break from 40m, after a soaring overhead pack grab.
The Power's quarter-time lead would have been more than 21 points if not for Gray and Charlie Dixon's sprayed set shots inside the first five minutes.
Gray continued to dominate in attack and added two second-quarter goals – one after gathering superbly then swinging onto his right boot, before another following a difficult mark running towards goal.
Collingwood still managed to grind its way back into the contest through weight of possession.
Pendlebury (32 disposals) was a solid performer from the outset, but fellow stars Steele Sidebottom (36) and Adam Treloar (35) blossomed alongside their captain in the second term.
Meanwhile, Port's ball use slipped somewhat, with Wines one of the culprits.
The match looked up for grabs when Jack Hombsch gave away a free kick for front-on contact against Ben Crocker, who put Collingwood within 11 points barely 90 seconds into the third quarter.
But man-of-the-moment Gray intervened again, slipping a handball into space under pressure from Pies defender Lynden Dunn for White to soccer through the first of five consecutive Power goals.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said Port Adelaide was simply the better side.
"It's the best opposition we've had. They were really impressive," Buckley said.
"They were really strong around the ball and in that 10 or 15-metre bubble, when the ball needs to be won. Then, you either need to work through the pressure or apply pressure.
"The statistics will say we won contested ball and I think we won the pressure, but that wasn't indicative of the way the game was played."
MEDICAL ROOM
Collingwood: Tyson Goldsack limped off in the opening minutes of the third term with a corked right thigh, but was able to resume. Brodie Grundy's big mark – or more so his knee – in the third quarter delivered some friendly fire to Ben Reid's head. Reid left the ground briefly, but also came back on.
NEXT UP
Collingwood faces a resurgent Hawthorn that could welcome more premiership talent back and will have two fewer days' preparation for the Sunday week clash at the MCG.
A DEFIANT Nathan Buckley has refused to concede Collingwood's season is over, despite being "bullied" by Port Adelaide at the MCG and losing even more ground with the top eight.
Speaking immediately after the 31-point loss, the Magpies coach flagged several changes ahead of next Sunday's clash with Hawthorn, but said the club won't be giving up while there is still hope of pulling off an unlikely finals bid.
It won't be easy, given the Magpies need to win at least seven of their remaining nine games, with five of their last six encounters coming against current top eight sides.
"I still think we can win lots of games of footy, (but) we got schooled," Buckley said of Port Adelaide's dominance. "That was as good (a side) as we have faced.
"While there is life in it, we have got to take lessons in that.
"Our only response is to butter up and attack Hawthorn next week and get back on the winner's list.
"A loss is not fatal; it doesn't help, but if a side can go on a four or five week winning run, you are going to get a fair dint in it, especially as we play a lot of sides who are going to be through that middle part or the high part of the ladder. It was a missed opportunity today, but the opposition was too good."
Buckley said the big-bodied Port Adelaide players were too strong for his team, but insisted the experience would be an instructive one for the younger Collingwood players.
"It looked like they bullied us, to be honest," he said. "They definitely were able to brush us off, our tackles didn't stuck, especially late, and it looked like their confidence grew.
"It wasn't just our midfield, our forwards were well beaten ... and their front half was like it was stacked full of blokes who were going to rip the game apart at any point."
He flagged more changes to the Magpies' side to take on Hawthorn next week.
Jamie Elliott is only an outside chance to resume from his ankle issue but seems a longshot, Travis Varcoe is a more realistic option, while Mason Cox enhanced his prospects with six goals in the VFL.
Buckley said there was "minimal time" during the game when he felt as if Collingwood had the momentum.
"I have got to give the opposition great credit," he said. "Our work rate wasn't exceptional, but it wasn't poor. Our contest wasn't exceptional, but it wasn't poor. We came up against an opposition that bested us in both of those (aspects)."
After next round's clash with Hawthorn, the Magpies take on Essendon, Gold Coast, West Coast, Adelaide, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, Geelong and Melbourne to close out the home-and-away season. |
