Round 8: Geelong 66 Collingwood 45

THE FACTS

2018 AFL Round 9 COLLINGWOOD v ST KILDA Time & Place: Saturday May 19, 7:25pm EST Etihad Stadium TV: Fox Footy 7:20pm EST Weather: Min 9 Max 16 Chance of rain 90%: 1-5mm Wind: SW 13kph Betting: Collingwood $1.25 St Kilda $4.00

GEELONG             2.4.16   4.7.31   7.10.52   9.12.66
COLLINGWOOD     1.3.9   1.6.12   4.11.35   5.15.45

GOALS - Collingwood: Phillips 2, Grundy, de Goey, Hoskin-Elliott

BEST - Collingwood: Scharenberg, Howe, Treloar, Sidebottom, Mayne, Grundy

INJURIES - Collingwood: Pendlebury (ankle) replaced in the selected side by Crocker, Moore (hamstring), Phillips (concussion)

REPORTS - Collingwood: Nil

OFFICIAL CROWD - 44,602 at the MCG

TALKING POINTS

1. A few Moore injuries hit the Magpies Just two hours after Jamie Elliott lasted 15 minutes in his VFL return after a hamstring injury, Darcy Moore succumbed to what appeared to be the same fate. In just his second game back from a round two hamstring injury, Moore failed to return to the ground after coming off in the second term. Tom Phillips (concussion) joined Moore watching the second half from the sidelines. Moore, who had an interrupted pre-season due to Achilles soreness, is one of five players to have suffered hamstring injuries this year alongside Elliott, Josh Smith, Taylor Adams and Jordan De Goey. 2. New-look Cat attack Patrick Dangerfield played predominantly as a forward as the Cats looked to offset the loss of Tom Hawkins (suspension) and Daniel Menzel (groin). Dangerfield pushed deep and was opposed to Jeremy Howe, giving the Cats' forward line two Brownlow medallists for much of the afternoon as Gary Ablett played a high half-forward role. Playing his second game for the Cats, Stewart Crameri provided an option across-half forward and finished with 11 disposals, while Esava Ratugolea's presence grew throughout. It was the first time the Cats had entered a match without Hawkins or Menzel since round three, 2015. 3. Bucks fires up his troops Whatever Nathan Buckley said at half-time, he needs to bottle it for the rest of the season. As the Pies recorded their lowest half-time score against Geelong in 106 years, the 19-point half-time lead could've been more, such was Geelong's dominance. The Pies came out a different-looking side in the third term, amassing 34 tackles in 31 minutes of play after laying 26 in the first-half. Winning the third-quarter inside 50 count 17-10, the three-quarter time margin could have been closer than 17 points had they have taken their chances in front of goal.

4. Veterans return Three star veterans returned from injuries, all impacting the match at different stages. Gary Ablett (hamstring), played his first match since round three and picked up 32 touches, including 10 in the final term. He copped an innocuous head knock from Daniel Wells late in the third term before brushing himself off. Held back prior to Sunday with an Achilles injury, Wells returned and threatened to keep Collingwood alive in the last quarter, starting at full-forward. Opposed to Jake Kolodjashnij, he worked the Cats defender under the ball deep in attack before scuffing a snap which would've brought the Pies within 12 points. The 33-year-old finished with 13 touches. Meanwhile, Harry Taylor took a back seat as Tom Stewart patrolled the Geelong defence, Taylor solid in his first game since round one after plantar fasciitis. 5. Big Sav stands up In his seventh game AFL game, Esava Ratugolea responded to Chris Scott's call for him to be the No.1 target by taking the opportunity with both hands. He finished with 1.2 and three contested marks from 15 disposals in his most imposing performance to date. "We have been looking for a second target down there for a long time if you don't include Menzel in that category," Scott said post-match. "It was not him playing second fiddle today with Hawkins (out) today, it was a requirement for the team he stood up. Some of those big contested marks, he's a formidable proposition for the opposition." Just two hours after Jamie Elliott lasted 15 minutes in his VFL return after a hamstring injury, Darcy Moore succumbed to what appeared to be the same fate. In just his second game back from a round two hamstring injury, Moore failed to return to the ground after coming off in the second term.

THE MEDIA
AFL GEELONG has eventually wore down a battle-weary Collingwood, holding firm to record a 21-point victory in a scrappy contest at the MCG on Sunday afternoon. The Cats separated themselves from the Magpies in what was largely a dour affair, with consecutive goals to Sam Menegola in the third term opening up a game-high 27-point lead. However, to their credit an injury-depleted Magpies hung tough and at least made the Cats work for the 9.12 (66) to 5.15 (45) victory that propelled them to third spot on the ladder. With Gary Ablett and Patrick Dangerfield spending plenty of time up forward, Tim Kelly (22 touches and six clearances) continued his superb run of form through the midfield with his instinctive stoppage craft a real highlight. Menegola proved to be the circuit-breaker for the Cats with the hard-bodied high half-forward gathering 24 disposals (13 contested), taking 10 marks and kicking three of Geelong's nine goals for the afternoon. Tom Stewart's ascension to being one of the AFL's top defenders continued in earnest, with the 25-year-old winning critical contests at crunch times for his side. Stewart, who collected 28 disposals against the Magpies, would have to be in All Australian contention at his point of the season. Returning from a hamstring injury, Gary Ablett racked up 32 disposals and did enough to suggest he will be an extremely important weapon for Geelong to rely on in the second-half of the year. With Tom Hawkins missing through suspension, exciting young forward Esava Ratugolea also displayed incredibly encouraging signs as the predominant target inside 50 with his one-grab marking (three contested) a feature. Cats coach Chris Scott said he never felt safe with the lead his side maintained throughout the game. "It never really felt to us in the box like we had the game completely in control, even though the scoreboard, especially in the last quarter, reflected that," he said. "We also acknowledge they played their fourth game in whatever it was, 20 days, and lost two players as well. It's not a performance we'll be getting too carried away with because we acknowledge the difficulties for the opposition but once again we had some younger players really stand up when it counted." The Magpies were down to two men on the bench for the majority of the second half when Darcy Moore (hamstring) and Tom Phillips (concussion) were ruled out of the game and it hurt as they tried to mount a charge late in the game. Despite its lack of rotations, Collingwood, which lacked potency up forward as it managed just 5.15, did its best to remain in striking distance and closed the gap to 21 points at the final change. Emerging defender Matthew Scharenberg was outstanding for Collingwood in what was his best game at AFL level, notching 29 disposals at 82.8 per cent efficiency to go with 14 marks. Adam Treloar amassed 34 disposals and Jack Crisp had 32 touches, although at times the pair were the biggest culprits as Collingwood torched the football through the middle of the ground – the Magpies recorded 18 midfield turnovers in the first half. Jeremy Howe was also as solid as ever in the backline with the high-flying defender waging an entertaining battle with Dangerfield when he was stationed up forward. The Pies desperately tried to stage a late comeback, but with their run and energy sapped by having two men on the bench proved to be too big of a hurdle to overcome. "It was a dour old game, bit of cat and mouse in it, both defensive structures pretty strong. I thought they (Geelong) defended the ground really well," Magpies coach Nathan Buckley said. "We didn't use the ball very early and time ran out (on us in the end)." As such, the final margin remained the same as what it was at three-quarter time – 21 points – as the final siren sounded. MEDICAL ROOM Collingwood: Darcy Moore came off the ground in the second quarter complaining of a hamstring injury. The club confirmed it was the same hamstring he injured earlier in the season against Greater Western Sydney in round two. Tom Phillips left the field groggy after his head collided with teammate Chris Mayne's leg when he kicked a goal in the third quarter. Not long after he was ruled out of the game. NEXT UP The injury-hit Magpies will face off against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium next Saturday night.	REAL FOOTY AFL football operations boss Steve Hocking said days ago that the quality of a game is not defined entirely by scoring. Football is more than numbers, he argued, pointing to a game’s closeness and its player on player contests as the type of things people remember from a day at the footy. But of course numbers can’t be ignored. Last week’s win against Brisbane wasn’t Nathan Buckley’s kind of game. Open, freewheeling, goals aplenty, fans liked it, but premierships aren’t won by getting into the habit of conceding 18 goals to a bottom two side. So in a sense, this was much better. Deep into the second term his side had only allowed Geelong to kick two majors. The Pies were dogged deep in defence and the Cats hadn’t managed to break away. The problem was down the other end. The Pies had pumped through 19 majors at the Gabba seven days earlier. On Sunday at the MCG they mustered just one in the first half.  Collingwood hung in for large parts of what was a grim struggle, but Geelong prevailed, as the numbers suggested should be the case. The Cats finished comfortably ahead in the count that really counts on the back of winning key facets of the game. Geelong jumped the Pies, taking control of the clearances. With brother Scott out of the side, the Cats were down to just one Selwood, but Joel was plenty for Collingwood to handle. The Geelong skipper set the tone with his typical ferocity around the ball, helping ensure large parts of the first term were played near his side’s goal. Selwood’s presence was all the more telling given the Pies were without their captain, Scott Pendlebury withdrawn on match day after failing to overcome the ankle injury he sustained seven days earlier in Queensland. The other critical numbers were played out on the bench. Collingwood lost Darcy Moore early to another hamstring injury and Tom Phillips early in the third term to concussion. The numbers suggest that won’t end well for a side, particularly an outfit that was already playing catch-up football. The Cats, with their extra legs on the pine, were well-positioned to withstand any second-half challenge from the Pies. After being stifled by a disciplined Geelong effort in the first half, Collingwood tried to isolate Jordan De Goey as a deep forward after the long break. Phillips soccered through a goal in the scramble that led to his game being ended, before De Goey jagged another and the Pies had cut the margin to less than two goals. But down the other end Geelong had answers. The big number for the Cats before the season was three, or more to the point, “the big three”. One of the trio, Patrick Dangerfield, had been stationed near goal himself, and he slotted a steadying set shot. But it wasn’t Dangerfield, Selwood or the returned Gary Ablett who shone brightest for the Cats. Rather it was the easily forgotten figure of Sam Menegola whose tidy snapping shut the gate on Collingwood. The West Australian kicked three goals from midway through the third term to the early stages of the last. In a low-scoring game, they were priceless. Ablett, a day before his 34th birthday, kept finding the footy but is not the player he used to be. Still, his dancing feet and irresistible skill provided Geelong a goal late in the second term, among the few take-away moments of what was ultimately a dour encounter. The Pies finished with 5.15, and while part of that was because of the Cats’ gritty work deep in defence. Tom Stewart in particular deserves praise in that area - Collingwood were wasteful, sometimes through decision making, often through execution. Playing his first game of the season Daniel Wells could have made a big difference but finished with 0.3. It wasn’t an easy day to be a Pies forward, but Mason Cox’s impact was negligible, while Jaidyn Stephenson - a revelation in the early part of the season - fell back to earth. The Pies looked blue-collar, and the bottom line number on the today was 0 - the premiership points they take away.
AFL COLLINGWOOD will review its injury management practices for the second time in three weeks after two fresh recurrences to key players. Magpies forward Darcy Moore re-injured his hamstring in the second quarter of the club's 21-point loss to Geelong at the MCG on Sunday, with the key forward to have scans this week to assess the damage. It was Moore's second match back after missing four matches with a hamstring injury he suffered in the Pies' round two loss to Greater Western Sydney. That followed Jamie Elliott's own hamstring injury just hours earlier in his comeback game through the VFL, with the high-flying forward missing a month with the same injury through April. Taylor Adams, Jordan De Goey and Josh Smith are other Magpies to have suffered hamstring injuries this season, with Smith re-aggravating his hammy in the VFL last weekend. The Magpies were down to two men on the bench for the majority of the second half after Tom Phillips suffered a head knock when he accidentally ran into teammate Chris Mayne's knee early in the third term. "Every team has injuries. We've had a few recurrences. Clearly Jamie today and Darcy today are issues for us. Rest assured we're not sweeping them under the carpet. We've got to find the answer to it. We want access to our best players more often," coach Nathan Buckley said. "We're not sitting on our hands, not assessing whether we can do things better or what the mechanisms might be. And they're slightly different with each player. "But it is significant. We have looked at it. We looked at it as a group about three weeks ago, and we'll have another look now. "We need to keep providing the best opportunity for players, we need to keep getting rehab right so we can get players back, and fit, and standing up to the competition." Collingwood played three games in 11 days after the Anzac Day blockbuster against Essendon which Buckley said was a challenge, although he also said the club had planned diligently around that. Ben Crocker, Travis Varcoe and Callum Moore were all managed and missed a game during that period. "Sometimes there's a bit of luck in it as well, but we'll look after what we're in control of and leave the rest to the gods," Buckley said. Buckley said the results of scans on Moore and Elliott's hamstrings would determine how best to handle their rehabilitation methods. "What a lot of people don’t realise is it’s a bit of a moving target. We might put four or five weeks on both of those boys for instance," Buckley said. "If they respond well, they might come a week in, if we want to be more prudent or we feel like they need an extra couple of weeks training then it could go out to seven or eight. "But in the end you make decisions on what's best for the player and what their signs are telling us. And we need to look at that and make some shifts or understand what the mechanisms are so that we can improve it." Buckley said a call on Scott Pendlebury's involvement in the game against Geelong – with the skipper a late withdrawal because of an ankle complaint – was made on Saturday.