| 2019 AFL Round 20 COLLINGWOOD v GOLD COAST Time & Place: Sunday August 4, 1:10pm AEST MCG TV: Fox Footy 1:00pm AEST Weather: Min 9 Max 16 Chance of rain: 3% 0mm Wind: E 4kph Betting: Collingwood $1.02 Gold Coast $13.00 |
COLLINGWOOD 1.2.8 3.6.24 5.10.40 9.12.66
GOALS - Collingwood: Mihocek 2, Pendlebury 2, Crocker, De Goey, Elliott, Thomas, Treloar
BEST - Collingwood: De Goey, Treloar, Grundy, Crisp, Howe
INJURIES - Collingwood: Adams (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Crocker, Roughead (concussion)
REPORTS - Collingwood: Nil
OFFICIAL CROWD - 78,722 at the MCG
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"We’ve just got to keep believing in the way we think the game should be played. I think there’s enough evidence over the last year and half that when we do what we do well, it stacks up. We’re just a little bit off at the moment. We’ve generally covered for each other really well in a role sense and been able to come together and find some good team synergy — and we’re probably a couple of per cent off that as well. It doesn’t take much, the margins are pretty small at the top end. We lost the game quite convincingly, but I’m not disheartened by what we saw in many ways. There’s a lot of improvement in us, but we’ve got a month to find that if we’re going to give ourselves any chance when get into the other side of the home and away — and we’ve still got to qualify. ... They (Richmond) were cleaner, they were sharper around the ball, we weren’t able to pressure them as well as what we normally would, they won one-on-ones in front of the ball and behind the ball. That was where it was at largely and that gap in the game was hard to come back from, but I thought we plugged away. The players had a choice halfway through the second quarter which way we wanted to go and they continued to want to dig in. There’s a lot of things we’d like to be doing better. We didn’t target as well as we could by foot, our kicking efficiency through the middle of the ground made it hard to move the ball forward with fluency and it’s pretty hard to coach that. In the end, it comes down to general belief and synergy amongst the playing group. We’re not quite in shape, we’re not quite clean enough, we’re not quite winning enough contests — all of those things add up to not quite playing your footy as well as you’d like to. And when you’re playing against the best sides in the competition, you’ll get exposed. We’ve got some work to do, but I’m still pretty bullish about what our players can do and what we’re capable of." – Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley |
Media Clippings
Fox FootyThis was the night Richmond officially became premiership favourites – and the night Collingwood officially hit a tipping point. There’d been hints that both scenarios were imminent over recent rounds. On Friday night, we arrived at both of them, concurrently and emphatically. A clinical first half, punctuated by its trademark gamestyle and brilliant individual efforts from its stars, sparked Richmond to a comprehensive 32-point victory over the Magpies, 14.14 (98) to 9.12 (66), in front of 78,722 fans at the MCG on Friday night. ... The Pies never threw the towel in but, ultimately, were never going to make up the difference in such wet conditions – conditions the slick Tigers thrived in. While the Pies were clearly helpless, the Tigers were chillingly dominant. So dominant, in fact that Damien Hardwick’s men officially moved into premiership favouritism with the bookies during the first half. And after five straight wins by an average of 44 points where the Tigers’ high-pressure, forward handball game has been on point, who could blame them. But the more pressing issue is Collingwood, which has now lost four of its past five games and in serious danger of missing out on a top-four spot. Heading into Friday night’s game, 17 Collingwood players – including late withdrawal Taylor Adams (hamstring) and the suspended Jaidyn Stephenson – were unavailable for selection. Others on that list included Darcy Moore, Ben Reid, Levi Greenwood, James Aish, Tom Langdon and Dayne Beams. At this time of the year, health and availability is a club’s biggest asset – and Collingwood is far from healthy. With the Tigers ruthlessly hot, the Pies’ underbelly was brutally exposed on Friday night. Ben Crocker – the late inclusion for Adams – made some poor errors moving the ball forward, most notably when he burned Travis Varcoe in the second term and gave the Tigers an easy opportunity to rebound. Speaking of Varcoe, who’s out of contract at season’s end, he again struggled at AFL level, finishing goalless and dropping a few simple chest marks that left Pies fans frustrated. A VFL stint may loom again. But perhaps the Pies’ biggest personnel concerns lie in their forward line. Mason Cox, Brody Mihocek and Jamie Elliott were all well entrenched in the Magpies’ best 22 at the start of the season. Now all three are well out of form and are becoming a big issue for coach Nathan Buckley. AFL COLLINGWOOD's worrying form slump has continued with a 32-point loss to a dominant Richmond side at the MCG on Friday night. The 14.14 (98) to 9.12 (66) result is the Magpies' fourth loss in five matches and sees them slip out of the top four. ... Nathan Buckley used Jordan De Goey mainly through the midfield and the emerging superstar didn't disappoint, but it was a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul as the Pies struggled to find an avenue to goal. The Age The Magpies seem to have problems that run much deeper than form such is the drop-off they have experienced since the AFL suspended Jaidyn Stephenson for 10 weeks when he admitted to placing bets on Collingwood games. No sane person would bet on Collingwood winning a game right now as they make basic errors and fail to apply enough pressure on the opposition, the fierce bond they carried to the 2018 grand final not apparent. Injuries haven’t helped with Taylor Adams pulling out late with a hamstring injury after Brayden Sier suffered a calf injury at training during the week. By contrast Richmond are clicking into gear, with their surging style suited to the wet conditions and their confidence high. Herald Sun You can put a line through Collingwood. A top-four spot looked a certainty for a long time, but now it appears it’ll be flat out surviving past week one of a cutthroat elimination final. The Magpies surrendered fourth spot to a rampaging Richmond side that will not leave the comforts of the MCG for the remainder of the home-and-away season. ... At the Magpies, meanwhile, there is barely a pulse. A season that promised so much is quickly going down the gurgler. Last September they ambushed the Tigers in the preliminary final, and a week later they were less than two minutes away from holding up the premiership cup. On Friday night’s showing — and their efforts over the past six weeks or even longer — there is next to no chance of them avenging that heartbreak this year. ... Collingwood 1990 premiership player Mick McGuane wrote in Friday’s Herald Sun the Magpies had to rediscover their brand and quickly. But even that is difficult because, as McGuane wrote, it’s not even identifiable right now and we’ve seen it only in glimpses. It used to have its pressure brand, but that has fallen by the wayside. There’s also a lot of Magpies out of form at the same time. “They’ve been smashed around the middle of the ground. At the moment they’re a long way off,” former star Chris Judd said on Triple M. How Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley now responds will be fascinating. Will he back himself to rejuvenate this group and get them to keep working on the things they do well, or does he throw the magnets on the board around in an attempt to revive this season? |
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