AFL 2021 Round 21: Hawthorn 97 Collingwood 78

AFL 2021 ROUND 22 COLLINGWOOD v BRISBANE Time & Place: TBC The Gabba TV: TBC Weather: TBC Betting: Collingwood TBC Brisbane TBC

HAWTHORN           4.2.26   8.3.51   13.5.83   15.7.97 
COLLINGWOOD    2.2.14   3.3.21     8.5.53   12.6.78

GOALS - Collingwood: Ginnivan 3, Mihocek 2, Elliott 2, Henry, Macrae, Sidebottom, Cameron, Grundy

BEST - Collingwood: De Goey, Adams, Crisp, Grundy, Howe, Macrae

INJURIES - Collingwood: Nil

SUBSTITUTES - Collingwood:  Bianco (unused)

REPORTS - Collingwood: Nil

OFFICIAL CROWD - 0 at the MCG

Media Clippings Herald Sun Interim Collingwood coach Robert Harvey says he is yet to discuss his future with the Magpies’ hierarchy as he focuses on steering his side through the last two games of the season. Bested by Hawthorn and Alastair Clarkson – the man set to be courted by the Pies at season’s end – at the MCG on Sunday, Harvey says he is enjoying the caretaker role. “It’s just trying to get all the pieces together and trying to get what we are trying to achieve in this last nine weeks (since he took over),” Harvey said. “I do enjoy seeing the players trying to get the best out of themselves, young and old. I’d like to win a few more games, yes, and that’s disappointing, but, in the end, it is good fun, I like it, it’s what I do.” Fox Sports Alastair Clarkson’s stunning Hawthorn stint is finishing on an upswing after his side recorded its second consecutive win thanks to a blistering first half performance against Collingwood. The Hawks stifled Collingwood across the first two and a half quarters, dominating the uncontested possession count to kick 12 of the first 16 goals of the game. The Magpies pushed hard in the closing stages of the final two quarters with goal rushes, but the Hawks had all the answers — and the scoreboard ascendancy after a dominant start — to run out 19-point winners, 15.7 (97) to 12.6 (78). The Age The Hawks enjoyed the width of the wings, constantly sliced their way through Collingwood’s defence and stamped their authority in the second stanza, when a typical Ben McEvoy contested mark deep in the forward line catalysed a crucial four-goal-to-two term. If the warning bells had not yet sounded in Collingwood’s coaches’ box, they were surely bellowing beneath the empty MCG in the changerooms by half-time, after the Pies had managed only three of the game’s first 11 goals. ... The Magpies had another antagonist to contend with – themselves. Though the clanger count was on even terms, the Hawks scored nine of their opening 10 goals from turnovers, and feasted on the Pies’ inability to protect the ball beyond the halfway point of the ground. Collingwood’s issues quickly compounded in the third term, and when Hawthorn booted four of quarter’s first five goals, the Hawks looked like a side playing on the spirit of Clarkson’s premiership teams of the past. AFL A MUCH-IMPROVED Hawthorn has continued its recent dominance of Collingwood and all but ensured it will avoid the wooden spoon this season with a 19-point upset victory over the Magpies at the MCG on Sunday afternoon. The impressive 15.7 (97) to 12.6 (78) triumph moves Hawthorn in front of Collingwood and up to 15th on the ladder as it continues its end of season resurgence under outgoing mentor and four-time premiership winning coach Alastair Clarkson. It was an eight-goal-to-three opening half that helped set the Hawks on their way, with much of the same after half-time as they made it 13 wins from their last 15 matches against Collingwood. The Pies did send a minor scare through the Hawthorn camp when they closed to within 19 points with seven minutes remaining in the contest, but it was too little too late as the Hawks held on for a much-deserved victory.