Round 19 – Collingwood v Carlton: Floreat Pica Society match report

 

 

Round 19

Collingwood v Carlton

7:35pm, Saturday 18th July 2026

MCG

 

I was born into a Collingwood family. The fifth of eight children to Maureen and Grahame. Of those two, I think mum was the most into Collingwood. She was the oldest of three – and her parents were a bit dysfunctional. At one stage in her pre-teen child life, she and her two brothers were put into St Joseph’s orphanage in Fitzroy. When her brothers were taken in by relatives, Maureen was left on her own. Somehow this information filtered through to the Froude family who lived in Turner Street Abbotsford – a flat punt from Victoria Park. Fred Froude was playing football for Collingwood and at this time the Froudes also hosted Collingwood players coming to Melbourne from the country. I don’t know what the connection was there, but Fred’s mother, on hearing from son Fred of Maureen’s plight, took action and Maureen went to live with the Froudes. The home was a regular mid-week social location for players to drop in after training. Spending time participating in singalongs around the piano with players and hangers-on, Mum’s immersion into Collingwood was complete.

When I was growing up, we lived in the top block of Lydiard St Ballarat – the last block before you get to the “new” cemetery (opened June 1867). When my younger sister Barbara at one stage decided she wanted to barrack for Carlton, another family member (not sure if it was Mum but it may well have been) packed Barbara’s bag and escorted her up the street to the Fitzgerald house. The Fitzgeralds were Carlton supporters. In 1970 leading into the grand final, the front windows of the two respective houses were decorated in team colours. The tram drivers going up Lydiard Street only sounded their bells as they passed our house. I won’t talk anymore about that year. Barbara returned to the fold.

It would be unthinkable that I would ever change teams. Except there might have been one time when I was in grade 4 and there was a girl named Johanne who may or may not have barracked for Richmond and I might have wavered a little bit. When I was told by Dad that I was no longer welcome on the regular Saturday trips to Victoria Park, I too reversed the decision.

As for my own current family, wife Helen is Geelong. We have four kids – the two boys were allocated to Collingwood and the two girls to Geelong (they could choose their own religion, but some things are too important to leave to chance). At some stage in her pre-school life, Audrey crossed over. Ursula remains a passionate Geelong supporter, a very knowledgeable one, with a special connection to Helen.

For this Saturday night game at the G, our personal numbers are reduced. Herb has a party; Audrey is recovering from a football-related ACL repair; Bill joins Helen and me at our level one seats on the members’ flank. I check in with cousin Jan but she, having just returned from a road trip to northern NSW, has opted to stay in Ballarat. She does ask the very pertinent question: Why are we wearing white shorts?

I haven’t been to a large number of games this year, don’t know all the players, so for once, I actually appreciate the pre-game PA listing of jumper numbers and player names. Regardless, I still have to ask Bill several times throughout the game: Who was that?

I took a notepad to the game and have several pages of play-by-play record. But you would get more joy from watching the replay than from my documentation. I will try and make a few observations.

That was fun!

We had gone into the game with an unknown forward set-up. But the two big blokes Membrey and McStay each kicked three and were very effective. You can add to that the spread of goals amongst seven other players, and the accuracy of the 14 6 scoreline.

Jeremy Howe was out but the backline was effective and well-coordinated. There were the occasional mess-ups (have a look at Jack Crisp’s face when he realises his pack spoil has gone straight to the opposition and resulted in a last quarter goal), but they were out-weighed by the plusses.

I reckon this should be Sidey’s last year. At one stage in the first quarter, he seemed to loaf along instead of responding to a Carlton foray from the back line. He seemed to spend more game time in the backline and had a good battle with his opponent on the wing. Deserves his place in the team but in my opinion, not much longer.

Our end-to-end transition game was excellent. Accurate and quick, it was a good return from effort. One reason for the scoring accuracy was that we were taking our kicks for goal from good field position rather than the boundary or outside 50. The successful second quarter long bomb from McCreery was a positive exception.

I did watch the second half replay after I got home from the game, with a quiet celebratory single malt to keep me company. I learned that six of our players had played 30 games or less. Perhaps with the exception of Harvey Harrison, they all acquitted themselves well, and featured prominently in the goal kickers. As son Bill observed: Swadling is doing well, and that was at both ends of the ground.

The clearances ended in Carlton’s favour, but Darcy Cameron had an excellent game. Rucked well, particularly at centre square contests, and was very good around the ground. The only time I really noticed his ruck absence was when McStay gave away a free kick and goal when on relief.

Nick was being Nick. All game.

There were a lot of 50 metre penalties. Personally I hate the stand rule for so many reasons. I read this morning that Collingwood is making good use of it with their give-off handballs to a player running past. That might be so, but I still want it removed from the game.

On the subject of the player on the mark, and the 50 metre penalty in our favour when Pendles’ attempted handball was affected by a player reaching in, my understanding is that the mark, like the boundary line and the goal line, is a plane, not a line. A player on the mark cannot reach across the plane, which is what happened in that instance. That is my interpretation, and I am sticking to it. Pendles missed the resulting set shot at goal.

The game was close all night, but Carlton, while able to take the lead several times, were never able to stretch it. They had periods of dominance without getting a good return. We never let them get a major run on, and whenever they threatened, we were able to counter. It was a consistent effort in all areas of the ground.

Billy Frampton had another very good game.

Membrey’s and Long’s roving-off-the-pack third quarter goals are worth re-watching many times. Our around-the-ground marking was very good. The Jack Crisp intercept one in the last quarter when running with the flight of the ball was my favourite.

Throughout the last quarter I monitored the match clock closely, resisting the temptation to cheat on the time remaining via the app. At the 20-minute mark, with a 20 point lead, I did not feel safe. Similarly at the 24-minute mark with a 15 point lead. 28 minutes with a 21-point lead and my breathing slowed and body relaxed. When I saw the bench hold up the 30 second sign, I knew all was well.

My votes

3 votes – Darcy Cameron

2 votes – Nick Daicos

1 vote – Beau McCreery (a positive return to form in my opinion).

Five games to go and three of them are against teams ahead of us on the ladder. And Geelong is just below us on the ladder and hitting some late season form. Not an easy run. Adelaide in Adelaide, off a five day break, is asking a lot.

 

COLLINGWOOD       3.0   6.2   11.4 14.6  (90)
CARLTON                 2.4   4.6   8.8.  10.9  (69)

GOALS
Collingwood: Membrey 3, McStay 2, McCreery 2, Long 2, West, De Goey, Swadling, Houston, Anderson
Carlton: McGovern 2, Ainsworth 2, Cripps 2, Kemp, Smith, Walsh, Cottrell

BEST
Collingwood: Cameron, N.Daicos, McCreery, Membrey, Houston, Anderson
Carlton: Walsh, Smith, Cripps, Dean, Haynes

INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
Carlton: McKay (left knee), Cerra (right hamstring)

Crowd: 83,885

 

Read other round 19 match reports HERE

 

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