Round 23 – Collingwood v Brisbane (Floreat Pica Society)

 

 

 

Collingwood v Brisbane

4:35pm, Saturday, August 17th

MCG

 

 

Seemingly consistent with most other members of the FPS, I was somewhat reluctant to take on the task of doing a match report for this particular contest. The Mighty Pies have been not so mighty in recent months and the Brisbane Lions were undoubtedly eager to make amends for the previous week’s loss to GWS and to challenge the Pies at the scene of last year’s Grand Final defeat. This reluctance seemed justified during the first quarter of the game, which saw a ferocious Lions team really put the Pies to the sword. Read on…

 

First Quarter: The Lions started the match very positively and were in free flow into their forward line and this was compounded further when Pendles was penalised for illegal disposal and Lachie Neale goaled from the pocket. Disaster pending? Following this, the Lions took several strong marks inside 50m via Lohman, Daniher and Morris, while the Pies had barely moved the ball forward of the centre. Two goals each to Daniher and Lohmann as well as singles to McInerney and Neale had the Lions well in control of the game, while we were fortunate to get a goal on the run from IQ and a beautiful ‘around the corner’ goal from WHE.

 

I found the commentary during the quarter from Garry Lyon pretty offensive. With the Lions well on top, Lyon questioned whether the Pies would be ‘invested enough to make a contest’ and was curious to know ‘how interested the Pies are in fighting through this contest’. It also occurred to me that whilst Jack Riewoldt’s comments hold a certain amount of insight, he should not have gone to the Michaelia Cash ‘School of Screaming’. Relax Jack, we can hear you.

 

Quarter time scores: Pies 2.4.16 Lions 6.4.40

 

Second Quarter: Things looked a little more positive at the start of the second quarter with a telling mark and goal to Dan McStay, who gets better each week after coming back from his ACL injury and really gives our mids someone to aim for. Minutes later, we had a gear change from ‘more positive’ to ‘magpie mania’ with Naicos and Darcy Cameron completely dominating in their positions and bringing others such as Sidey, Pendles and Noble into the game. The Naicos goal on the run after gathering a handball from Noble, which bounced prior to him receiving it, shrugged tackle, taking two bounces through the centre and onto centre half forward, while being chased by two Lions and slotting a beautiful goal from 40m was just breathtaking. Yes, I have replayed it several times and marvelled on each occasion! Minutes later there was a ball up 25m from the Pies goal and it can clearly be seen that Naicos said something to Darcy Cameron as he set up for the next play. Cameron then provided a beautiful tap to Naicos on the burst, who then slotted another amazing goal. We suddenly had all the momentum and the Lions were very much on the back foot. Sidey, having spent much of the first quarter chasing Lachie Neale, was suddenly winning clearances, providing beautiful passes to the forwards and winning free kicks with fierce tackling. The Pies were once again looking mighty and the Lions were restricted to a solitary behind for the quarter. No doubt a lot of post match discussion will, quite rightly, focus upon Naicos but geez, Darcy Cameron was fantastic.

 

Half time scores: Pies 5.6.36 Lions 6.5.41

 

Third Quarter: Similar to the first quarter, the third started strongly again for the Lions with an early goal to Daniher, who then should after scored another quickly but showed us all how to completely stuff up an opportunity after having a 25m start on his opponent! Unfortunately, he completed an action packed opening six minutes with another goal minutes later to suddenly have the Pies trailing by 17. A goal to Lachie Neale minutes later had the Lions up by 23, all the play had been in the Lions forwardline and things had started to look a little bleak. Beau McCreery stepped in for a valuable goal, which was then followed by several bad misses by the Lions courtesy of Bailey, Rayner, Lohmann and Ashcroft. Darcy Cameron again underlined his value with a timely left foot snap out of a pack from 25m, while Schultz couldn’t make the distance with a 30m ‘around the corner’ set shot, when a simple old fashion drop punt would have gotten the job done (reminded me of Ginny in last year’s GF).

In summary, the term was a bit of an arm wrestle with each team having periods of dominance but overall, the Pies spent much of the quarter chasing.

 

Three Quarter time scores: Pies 7.8.50 Lions 9.10.64

 

Final Quarter: The commentary box started the quarter, courtesy of Garry Lyon, by AGAIN questioning whether Collingwood may have ‘given up’. FFS. The Pies started strongly with a goal to Dan McStay following a downfield free kick for a tackle on Naicos after he had disposed of the ball. Worryingly, this was immediately followed up with a Lions goal to Bailey in a sign that the Lions were as hell bent on victory as they had ever been. Misses by Cox and Ned Long were followed up by a Charlie Cameron classic on the run with the ball rolling 15 metres and through for a goal. The Lions were in the lead by 17 with only eight minutes to go. That man Daniher had a set shot that he should have nailed but let us off the hook again (he would frustrate the hell out of me if he played for the Pies!) and Jamie Elliott just failed to make the distance from the boundary line with a set shot from 50m. With four minutes left on the clock, Billy Frampton took a strong contested mark in the middle and fired a creative pass out to Johnny Noble, who then spotted Schultze in the forward line and hit him on the chest with a perfect pass. The Pies were now down by 11 but with all the momentum and a noisy crowd in support. A minute later the Lion’s Bailey was streaming forward at 50m out and setting up for a shot at goal, when IQ pounced and won the free kick, which resulted in a chain of play involving WHE, Noble, Schultz, Elliot and back to Schultze, who kicked a right foot banana, on the run, for a goal. The mighty Pies are back to within five and even Garry Lyon has realised that the Pies are still trying to win!

From the resulting centre bounce, Darcy Cameron kicked long into our forward line and there is a resultant ball up, 20m from goal. From the ball up, that man Cameron tapped the ball right into the flight path of Beau McCreery, who swooped on the ball and kicked a right foot banana on the run to put the Pies up by a point with 2.45 minutes to play. We now transitioned into our traditional lock down mode to the rapturous applause of the Magpie Army and won contest after contest. Finally, Johnny Noble pinned Ah Chee with a beautiful tackle that forced a throw, which resulted in a forward 50m free kick and game over! The mighty Pies came through again with another spine chilling and inspiring victory.

 

Some thoughts:
• We have several players (McCreery, Schultze, Bytel, Lipinski and Markov), who cannot kick on their left side. This gets very exposed at AFL level
• Bobby Hill needs to settle for the basic option more often and not try the miraculous every time he gets the ball
• Not sure Jack Bytel is going to make it
• Looking forward to the development of Parker, Long, Richards and Demattia
• Really glad that after Kane Cornes exploded last week about coaches being on the boundary line that, both, McCrae and Fagan were there again last night

 

 

COLLINGWOOD    2.4    5.6    7.8     11.13 (79)
BRISBANE            6.4    6.5    9.10    11.12 (78)

 

GOALS
Collingwood: McStay, N.Daicos, Schultz, McCreery 2, Quaynor, Hoskin-Elliott, Cameron
Brisbane: Daniher 4, Neale, Lohmann 2, McInerney, Bailey, Cameron

 

BEST
Collingwood: N.Daicos, Sidebottom, Howe, Cameron, J.Daicos
Brisbane: Zorko, Daniher, Neale, Ashcroft, Fletcher

 

Crowd: 61,218

 

 

 

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