Round 9 – Fremantle v Collingwood: Floreat Pica Society Match Report

 

There has been so much noise this week about the decisions to not play Pendles, Bruz, Checkers and De Goey, and I’ve seen a lot of people tipping Freo. I vacillate between feeling pretty confident and feeling very anxious, thinking about last year’s draw and a match at the G back in 2019 when we lost a close one and someone programmed those musical bells along the Yarra to play the Freo song as we all walked back towards Flinders Street. Torture.

 

1^st Quarter

…Not a great start. Freo seem to have a lot of space inside their forward 50 but luckily, they aren’t kicking straight. Pies feel a bit listless and Freo get another goal off a looong kick from Treacy. BT is, as usual, providing inane commentary. This is evidenced when Crispy kicks to our forward 50 from just to the side of the centre square and BT cleverly notes he’s “a bit further out than last week,” referencing where he had his end-of-game shot on goal.

 

Moore loses his headband in a contest, and I get a bit distracted by it. Is someone going to pick it up? There’s some good work from Beau, to Houston, to Sullivan, who misses to the right. On the countering play, Moore takes an intercept mark in the goal square – he has his headband on. Phew. I can stop being preoccupied.

 

Freo continue to be on top of the game and I’m not enjoying it. We get the ball into our 50 again and Sidey intercepts a Freo handball, spins, and kicks it forward. Hoskin-Elliot takes a very nice mark and we get a much-needed goal. Unfortunately, Freo respond right away. My apprehension is feeling well-founded.

 

There seems to be a little shift and we start to score, first from Billy, then a weird one from Cox, then another from Billy. Schultz is impressive, he seems to be everywhere and his pressure, as always, is great.

 

Nick is being tagged well. He kind of almost gets a touch and the camera stays on him running out of bounds instead of following the ball. I won’t re-visit Stephen’s commiserations about the state of vision on the broadcast from the ANZAC day match report, but I think about it and give the TV a side eye.

 

A goal from Bobby with under 20 seconds left closes out the quarter. After quite a bad start, it’s good to be in front. We’re trailing in a lot of the stats, so it will be interesting to see how things go from here.

 

Collingwood 5.2 32

Freo 4.3.27

 

2^nd quarter

 

DC gets a shoulder to the face and Shooter gets pinged HTB. We get the intercept mark but immediately turn it over. This passage of play eventually results in a goal to Freo from Pearce, who is pretty fired up.

 

The commentators add to the pre-game chatter about our player management. BT says it sets us up for 2 losses in a row (how dare he). They keep fighting about whether it is or isn’t a good idea, with ?Hodge basically saying it’s the right decision for older players. BT gets defensive in response to this. “Actually, I don’t care.” Somehow this feels a little more interesting than the game? Freo scores, and I’m honestly not really sure how it happens.

 

I remind myself I’m writing the match report and return my focus to the play in time to see Bobby do some good work, resulting in a mark and goal from Long. Schultz continues to be unrelenting with the pressure.

 

Naicos has something going on with his hip. He comes back on the ground at full forward, gets a free and scores! It will be interesting to see if he stays forward. Shortly thereafter Q kicks through the centre, [email protected] takes a great mark, gets it off to Bobby, who kicks to Nick at full forward. But he misses.

 

Pies have a great chain from end to end, but we don’t score, and Freo get one back more easily than I’d like. But then Crisp gets the goal he didn’t get last week, and we get the lead back. Nice to score with less than 20 seconds in the quarter again.

 

Collingwood 9.3.57

Freo 7.5.47

 

3^rd quarter

 

I miss the first few minutes of the quarter managing the foster cats. I get back just in time to see a great goal from Bobby.

 

Bobby!

 

Bobby ? He misses a chance for three goals in a row. It was a great intercept though.

 

And after that miss, Freo get one back with a goal from Voss. I get a text from my boss, who is also a member of the Collingwood Army. “Fucking umpire cheats.” I’m shocked – he never complains about the umpires.

 

Crisp is there with a brave get in the midfield as the Freo pressure ramps up again. I do not like this. Freo are definitely back in this game, as Dudley thankfully kicks a behind.

 

There’s no goal for us in the last 20 seconds of this quarter. As the siren goes for ¾ time, it feels lucky to still be ahead. Freo have 8 goals from 45 inside 50s, compared to our 11 from 26. We just need to hold on for one more quarter. Please!

 

Collingwood 11.5 71

Freo 8.8 56

 

4^th quarter

 

The sub is activated, Sidey is off and Markov is on. A push in the back on Naicos leads to a downfield free, leads to a shot for Billy just inside 50 on the boundary and he kicks it! He loves that pocket. It’s a great start to the quarter.

 

Schultz gets concussed, and it’s sad and scary to see. The game keeps going despite him clearly being in need of help, and Elliot marks and scores. As we’ve already used the sub, we’re now down a player. Over the next few minutes, Channel 7 show footage of the tackle/concussion quite a few times, which is not enjoyable. As an aside, it’s interesting how they don’t show replays of serious injuries (Howe’s arm comes to mind) but they’ll show this over and over, as if concussions are not also a serious injury? I’m a bit distracted by it but the game apparently is continuing despite my distraction, some things presumably happen, and Switkowski kicks a goal for Freo.

 

Beau takes a great intercept mark in the centre of the ground, and kicks to Bobby, who kicks to Billy, who kicks it a little too low and it’s touched over the line. Freo make us pay and get 2 in a row back through (I hate to say it) a nice goal from Bolton and another from a Reid set shot.

 

Beau is at it again with a good tackle to get possession of the ball back. We really need something to interrupt Freo’s momentum – I’m very aware of my pre-game anxiety rearing its head. And just like that, the interruption – a free kick to DC, who kicks it to the boundary and out. On the ensuing ball in, Crisp comes out with it and goals. My breathing gets a little (only a very little) less shallow.

 

Sull takes a very impressive mark from inside our defensive 50. We kick it long up the boundary and Freo gain possession back. Dudley marks just inside 50 directly in front. His kick drifts left. My breathing maintains its slightly less shallow state.

 

Tim Membrey does some great work to facilitate an Elliot mark. Nick is excited on the boundary. Billy kicks it for his 6^th of the night! (and gives Crisp a little accidental headbutt in the celebration). Our lead is out to 21. Do I risk letting my breathing approach a normal rate?

 

With about 6 minutes left to go, there is a nice bit of play from Bobby to Nick back to Bobby, who runs through the middle and kicks to Sullivan. Sullivan’s kick inside 50 is ultimately not a great one and play rebounds back Freo’s way. We regain possession and Billy marks on the other side of the 50 from his last goal. He lines up for a career-high 7^th goal but it stays right. Behind. Not to be.

 

The minutes tick down and pressure is high but Freo keep chipping forward. Howe takes a mark off the centring kick inside 50, and then kicks his traditional shocker for the game, straight back to Brayshaw. The possession thankfully results in a behind, with Moore seeing it over the line.

 

Amiss notches up another behind for Freo as the clock slowly moves towards 0. The Collingwood chant starts to ring out around Optus Stadium as Daisy Pearce says what an incredible team we have: off a 5 day break, big players at home, Sidebottom out at three quarter time, down a player from Schultz’s concussion, and still winning.

 

As I type about Daisy’s comments, this quarter becomes the third of the four to have a goal with less than 20 seconds to go. This time it’s Freo though, via Frederick. Sigh. It would have been nice not to lose that bit of margin.

 

The siren goes, Pies win!

 

Collingwood 15.7.97 

Fremantle 12.11. 83 

 

Post-game

 

The stats were really something; we lost most of them. A lot is made of the inside 50 count- 62 to 32 in Freo’s favour. Another interesting stat to note: we had 16 intercept marks inside defensive 50, which has apparently only been toped twice in the last two decades. We had only 1 player (Crisp) with more than 20 disposals.

 

In a post-game interview with Fox on the ground, Moore comments with disappointment about the game not being stopped when Schultz was injured. The AFL put out a statement today that play should have been stopped but none of the four umpires saw “the injured player at the time.” How can none of the four of them have seen? What else are they not seeing? Good gracious.

 

There are reports of a few injury concerns for us following the game. Nick could be seen touching/holding his pec in post-game interviews, Moore was making some indications about a shoulder injury, and there are reports that Jamie might have some kind of abdominal injury. We’ll see how things fall, but the 9-day break won’t be terrible.

 

Horsbrough Medal Votes

 

3 – Jamie. I’m biased, he’s a favourite of mine, but I think he deserved it with more than a handful of goals

2 – Crispy. Extra motivated after the miss last week? He played a great game and was our only player with over 20 disposals

1 – Frampton. Solid in defence, is looking a bit more confident, didn’t make any shockers, and it felt like someone from down back needed to be included in the votes.

 

 

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