Collingwood v Gold Coast: Magpies make the most of Suns' failures

 COLLINGWOOD  7.3      12.8      16.13      16.22     (118)
GOLD COAST      0.2      1.6      4.8      6.11     (47)
GOALS - Collingwood:  de Goey 3, White 3,  Crisp 2, Greenwood 2,  Treloar, Crocker, Smith, Pendlebury,  Sidebottom,  Phillips. Gold Coast:  Davis 2, Lynch 2,  Martin, right.
BEST - Collingwood: Treloar, Smith, Pendlebury, White, Howe, Varcoe, De Goey, Grundy.  Gold Coast: Miller, May, Hall, Lynch.
UMPIRES Dalgleish, Mollison, Hay.
CROWD 17,644 at Etihad Stadium.

It was 1995 when Robert Walls, his side scheduled to play back-to-back games in Perth, had his Brisbane Bears spend an entire week in the western capital. It failed to work, the Bears losing the first game of the extended road trip by 66 points, and the second by 45. 

Don't Play

Up Next

Video duration

01:31

Pies smash cold Suns

Cancel

Replay

Replay Video Icon

Player help icon

More Sport Videos

Previous slide Next slide

Video duration

01:31

Pies smash cold Suns

Video duration

00:33

Smith miss hands Cats win

Video duration

00:48

Lin Jong in tears as injury ends finals campaign

Video duration

07:45

FootyFix: fantastic first week of AFL finals

Video duration

03:11

Qualifying Final: Geelong v Hawthorn

Video duration

04:18

AFL Elimination Final: Crows v Kangaroos

Video duration

00:44

Michael Hurley gives emotional interview

Video duration

02:20

Will Scott Lycett play?

More videos

Pies smash cold Suns

In front of a modest home crowd Collingwood recorded a 71-point victory over the Gold Coast on Saturday night.

More than 20 years on, Rodney Eade decided to revisit the concept, Gold Coast, drawn to play Essendon last Sunday and on Saturday night, Collingwood, spending the past week in Melbourne. 

The distance was shorter, and attention to detail in terms of preparation far more clinical than back then. But the on-field results have been an even bigger disaster, Gold Coast last week allowing Essendon just their second win of the season, and on Saturday night, taken apart by the Pies. 

At least last week, the Suns were still a chance until the final siren. This smashing was over for all but the most ridiculous of optimists by quarter-time, by which time Collingwood had rattled on 7.3 to just two behinds. 

And even they'd conceded by the long break, when the margin had blown out even further to 68 points, the Pies up to 12 goals, the Suns with a paltry 1.6 for their efforts, which were similarly paltry. 

Which doesn't take anything away from Collingwood's efforts, mind you. It's been an ordinary year for a team that some of us tipped to finish top four, but the Pies at least showed they have some sort of future. 

Not that many Magpie fans bothered turning up to see a glimpse of that future. The crowd was just 17,644, not only their lowest home crowd this season, but their lowest since the late 20th century when Victoria Park was still their home. 

At least those who did front got some value for money, even if the shellacking wasn't on immediately. 

Jesse White, who was a terrific focal point for Collingwood all night, got the first on the board. Gold Coast then hit back with a couple of attacks that should have produced goals, Touk Miller, far and away the Suns' best, and Tom Lynch missing "gimmes" early. But they'd be the Suns' only scores for the quarter. 

Collingwood, meanwhile proceeded to slam on six goals in 13 minutes, midfielders Adam Treloar, Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Jack Crisp dominant, Josh Smith prolific off half-back, Jeremy Howe taking mark after mark, that pair largely responsible for the ball pinging out of the Suns' forward line it had the bumpers of a pinball machine. 

Ryan Davis kicked Gold Coast's first goal just 30 seconds into the second term. But then it was just normal transmission resumed, once there had been a considerable delay for the Suns' Sean Lemmens to be stretchered from the ground after he'd been well and truly collected by a fair bump from White. 

White himself got on the goalscoring bandwagon with the last couple of the first half, as did Jordan de Goey, while Howe served up a couple more nominations for mark-of-the-year, one over "two-metre Peter" Wright no less, the other over Steven May. 

Gold Coast had nothing in the tank. The Suns' pressure was missing from the word go, their attacks haphazard, even the normally dangerous forward targets in Lynch and Wright reduced to bit players. 

Treloar, in his 100th game, was terrific for the Magpies and provided a highlight with a third-quarter goal, winning a centre bounce clearance, getting on his bike for a "give-and-get" handball effort, and after being forced wider on his right foot, effortlessly snapping truly anyway. 

In fact, that was about the last moment in this game worth remembering even for the Pies, who failed to add another goal in the last term, their radar suddenly askew to the extent of nine behinds. 

And the Suns were only marginally less awful, actually winning the term with 2.3, reducing the final margin to 71 points, which, in the context of the first half, actually was a bit of a face-saver. 

Collingwood are still going to finish with fewer wins than any season since 2005, but at least this performance gave a glimpse of what their best may look like when they actually reach it. 

As for Gold Coast, well this elongated road trip had all the success of Chevy Chase's family on one of the "National Lampoon" vacation flicks. Minus the laughs. Well, intentional laughs, anyway. 

Votes
COLLINGWOOD v GOLD COAST
(Rohan Connolly)

Adam Treloar (Coll) ……....8
Josh Smith (Coll)…………..7
Scott Pendlebury (Coll)……7
Jesse White (Coll)…………6
Jeremy Howe (Coll)……….6