COLLINGWOOD 3.5 5.5 7.8 8.9 (57) CARLTON 3.3 4.6 4.8 6.9 (45)
Goals: Collingwood: B Grundy 2 J Blair 2 D Moore J Aish L Greenwood S Pendlebury. Carlton: B Gibbs 2 A Phillips J Lamb M Wright S White.
Best: Collingwood: Pendlebury, Grundy, Reid, Howe, Sidebottom, Greenwood, Blair
Carlton: Simpson, Curnow, Wright, Lamb, Plowman
Umpires: Troy Pannell, Jeff Dalgleish, Andrew Mitchell, Nicholas Foot.Â
Official Crowd: 56,157 at MCG.Â
When the history of the game's most storied rivalry is recorded in the annals, little room will be roped off for the details of this encounter. In short, a second straight win for Collingwood will ease pressure on coach Nathan Buckley, and likely shift the spotlight from the Holden Centre to nearby Punt Road.
Carlton's season is already a success, but this showing was perhaps their most infuriating of the year. And the Blues' night was worsened by a last-quarter knee injury to exciting Irishman Ciaran Byrne, who was carted off the ground with an anguished look on his face.
More Sport Videos
- Video duration
- 01:29
AFL: Collingwood creep past Carlton
- Video duration
- 02:30
AFL plays of the finals: week two
- Video duration
- 06:15
The greatest of finals heroes
- Video duration
- 01:30
Swans overcome Crows to make prelim
- Video duration
- 03:34
Eddie Betts: Good times and bad
- Video duration
- 00:25
Brad Hardie on the future for Peter Sumich
- Video duration
- 01:03
Scott Lycett may miss 2017 season
- Video duration
- 05:22
FootyFix: Will Hawks and Swans bounce back?
AFL: Collingwood creep past Carlton
A second straight win for Collingwood will ease pressure on coach Nathan Buckley.
At the risk of indulging in tortured political cliches, this match shaped as too close to call. Neither side was a realistic chance to make the eight, consigned to a life below the line.Â
Still there was plenty of interest in the lead-up, primarily because of three father-son selections. Travis Cloke, the incumbent Pies' centre-half forward had kept his place, as the Magpies erred on the side of height. Darcy Moore was brought straight back in after being cleared to return from a broken collarbone. And Jack Silvagni, who had lived much of his 18 and ½ years in the public glare, was called upon to try to shore up the Carlton forward line.
It wasn't quite Jack Watts-level intimidation, but Silvagni was ruffled up by opponent Tyson Goldsack in the moments preceding the first bounce. But it was Moore, who had made his own debut a year ago to the weekend, whose early miss was the first score of the game. Eight minutes later he rose above No. 1 draft pick Jacob Weitering to mark and then goal, staking his claim as the pick of a rather underwhelming bunch of key forwards on the ground.
Not that it took long for Silvagni to make an impact. The teenager's first kick was a neat pass to Jed Lamb, who sunk the game's first goal from the pocket. It wasn't Silvagni's only first-quarter involvement either. A Jeremy Howe turnover resulted in the youngster marking 25 metres out, bringing Blues folk both in the stands and in the media box to their feet. Alas, he couldn't convert, and from the ensuing kick-in the Pies raced to the City End, where Scott Pendlebury snapped sublimely, with his 10th disposal in 20 minutes.
Collingwood had the lion's share of uncontested ball in the first half, but were frustratingly incapable of making it count. Cloke was playing higher, and grew into the game, but looked nowhere near the force of previous years, while Mason Cox couldn't muster a disposal before the long break.
By half time their advantage had crept only to five points. The scrap continued after the rivals emerged from the rooms. Neither side scored until Jarryd Blair steered home from a set shot from 45 metres at the nine-minute mark.
Slowly but surely though, Collingwood began to get reward for their superiority. Cox's struggles were more than balanced out by the excellence of ruckman Brodie Grundy, who played a masterful hand around the ground, single-handedly beating Carlton big men Matthew Kreuzer and Andrew Phillips.
Grundy's second stretched the margin to 17, and the game threatened to open up. To the Blues' credit, they showed plenty of fight, but the Pies' defence - led well by Howe and Ben Reid - rarely looked too troubled. Carlton were only three goals down at the last change, but had kicked just four for the night to that point.
The final term mirrored the third. Remarkably it took even longer for a score this time, and again it was Blair who goaled to end the rut at the 16-minute mark.Â
A match devoid of highlights looked like it would at least get a late Silvagni goal when he marked 15 metres out minutes later. But he inexplicably squared the ball to Bryce Gibbs - who missed. It was that sort of night.
Votes:
S. Pendlebury (Collingwood) 8
B. Grundy (Collingwood) 8
B. Reid (Collingwood) 7
J. Howe (Collingwood) 6
L. Greenwood (Collingwood) 6
0 comments
New User? Sign up