COLLINGWOOD 5.5 Â 9.10 Â 11.16 Â 18.21 (129)
BRISBANE LIONS 4.3 Â 6.3 Â 10.6 Â 13.6 (84)
Goals: Collingwood: J Elliott 4 D Moore 3 A Fasolo 2 D Wells 2 A Treloar B Maynard J Smith L Dunn S Sidebottom T Adams T Broomhead. Brisbane Lions: D Beams 3 D Zorko 2 A Smith D Rich E Hipwood J Barrett J Berry M Hammelmann R Mathieson T Cutler.
Best: Collingwood: Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Elliott, Treloar, Moore, Goldsack, Grundy, Adams, Maynard. Brisbane Lions: Zorko, Beams, McLuggage, Hipwood, Mathieson, Mayes.
Umpires: Ray Chamberlain, Andrew Stephens, Robert O'Gorman.
Official Crowd: 32,750 at MCG.
Collingwood's game against Brisbane was a microcosm of their season. Good in parts, dominant in others, frail at times, and architects of their own misfortune at others.
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Collingwood dismiss Brisbane
Collingwood kept their feint finals hopes alive with a win over bottom of the table Brisbane.
Eventual 45-point winners, the Magpies were five goals up in the biting cold and rain approaching half-time. The Lions got a goal back on the siren from Matthew Hammelmann, but the contest had about it a sense of inevitability, which was only reinforced after the break when Darcy Moore booted the first goal.
Then Collingwood kicked six straight behinds and teased out in Brisbane minds the idea of the comeback as the Lions in contrast kicked four goals. It also teased out in Collingwood minds the frailty in their game all year.
Alex Fasolo, Moore and Tim Broomhead all missed regulation set shots – a familiar ailment this year. For Fasolo it brought him to 6.13 from set shots in 2017.
Jamie Elliott missed the sort of crumbing snap he would wish to have the chance to kick each week. Taylor Adams had a snap that went awry. They were earning the shots – as they had all year – and then wasting them.
At game's end Collingwood had enjoyed more than double Brisbane's inside 50s – 72 to 33 – the sort of dominance that might have reflected better on the scoreboard but for a goals and behinds ledger that again favoured the minor score.
These might sound churlish points in a win of this margin but against a young bottom side they would have hoped to find a better a gear than they did. Comfortingly, a seven-goal last quarter was the sort of satisfying correction they would have hoped for.
Throughout, at least, they were trying to move the ball forward with purpose and change direction with speed. Steele Sidebottom and Scott Pendlebury were the most creative influences yet their steadiness across half back helped the Pies.
Thirty three inside fifties might suggest a comfortable day for the defenders especially when the Magpies set up as they have all year with an extra forward at the back of the square.
It was not all midfield work denying the Brisbane forward attacks and creating the low inside fifty count, the Lions forwards pushed high up the ground and still Collingwood's backs – Tyson Goldsack and Lynden Dunn in particular – beat them more often in the contest. Brayden Maynard offered good rebound running and clever ball use.Â
Jeremy Howe had Marco Paparone running with him as a defensive forward, slightly dulling his excellent form this year. The backmen – including the returning Matthew Scharenberg – won contested one-on-ones.
For all that, Daynes Zorko and Beams were the equal of anyone on the ground and the reasons – well, as much as Collingwood's inaccurate kicking – that the Lions were able to stay clinging to the contest
Occasionally opportunities present to judge a player not against the broad competition, but against a peer, a player of similar vintage and experience. Darcy Moore was not being asked to play on an Alex Rance or Robbie Tarrant; he was predominantly playing on Daniel McStay, who is only 12 months his senior.
Moore has been better in recent games and again on Sunday had a game that rebuilt confidence in his season. It is well to recall that he is a third-year player playing predominantly as the sole key forward – if you don't count the fact that the much shorter Elliott actually plays as a full forward.
Collingwood have looked better since Elliott came back in to the team. He might have had at least six, if not eight goals, and contented himself with 4.4 for the day.
It was the first time Collingwood had played Brisbane in a day game since the 2003 grand final. That day didn't go well. In fact the weather felt more like the 2002 grand final.
The signs for Brisbane were, again, in the green shoots of Eric Hipwood – a hanger in the first term at half back that led to a Zorko goal, and a snap of his own later that he lifted from his toes and nimbly got it to his boot – as well as Archie Smith, Hugh McLuggage.