Australian Football

Match Report

Collingwood has moved up to fifth place on the ladder with a solid win over Gold Coast at Carrara in Saturday's twilight match. The Magpies had control for most of the match, a brief period late in the second quarter being the only time the Suns looked threatening. The Suns drew the second quarter with Collingwood but the Magpies won the other three quarters convincingly. 

The Magpies set the pace from the very beginning, with goals to Alex Fasolo and Scott Pendlebury within the first five minutes of the match. The two sides traded behind over the next 12 minutes before Adam Oxley kicked the Pies' third. Charlie Dixon finally got Gold Coast on the board with a major as the quarter entered time on but Travis Varcoe and Pendlebury added further goals for Collingwood in the closing stages of the first term, giving the Pies a 23-point quarter-time lead. 

Brandon Matera kicked off the second quarter with a goal at the two-minute mark, but Collingwood responded with three in a row via Varcoe, Fasolo and Jesse White to take a 34-point lead and an apparently stranglehold on the match. However, Gold Coast, led by Charlie Dixon, suddenly reversed the tide. Within the space of six minutes, the Suns slammed on four goals - three to Dixon and one to Alex Sexton - to reduce the margin to under two goals. The Magpies settled in the last few minutes of the term, though, two more majors to White taking Collingwood's lead back out to 23 at half time.

Collingwood's Jamie Elliott and Pendlebury also kicked the first two goals of the third quarter to undo the Suns' four-goal run-on and restore a 26-point lead, after which the Suns provided little resistance. They added only two behinds for the term, while the Magpies added further goals through Elliott (two) and White to lead by 55 points at the last change of ends. 

Tom Nicholls provided the Suns with a brief spark with the first goal of the last quarter but Collingwood went into overdrive after that, with Travis Cloke, Fasolo, Elliott, Brodie Grundy and Elliott again kicking majors to give the Pies an 82-point lead going into time-on. The Suns got a couple of consolation goals through Sexton and Nicholls in that time-on period, but the damage had well and truly been done, the Magpies coasting to a 69-point win.

Varcoe was outstanding for the Magpies, with 10 marks and 29 disposals, while Pendlebury (35 possessions, three goals) and Steele Sidebottom (32 touches and five tackles) were also very good. For Gold Coast, Harley Bennell (23 touches and seven marks), Nicholls (26 hitouts, two goals) and Dixon (four goals, four tackles) were among the best. 

With a 5-3 record, Collingwood will meet North Melbourne at the MCG next Sunday, while Gold Coast will face Hawthorn at York Park in search of its second win of the year.

GOALS
Gold Coast: Dixon 4; Sexton, Nicholls 2; Matera
Collingwood: Elliott 5; White 4; Fasolo, Pendlebury 3; Varcoe 2; Oxley, Grundy, Cloke

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Gold Coast: Nicholls, Dixon, Sexton, Rischitelli
Collingwood: Varcoe, Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Elliott, Swan, Goldsack

BEST - BRISBANETIMES.COM.AU
Gold Coast: Bennell, Dixon, Kolodjashnij, Nicholls, Sexton, Lonergan
Collingwood: Varcoe, Pendlebury, Goldsack, Elliott, Williams, Sidebottom, Swan, White

INJURIES
Gold Coast: Nil
Collingwood: Jack Frost (leg)

SUBSTITUTES
Gold Coast: Luke Russell replaced Aaron Hall in the third quarter
Collingwood: Tim Broomhead replaced Jack Frost in the third quarter

UMPIRES: Fisher, Stephens, Jeffer

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Anthony Hudson, Jason Dunstall, Jonathan Brown, David King