Australian Football

Match Report

Collingwood has defeated West Coast in a thrilling game at the MCG on Saturday, overcoming the loss of two players to hold out the Eagles by eight points in a high-scoring encounter.

The first quarter was somewhat of a goal-fest, with each side booting five and the Eagles two points to the good at quarter-time 5.2 to 5.0. As well as dealing with a switched-on West Coast at the first break, the Magpie coaching stuff also had to reorganise its backline after Nathan Brown was subbed off with an unfortunate recurrence of a shoulder injury.

Despite the loss of Brown, Collingwood hung in valiantly in the early stages of the second term, with Brent Macaffer and Jarryd Blair goaling to give the Magpies a five-point lead after Josh Kennedy had kicked the first of the quarter for West Cost. But the Eagles began to take control as the quarter progressed, and kicked they kicked the last three goals before half time, through Josh Hill, Shannon Hurn and Jamie Cripps, to lead by 14 points at the long break.

The Magpies kicked two of the first three goals of the third term but then suffered a further injury blow when defender Jack Frost was forced from the ground at the seven-minute mark with concussion. Despite that secondary setback, Collingwood managed to outscore the inaccurate Eagles two goals to one for the remainder of the term and the Eagles led by just six points, 11.10 to 11.4, at the final change.

An heroic last-quarter effort would be required if Collingwood was to get up in this match and that was exactly what the Magpies players provided. Jamie Elliott goaled at the five-minute mark to put the Pies two points ahead and skipper Scott Pendlebury followed up with another two minutes later to put Collingwood eight points clear. But the Eagles continued to fight, as goals to Cripps and big Dean Cox saw them reclaim the lead at the 11-minute mark. Collingwood refused to lie down, however. Dayne Beams goaled to return the lead to Collingwod at the 13-minute mark and then Elliott scored again to make the difference nine after 17 minutes.

A beautiful, long, running goal to Hurn cut the margin back to three but Brodie Grundy took it back out to nine points at the 23-minute mark with his first for the day. The Eagles' back was finally broken when the out-of-form Travis Cloke marked and goaled at the 27-minute mark. Jack Darling kicked a goal for the Eagles with two minutes remaining but the Magpies defended stoutly to hang on for a memorable against-the-odds win by eight points.

Pendlebury, Beams and Steele Sidebottom were magnificent for the victors, while Matt Priddis and Andrew Gaff were valiant for the Eagles.

The win sees Collingwood maintain a hold on sixth place on the ladder, outside the top four on percentage only, with a winnable game against St Kilda to come on Friday night. West Coast sits in ninth place, a game outside the eight, and will host eighth-placed North Melbourne at Subiaco on Sunday. A win in that match will see the Eagles take the Roos spot in the eight.

GOALS
Collingwood: Blair 3; Beams, Elliott 2; White, Goldsack, Witts, Macaffer, Ball, Fasolo, Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Grundy, Cloke
West Coast: Cripps 3; Priddis, Hill, Cox, Hurn 2; Yeo, Wellingham, Kennedy, Darling

BEST - THE AGE
Collingwood: Pendlebury, Beams, Lumumba, Sidebottom, Macaffer, Maxwell
West Coast: Priddis, Gaff, Mackenzie, Selwood, Masten, Naitanui

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Collingwood: Beams, Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Blair, Swan, Lumumba, Macaffer
West Coast: Priddis, Selwood, Gaff, Hurn, Mackenzie, Naitanui, Cripps

COACHES' COMMENTS
Nathan Buckley (Coll): I thought we were well beaten in many areas of the game. Inside 50s, to give up 66 is not ideal. But in the end, the numbers are less relevant when you've got enough of a group that believes it wants to stay in the contest and has got the ticker to stay involved and to work it through. We just ground it out. It was a great win in the end. It wasn't a pretty win but we're encouraged by the fact that the players dug deep and got it done.

Adam Simpson (WCo): Our endeavour and intent were there but we just couldn't sustain it in that last 15 minutes. We're seeing signs of improvement. I thought our midfielders as a collective stood up for the most part of the day. We had 66 inside 50s, so supply was there. We just couldn't capitalise. There defenders were really good.

INJURIES
Collingwood: Nathan Brown (dislocated shoulder), Jack Frost (concussion)
West Coast: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Clinton Young replaced Nathan Brown (dislocated shoulder) at quarter-time.
West Coast: Mark Hutchings replaced Brad Sheppard in the fourth quarter.

UMPIRES: Rosebury, Kamolins, Harris

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Anthony Hudson, Jason Dunstall, Dermott Brereton, David King