Australian Football

Match Report

In a match that was perhaps a microcosm of both teams' seasons, Collingwood overcame Essendon to record an unconvincing win in front of 56,491 fans at the MCG on Saturday night. The Magpies looked potent at various stages of the match, as they have done throughout the season, but at other times they looked a long way from the side that has contested the last two Grand Finals. The return to form for Travis Cloke a big positive, as was the remarkable return from a serious knee injury of Andrew Krakouer. Essendon started this match looking very much a team that belonged in the top eight, if not the top four, just as they had started this season. But as the game wore on, the Bombers were unable to sustain that brand of football and ultimately fell significantly short of Collingwood.

Aside from Cloke, Dane Swan, Alex Fasolo and Dale Thomas were all fine contributors for the Magpies. Jobe Watson finished off a fine season with another 28 touches, and he was comfortably Essendon's best player, ahead of Dyson Hepell and David Zaharakis.

Collingwood faces a tough assignment in week one of the finals, meeting top-placed Hawthorn at the MCG on Friday night. The Hawks will start favourites, having accounted for the Magpies in both of their home-and-away encounters this year, but Collingwood will draw on the fact that they defeated the Hawks in last year's thrilling Preliminary Final. Essendon's hierarchy will now face the task of sifting through the wreckage of a season that promised much, and still appeared to be on track as little as eight weeks ago.

GOALS
Essendon: O'Brien, Zaharakis 2; Crameri, Monfries, Hurley, Myers, Watson, Heppell
Collingwood: Cloke 5; Fasolo 2; Beams, Goldsack, Paine, Swan, Krakouer, Shaw, O'Brien

BEST - THE SUNDAY AGE
Essendon: Watson, Heppell, Zaharakis, Hibberd, Hille, Hurley
Collingwood: Cloke, Swan, Fasolo, Thomas, Beams, O'Brien, Maxwell, Pendlebury

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Essendon: Watson, Stanton, Zaharakis, Heppell, Hille, Hurley
Collingwood: Swan, Cloke, Beams, Fasolo, Pendlebury, Thomas

COACHES' COMMENTS
James Hird (Ess): The year was a year of two halves for us. We certainly played some exciting football and developed a lot in our footy club in the first half of the year but it didn't really pay off for us in the back half of the year.

Nathan Buckley (Coll): Our contested ball and our hunt around the contest was excellent tonight. We didn't use the ball particularly well and will have to sharpen up in that area.

Umpires: Donlon, McBurney, Jennings