Australian Football

Match Report

Collingwood has consolidated its position in the top eight with a relatively dour win over St Kilda at Docklands. After an even first half the Magpies managed to put some space between themselves and St Kilda in the second half, going on to win the match by 26 points.

Coach Nathan Buckley was pleased the Magpies ability to hold St Kilda to a score of less than 80. The Magpies adopted a more defensive mindset after they had recently given up big totals in matches against Hawthorn (145 points) and Essendon (121 points). This mindset enable Collingwood to restrict the Saints to just 5.5 in the first half, although the Pies themselves could kick only 5.7.

But the Pies were able to free up their attack in the second half, kicking 10.6, while still keeping the Saints forward line in check (6.6) to record a workmanlike win that keeps Collingwood within striking distance of the top four.

Travis Cloke's four goals kept him in contention for the Coleman Medal. He now has 22 for the season, one behind North Melbourne's Lindsay Thomas. He could easily have been the outright leader, as he also kicked five behinds for the night. While Cloke was amongst the Magpies best, the trio of Dale Thomas (34 disposals), Scott Pendlebury (28 touches and two goals) and Dane Swan (26 possessions) were outstanding.

Cloke's counterpart, St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt, continued his fine season with another dominant four-goal performance. The veteran champion has 18 goals for the season and has been an outstanding leader so far in 2013. He was well supported by Jack Steven and Dylan Roberton.

Collingwood now faces a tough encounter against Fremantle in Perth. Both sides are on four wins and looking to break into the top four. St Kilda, 15th on the ladder with just one win, will face Carlton in the now-tradtional "day after Mother's Day encounter next Monday.

GOALS
Collingwood: Cloke 4; Jolly, Pendlebury, Seedsman 2; O'Brien, Blair, Krakouer, Clarke, Dwyer
St Kilda: Riewoldt 4; Siposs 2; Gilbert, Milne, Roberton, Koschitzke, Armitage

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Collingwood: Thomas, Pendlebury, Swan, Macaffer, Cloke, O'Brien, Shaw
St Kilda: Riewoldt, Steven, Geary, Montagna, Armitage, Roberton

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
Collingwood: Thomas, Pendlebury, Swan, Macaffer, Shaw, O'Brien, Jolly
St Kilda: Riewoldt, Armitage, Roberton, Steven, Siposs, Montagna

COACHES' COMMENTS
Nathan Buckley (Coll): We got more aggressive with our ball movement [after half time]. We spent most of the week talking about our defensive intent, and it's a very natural reaction to take the focus off other areas you need to do well. We got two careful with our ball use in the second quarter but we opened that up a bit and we got the balance right in the second half.

Scott Watters (StK): It's really hard to accept commendable efforts. If you look at all the contested stats, they were pretty much 50-50 for most of the night, so that's a really good foundation for our players to keep aiming for building from; really pleased from that point of view. But to beat good sides, it's more than three quarters. You've got to go the full distance.

INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
St Kilda: Lenny Hayes (calf) replaced in the selected team by Jack Newnes; Sam Gilbert (left knee)

SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Ben Kennedy replaced Jarrod Witts in the third quarter
St Kilda: Brodie Murdoch replaced Sam Gilbert in the third quarter

UMPIRES: Rosebury, Stevic, Ryan