Australian Football

Match Report

Collingwood has consolidated a place in the top eight and given itself some hope of a top-four spot with a comfortable, if unspectacular win over the Western Bulldogs in Sunday's twilight match at Docklands stadium.

In a game which was dominated by contested ball and defence early the Magpies got on top in the latter stages of the first term and went to the first break leading 4.2 to 0.2. The Magpie machine then clicked into gear in the second quarter, with the Dogs, while competing well in the midfield, having few answers to Collingwood's driving attacks launched from deep in defence. Unlike the Bulldogs, the Magpies had a decisive focal point in the forward line. He took several contested marks and had four goals straight on the board by half time.

At the other end of the ground another player was also marking everything in sight. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, that man was Collingwood's Heath Shaw and time and time again, he turned a Western Bulldogs foray forward into a dangerous counter-offensive.

With another seven goals to two in the second quarter, the Magpies went into the long break with a 53-point lead and the stage was set for an annihilation. But to the Western Bulldogs' credit, they regrouped after half time and restricted Collingwood to only two goals in the third quarter, though kicking only two of their own. In the last quarter, the Bulldogs actually played their best footy of the match, kicking five goals and again restricting the Magpies to just two.

The margin was cut to just 28 points late in the final term, before a final Collingwood goal from Cloke saw the Magpies win by 34 points. Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was visibly frustrated in the second half, but later said that the Pies first half was very good. The Bulldogs meanwhile were left to rue some poor skill errors, particularly in the first half that resulted in them forfeiting any unlikely chance of victory.

Best for the Magpies were Heath Shaw, who played a magnificent intercept and rebounding role, Travis Cloke with his five goals and Dane Swan, who with 38 touches had possibly his best game of the season thus far. For the Bulldogs, Ryan Griffen (32 possessions and a goal) continued his stellar season, while captain Matthew Boyd (32 disposals, one goal) and young defender Michael Talia (30 disposals) were also very good.

Collingwood has a bye in round 13, while the Bulldogs will return to Docklands on Saturday night to take on the improving Richmond.

GOALS
Collingwood: Cloke 5; Elliott 2; Pendlebury, Blair. J.Thomas, Seedsman, Dwyer, Kennedy, Jolly, Martin
Western Bulldogs: Giansiracusa, Stringer 2; Griffen, Liberatore, Boyd, Stevens, Murphy

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
Collingwood: Shaw, Cloke, Swan, Pendlebury, Elliott
Western Bulldogs: Griffen, Murphy, Stringer, Goodes, Cooney

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Collingwood: Cloke, O'Brien, Pendlebury, Swan, Elliott, Shaw
Western Bulldogs: Griffen, Murphy, Macrae, Stringer

COACHES' COMMENTS
Nathan Buckley (Coll): Our first half was really good. Our second half was a little bit disappointing. We're going into a bye, we're eight [wins] and four [losses]. We've played some really strong footy but we've only really put four quarters together maybe three or four times.

Brendan McCartney (WB): There were times when they just outplayed us in all areas of the game, but even through that I still thought we were on the verge of being able to get back into the game. The second half was probably even more frustrating because we did so much right but didn't convert or finish it.

INJURIES
Collingwood: Luke Ball (calf) replaced in selected side by Adam Oxley
Western Bulldogs: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Ben Reid replaced by Adam Oxley in the third quarter
Western Bulldogs: Liam Picken replaced by Daniel Giansiracusa in the third quarter

UMPIRES: Bannister, Armstrong, Jeffery