Australian Football

Match Report

Collingwood and Essendon have played out another classic ANZAC Day encounter, albeit one with a twist, with the Magpies prevailing over the Bombers by 23 points in front of 91,731 fans, the sixth-largest crowd in VFL/AFL history. But the Pies had to do it the hard way, coming from 37 points down early in the second term.

In perfect conditions, the Bombers got the jump on Collingwood with an early free kick and goal to Brent Stanton, back up by a big mark and goal to Joe Daniher, and a snap from skipper Jobe Watson. By the eight-minute mark of the first quarter, Essendon led by 18 points and looking good. The two sides traded behinds for the next 13 minutes before Winderlich marked and goaled at the 21-minute mark to take the Bombers lead out to four goals. A further mark and goal to Patrick Ryder four minutes later saw Essendon lead by 31 points at the first change, with the Magpies failing to bring up the "twin calicos" once in the term.

The second quarter began as the first ended, with a goal to Essendon through a snap from Jake Melsham that saw the Bombers out a 37-point lead and it looked as though the match would turn into an ANZAC Day fizzed. But things began to turn from that moment. The Magpies finally managed a goal at the nine-minute mark of the term when Jesse White crumbed one from the goal square. Four minutes later, Dane Swan gave a sign of things to come when he took a mark, played on a kicked a goal to cut the margin back to a manageable 25 points.

With the game evening up in general play, goals began to dry up for the Bombers and Collingwood's attack began to take on an air of potency. Steele Sidebottom marked and goaled at the 17-minute mark and followed up with another six minutes later to bring the Pies to within two goals. The Magpies continued to surge forward for the remainder of the term, and were rewarded with goals to Tyson Goldsack and a third to Sidebottom which levelled the scores just before half time.

Both sides made substitutions early in the third quarter, Courtenay Dempey coming on for the out of touch Kyle Hardingham for the Bombers and Josh Thomas replacing the injured Alex Fasolo for Collingwood. The early part of the term was an arm-wrestle, with neither side scoring a goal in the first 13 minutes. White broke the deadlock with a mark and goal from the pocket to put the Pies eight points clear. The Dons continued to struggle up forward and had not registered a score for the term when it ticked into time on. At the 21-minute mark, Dane Swan sent the Magpie fans into raptures when he ran along the boundary, took two bounces and then goaled from the tightest of angles to take Collingwood to a 13-point lead. He repeated the dose at the 28-minute mark and the Pies took all the momentum into the last break, leading by an even three goals.

Essendon needed to get the first goal of the last quarter to give themselves a chance and Zac Merrett provided it, receiving a handball and snapping truly to reduce the margin to 12 points. The Magpies responded with a couple of behinds but it was Zac's brother Jackson Merrett who kicked the next major after a mark just inside 50 to cut Collingwood's lead back to eight points.

With the game on the line, Magpie Jamie Elliott came to the fore with a driving goal from 40 metres out at the 11-minute mark. Swan kicked his fourth just as the clock ticked into time on and then Brodie Grundy "iced" the game with a long goal after a mark too see the Magpies home by 23 points in an enthralling encounter.

Swan's four goals and 26 disposals saw him win the ANZAC Medal, ahead of Scott Pendlebury (30 possessions) and Steele Sidebottom (26 touches, three goals). Best for the Bombers were Brent Stanton (32 disposals, seven tackles) and Dyson Heppell (33 possessions, 11 tackles).

The win takes the Magpies into the top four, with four wins from six games, while Essendon finds itself 12th on the ladder, with a 2-4 record and a game plus percentage outside the eight. The Bombers face the Western Bulldogs (also 2-4) next Saturday night, while Collingwood take on Carlton at the MCG in a Friday night blockbuster in round seven.

GOALS
Collingwood: Swan 4; Sidebottom 3; White 2; Goldsack, Elliot, Grundy
Essendon: Stanton, Daniher, Watson, Winderlich, Ryder, Melksham, Z. Merrett, J. Merrett

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Collingwood: Swan, Sidebottom, Macaffer, Beams, Pendlebury, Langdon, Frost
Essendon: Hibberd, Hooker, Heppell, Stanton, Melksham, Ryder

BEST - THE SATURDAY AGE
Collingwood: Swan, Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Beams, Keeffe, White
Essendon: Heppell, Stanton, Hooker, Winderlich, Ryder

COACHES' COMMENTS
Nathan Buckley (Coll): Essendon came out really hard and really aggressive. Their pressure was excellent; we couldn't escape it. Our composure sort of escaped us for that first 15 minutes. But by the time we got to quarter time, even though the scoreboard hadn't changed that much, I thought we'd squared up a little bit. I thought it was a really strong effort from the playing leaders.

Mark Thompson (Ess): It was a good start. I was pretty happy with the boys, the way they came back into the game at the end. We were very unlucky in the last quarter but there was a period there where we were just horrible. We couldn't stop them from kicking goals. It's become a bit of a problem. We'll work on it and hopefully get better.

INJURIES
Collingwood: Fasolo (foot), Young (leg)
Essendon: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Alex Fasolo replaced by Josh Thomas in the third quarter.
Essendon: Kyle Hardingham replaced by Courtenay Dempsey in the third quarter.

UMPIRES: Farmer, Nicholls, Chamberlain

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Bruce McAvaney, Brian Taylor, Leigh Matthews, Cameron Ling