Australian Football

Match Report

Any game between Carlton and Collingwood are invariably billed as a "blockbuster" but not every contest between the two can live up to that billing. In the case of last Friday night's match the game certainly came nowhere near meeting those expectations.

Carlton had won their previous two matches and looked to be building, while Collingwood had won three on end so it wasn't entirely unreasonable to expect a close match at the MCG. However, the Blues were flat from the outset and the Magpies had this game comfortable parcelled up by three-quarter time. An eight-goal last term from Carlton did little more than "paper over the cracks" and the final margin of 34 points in the Magpies favour was very flattering to the Blues.

The Blues did make the early running in the match, a goal to Mitch Robinson at the three-minute mark, followed by a rushed behind and a point to Levi Casboult giving Carlton an 8-0 advantage after eight minutes. But a goal to Jarrod Witts at the 14-minute mark set the Magpies on their way and Jamie Elliott and Travis Cloke followed up with majors that gave Collingwood a 14-point lead at quarter time.

Collingwood took complete control in the second term, holding the Blues to just three behinds while Dayne Beams, Luke Ball, Sam Dwyer and Beams again helped themselves to goals that gave Collingwood a commanding 37-point lead at the long break.

Things did not improve much for Carlton in the third quarter. Although Tom Bell kicked the first goal of the term for the Blues, the other three majors kicked before the last change were all by Magpies (Cloke, Witts and Elliott). At three-quarter time, Carlton had managed a measly 2.7 and Collingwood were 56 points ahead.

The game opened up dramatically in the last term, allowing Carlton to bring some semblance of respectability to their score. The Blues kicked out for the term to Collingwood's four to close the gap top 34 points at the final bell but the gulf between the sides at this stage of the season remained clear for all to see.

Best for the Pies were Tom Langdon (23 disposals), Beams (11 marks and three goals) and Jarryd Blair (22 disposals and seven marks) while positives for the Blues were Zach Tuohy (22 possessions) and sixth-gamer Dylan Buckley (16 disposals).

Going into a bye, Collingwood is nicely placed in the top four with a 5-2 record. The Magpies will face Adelaide in Adelaide in round nine. The Blues (16th with a 2-5 record) have one more match before their week off, a Monday evening game against St Kilda.

GOALS
Carlton: Henderson 2; Robinson, Bell, Casboult, Gibbs, Warnock, McLean, Everitt, Garlett
Collingwood: Beams 4; Elliott 3; Cloke, Witts 2; Ball, Dwyer, Grundy

BEST - THE SATURDAY AGE
Carlton: Tuohy, Walker, Murphy, Everitt, Buckley
Collingwood: Langdon, Pendlebury, Beams, Swan, Blair, Witts, Williams

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Carlton: Buckley, Murphy, Tuohy, Gibbs, White, Rowe
Collingwood: Langdon, Beams, Blair, Elliott, Pendlebury, Frost, Witts

COACHES' COMMENTS
Mick Malthouse (Carl): We were quite poor all day. We were comprehensively beaten by a very, very good football side. Unfortunately when we lose too many of our players that play vital roles, we really needed others to stand up. I take my hat off to blokes like [Sam] Rowe and [Simon] White. Both of those boys have taken great steps to stay at the football club, because they're the boys I was looking at under scrutiny. Docherty did a reasonable job but unfortunately from there on in it was really quite poor. The reality was we were a mile off them.

Nathan Buckley (Coll): We thought we were very impressive [in the first three quarters]. We lost 700 games worth of experience from our back line from last week and replaced it with about 70, and they performed very well. The first part of the season has been overwhelmingly positive, what we've been able to put in place: the things that we've been able to focus on and get reward for and the enormous growth that's still there for us as a footy club.

INJURIES
Carlton: Jarrad Waite (hamstring) replaced in selected side by Tom Bell, Andrew Carrazzo (back spasms) replaced in selected side by Sam Docherty
Collingwood: Nick Maxwell (back) replaced in selected side by Ben Kennedy, Clinton Young (calf) replaced in selected side by Taylor Adams, Sam Dwyer (knee)

SUBSTITUTES
Carlton: Kane Lucas replaced by Troy Menzel in the third quarter.
Collingwood: Sam Dwyer replaced by Ben Kennedy in the final quarter.

UMPIRES: Rosebury, Kamolins, Harris

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Bruce McAvaney, Dennis Cometti, Tom Harley, Leigh Matthews, Wayne Carey