Australian Football

Match Report

As was widely expected, Collingwood made relatively short work of an undermanned St Kilda outfit at Docklands stadium last Friday night, defeating the Saints by 86 points. The Saints, with a team full of youngsters and missing several players through injury, stayed within striking distance of the Magpies for the first half, but Collingwood gradually got in top in the third term, kicking four goals to two to lead by 39 points at the last break. Then, in the final quarter, the Magpies went into overdrive, kicking 7.6 to leave the overwhelmed young Saints in their wake. St Kilda managed just one behind in that period, with the final margin blowing out to more than 14 goals.

The win saw a return to form of key Magpie forward Travis Cloke, who took 12 marks and booted five goals, while Dayne Beams (33 disposals and seven tackles) and Josh Thomas (29 possessions, three goals) also had excellent games for the victors. Old stagers Lenny Hayes (25 touches and seven tackles) and Nick Riewoldt (three goals and eight marks) fought hard to keep St Kilda in the match for as long as possible, while the Saints would have been encouraged by the form of 19-year-old Luke Dunstan who, in his ninth game, had 20 touches and five tackles and kicked a goal.

Collingwood's win sees it move back into the top four with a 7-3 record. While this is only percentage away from second on the ladder, it is also only one game ahead of eigth, so the Pies will be looking for and eighth win against Melbourne on the Queen's Birthday public holiday next Monday. 16th on the table with just three wins, the Saints face a potentially even tougher task next Saturday when it takes on top team Port Adelaide on its home turf at the Adelaide Oval. Things could get worse for St Kilda before they get better.

GOALS
St. Kilda: Riewoldt 3; Milera, Ray, Steven, Dunstan, Siposs
Collingwood: Cloke 5; Fasolo, Elliott 4; Thomas 3; White 2; Blair, Beams, Witts

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
St. Kilda: Hayes, Riewoldt, Montagna, Newnes, Dunstan
Collingwood: Beams, Pendlebury, Cloke, Young, Thomas, Elliott, Fasolo

BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
St Kilda: Hayes, Riewoldt, Delaney, Montagna, Newnes
Collingwood: Beams, Cloke, Thomas, Elliott, Fasolo

COACHES COMMENTS Alan Richardson (StK): The last quarter was disappointing. We had a real focus on the start to the game and our first 10 minutes could have been better; we certainly had our opportunities. We were right in the game at the back end of that first quarter but it certainly got away from us. The story of our last month is that we've been good for halves. The last quarter was poor.

Nathan Buckley (Coll): It was a strong four-quarter performance. Most of our players were able to tick off the areas that they thought they needed to, the areas that we focus on. We had really good weight of numbers. Most of our individuals contributed over the four quarters.

INJURIES
St. Kilda: Weller (concussion)
Collingwood: Swan (heel) and Grundy (back) replaced in selected side by Thomas and Seedsman, Maxwell (calf)

SUBSTITUTES
St. Kilda: Maverick Weller (concussion) replaced by Clint Jones in the first quarter.
Collingwood: Nick Maxwell (right calf) replaced by Paul Seedsman in the first quarter.

REPORTS: Steele Sidebottom (Collingwood) for engaging in rough conduct against Maverick Weller (St Kilda) in the first quarter.

UMPIRES: Donlon, Stevic, Armstrong

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

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