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Collingwood vs Melbourne

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 23   Venue: M.C.G.   Date: Sat, 26-08-2017 1:45 pm   Crowd: 51,223  
Collingwood 6.5.419.6.6012.10.8214.15.99 C:  Nathan Buckley
Melbourne 1.3.94.8.329.10.6412.11.83 C:  Simon Goodwin
  COLL by 32COLL by 28COLL by 18COLL by 16  
Weather
min temp  11.0°C      max temp  15.3°C
rainfall  0mm    humidity  48%    air pressure  1021.9mb
wind speed 11km/h      wind direction  NW
Brownlow Medal 3 Will Hoskin-Elliott (COLL)2 Taylor Adams (COLL)1 Jamie Elliott (COLL)

Match Report

Melbourne had it all before it heading into Saturday's match against Collingwood at the MCG. The previously perennially underperforming Demons simply had to defeat the still perennially underperforming Magpies to secure a place in the finals for the first time in more than a decade. But they did not deliver, and a horrendous first quarter which saw them fail to lay a single tackle in the first 15 minutes allowed Collingwood to kick six goals to one to set up what proved to be the match winning lead.

The Demons got their act together to varying degrees at various stages of the match after that, closing the gap to just eight points midway through the final term, but it proved to be a bridge too far, a goal from Will Hoskin-Elliott early in time-on sealing a Magpies win. That left Melbourne to rely on other results to fall its way if it was to maintain its place in the eight. The cards almost fell their way but eventually did not, leaving the Demons 0.49% short of a place in the top eight, the lowest percentage margin in 121 V/AFL seasons by which a team has missed the finals.

Melbourne created the first scoring opportunity of the match but Jeff Garlett's snap over the shoulder at the two-minute mark missed, and the Magpies got on a roll after that. Tom Phillips got them going, pouncing on a loose ball to kick the game's first goal at the three-minute mark, before second-gamer Josh Daicos, son of Magpie legend Peter, marked and kicked his first AFL goal three minutes later.

From there, Collingwood controlled most of the remainder of the first term. Brodie Grundy marked and goaled to put the Pies 16 points clear after 10 minutes, and they added three more behinds before Christian Petracca finally scored Melbourne's first goal at the 15-minute mark. It was all Collingwood from there, though, and goals to Jamie Elliott, Steele Sidebottom, and Tim Broomhead set up a 32-point quarter-time lead, condemning the Demons to playing 'catch-up' football.

Having no doubt received a good old-fashion 'rocket' from coach Simon Goodwin at the quarter-time break, the Demons came out firing in the second term, with goals to Garlett and Jack Watts reducing the deficit to 20 points. They had several opportunities to apply further pressure to Collingwood from there, but could muster only behinds, adding four in a row before the Magpies goaled against the run of play through Elliott. The sides added another goal each before Elliott's third from a great snap under pressure saw Collingwood still well clear at the long break, leading by 28 points.

Melbourne started strongly again in the third quarter, Alex Neal-Bullen marking and kicking truly inside the first two minutes, but Collingwood appeared to have all the answers, with majors to Phillips, Mason Cox and Hoskin-Elliott giving the Pies a game-high lead of 41 points. But Collingwood has had a history of giving up large leads this season, and the second half of the term saw Melbourne kick four unanswered goals. The margin was suddenly back to 18 points at the last change of ends, and fans of both sides spent the three-quarter time break with nerves jangling.

The first eight minutes of the final term produced a stalemate, a behind to Magpie Grundy the only score. A big mark and goal to Cox at the eight-minute mark broke the deadlock and, trailing by 25 points, the Demons' hopes were slipping away. But a running goal to Mitch Hannan sparked Melbourne for one final time, and follow-up majors to Jake Melksham and Cam Pedersen had the Demons within eight points midway through the term.

From there, though, Collingwood steadied, and after squandering a few chances with three behinds in a row, Hoskin-Elliott's second goal virtually sealed the match. The Magpies went into defensive mode during time on, restricting Melbourne to just one behind, and they were 16 points to the good when the final siren sounded.

For the Magpies, Elliott (10 marks, three goals), Taylor Adams(28 touches and a goal) and Hoskin-Elliott (12 marks, 20 disposals) all played pivotal roles in the win. Melbourne was well served by Clayton Oliver (30 possessions and seven marks) and Neal-Bullen (eight marks, 17 disposals). 

The loss left Melbourne hoping that Fremantle would beat Essendon, that Adelaide would defeat West Coast or, if Adelaide did not win, that the Eagles would win by no more than 21 points. The third of those options remained a possibility until the very end of the West Coast v Adelaide game, but the Eagles winning of margin of 29 condemned the Demons to ninth place on the ladder and an 11th consecutive season of looking on during the finals.

While Collingwood's season was not successful by any measure (nine and a half wins, 13th place), the Magpie hierarchy saw enough in the 2017 season to announce on the Monday following this match that coach Nathan Buckley had been granted a two-year extension to his contract. Magpie fans and commentators are divided in their opinions on this decision, and the pressure on Buckley in 2018 and 2019 will be immense.

GOALS
Collingwood: Elliott 3; Phillips, Cox, Hoskin-Elliott 2; Daicos, Grundy, Sidebottom, Broomhead, Adams
Melbourne: Melksham 3; Garlett, Neal-Bullen, Petracca 2; Watts, Hannan, Pedersen

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Collingwood: Elliott, Adams, Hoskin-Elliott, Sidebottom, Treloar, Dunn
Melbourne: Oliver, Petracca, Lewis, Melksham, Jones, Watts

BEST - THE AGE
Collingwood: Adams, Sidebottom, Maynard, Elliott
Melbourne: Oliver, Melksham, Lewis, Hunt, Petracca

INJURIES
Collingwood: Sidebottom (hamstring)
Melbourne: Hogan (hamstring)

UMPIRES: Rosebury, Deboy, Pannell

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Sandy Roberts, Anthony Hudson, Brad Johnson, Jonathan Brown, David King

Source

Match Report by Andrew Gigacz

Footnotes

Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of the AFL.

Match stats

Collingwood Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
13 Adams, Taylor 10 4 18 28 1 0 0 4 0 1 23y 340d 97 36
14 Aish, James 12 5 7 19 0 0 0 3 1 1 21y 291d 55 19
29 Broomhead, Tim 13 6 6 19 1 0 0 2 1 0 23y 157d 35 27
17 Brown, Callum 5 1 14 19 0 1 0 1 0 0 19y 121d 5 1
46 Cox, Mason 6 5 4 10 2 1 12 1 0 0 26y 165d 20 27
25 Crisp, Jack 12 7 6 18 0 0 0 6 0 0 23y 328d 84 41
26 Daicos, Josh 6 2 6 12 1 1 0 2 1 1 18y 273d 2 1
15 Dunn, Lynden 9 3 3 12 0 0 0 1 0 2 30y 104d 182 98
5 Elliott, Jamie 17 10 3 20 3 1 0 1 0 1 25y 5d 89 138
6 Goldsack, Tyson 8 4 2 10 0 1 0 4 2 0 30y 96d 161 50
4 Grundy, Brodie 13 8 7 20 1 2 12 1 2 1 23y 133d 82 27
32 Hoskin-Elliott, Will 18 12 2 20 2 0 0 3 0 0 23y 358d 74 60
38 Howe, Jeremy 12 11 8 20 0 0 0 0 1 1 27y 58d 141 86
27 Kirby, Kayle 3 2 1 4 0 1 0 5 0 1 18y 304d 1 0
8 Langdon, Tom 10 6 7 17 0 0 0 4 0 1 23y 78d 57 2
37 Maynard, Brayden 14 5 9 23 0 1 0 5 1 0 20y 340d 51 12
30 Moore, Darcy 9 10 6 15 0 0 0 2 0 0 21y 213d 47 58
21 Phillips, Tom 18 7 5 23 2 1 0 4 1 0 21y 111d 24 12
12 Scharenberg, Matthew 10 3 6 16 0 0 0 1 2 2 21y 342d 14 0
22 Sidebottom, Steele 13 4 10 23 1 0 0 6 1 0 26y 236d 185 139
24 Thomas, Josh 5 1 9 14 0 0 0 6 2 0 25y 329d 41 25
7 Treloar, Adam 8 2 15 23 0 0 0 8 1 0 24y 170d 122 74
  Rushed   5  
  Totals 231 118 154 385 14 15 24 70 16 12 23y 274d 1569 933
Melbourne Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
10 Brayshaw, Angus 13 8 7 20 0 0 0 3 0 1 21y 229d 36 14
36 Garlett, Jeff 11 4 7 18 2 2 0 5 1 0 28y 23d 167 294
11 Gawn, Max 5 3 3 8 0 1 35 1 0 0 25y 239d 74 38
19 Hannan, Mitch 5 1 5 10 1 0 0 2 1 0 23y 170d 20 22
43 Harmes, James 3 0 7 10 0 0 0 3 0 0 21y 325d 44 29
14 Hibberd, Michael 15 7 7 22 0 0 0 0 2 1 27y 235d 102 12
1 Hogan, Jesse 2 1 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 22y 195d 51 105
29 Hunt, Jayden 13 2 9 22 0 0 0 5 0 1 22y 145d 41 10
39 Jetta, Neville 8 3 11 19 0 0 0 3 1 0 27y 195d 116 24
2 Jones, Nathan 14 3 15 29 0 0 0 5 0 0 29y 218d 239 115
6 Lewis, Jordan 10 6 17 27 0 1 0 2 0 0 31y 124d 283 150
28 McDonald, Oscar 6 4 14 20 0 0 0 0 1 2 21y 161d 37 0
25 McDonald, Tom 5 7 7 12 0 0 0 1 0 4 24y 342d 126 31
18 Melksham, Jake 7 4 6 13 3 0 0 2 2 0 25y 362d 133 78
30 Neal-Bullen, Alex 13 8 4 17 2 1 0 5 0 0 21y 229d 34 23
13 Oliver, Clayton 8 7 22 30 0 0 0 3 0 0 20y 35d 35 10
21 Pedersen, Cameron 5 2 6 11 1 0 2 0 1 3 30y 162d 76 67
5 Petracca, Christian 13 3 10 23 2 1 0 2 1 1 21y 234d 39 38
3 Salem, Christian 14 8 10 24 0 0 0 3 1 0 22y 42d 46 13
12 Tyson, Dom 12 3 12 24 0 1 0 1 0 0 24y 79d 90 42
23 Vince, Bernie 19 6 10 29 0 1 0 2 1 2 31y 328d 212 112
4 Watts, Jack 10 9 8 18 1 0 0 2 0 1 26y 153d 153 143
  Rushed   3  
  Totals 211 99 198 409 12 11 37 51 12 16 25y 43d 2154 1370

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.