Pies Sure Of Finals, Put Swans To Flight

The Sunday Age

Sunday August 24, 2008

By Nick Sheridan, Chloe Saltau

COLLINGWOOD has assured itself of a spot in the finals with a comprehensive 45-point win against Sydney at Telstra Dome last night.

And in the process, the Pies have well and truly made the Swans their bunny, taking their winning streak over Sydney to six straight.

Sydney started the match with its two top ball-winners - Brett Kirk and Adam Goodes - up forward, and it did not take long for the Swans to discover the folly of the move.

Within 11 minutes, Collingwood had piled on five goals, while the Swans were struggling to get the ball in their attacking half.

After the Pies' fourth major, through a very promising John Anthony who nailed a set shot from a tight angle, Kirk was moved to the centre and Goodes pushed up a bit closer to the action.

But it was another eight minutes, and another goal the other way, before the Swans managed a score via the good work of Amon Buchanan running off half-back and setting up young Patrick Veszpremi.

But Sydney never looked like challenging, managing just two goals in each of the first three quarters, and having to wait until late in the third before it managed to string together two in a row, via Goodes and the theatrically maligned Barry Hall.

While the trained eye would have surmised that without Anthony Rocca, Sean Rusling, Alan Didak and Dale Thomas, Collingwood would be severely challenged for effective options going into attack, newcomers Anthony and John McCarthy were both willing and able to stand up as potent tall options, with Anthony kicking two goals, and McCarthy one, in the first half.

Travis Cloke was extremely dangerous, providing the Swans with so much trouble that he chewed through four opponents - Ted Richards, Leo Barry, Craig Bolton and Lewis Roberts-Thomson - in the first half, putting on three goals in that time and finishing the game with five.

The Pies' dominance was such that they ended the game with 12 goal scorers, double Sydney which had just six.

Hall, whose last encounter with Collingwood in round 14 resulted in an appointment with the club's psychologist and a stint on the sidelines due to a run-in with Shane Wakelin, looked at one point as though he was about to give a repeat performance.

It was midway through the second term when Hall caught Collingwood's Shannon Cox in a high tackle on the wing, but pressed the issue further after the umpire had blown his whistle.

The volatile big man looked on the verge of another dramatic "brain fade" when he was dragged to the bench and given a stern word by the unflappable Paul Roos.

From that opening burst, it appeared as though the game would simply become a matter of how big the Magpies could make this victory.

They were hard at it, played close to their man right across the ground and earned the hard ball willingly, led by midfielders Dane Swan, Scott Pendlebury, Shane O'Bree and Leon Davis, who was damaging both in the centre, with 22 disposals, and up forward, with two goals.

The first half was a victory for the Magpies' quick and direct style of play. They had 112 kicks and just 62 handballs, which had taken them inside their attacking 50 on 29 occasions.

Sydney had handballed 89 times and kicked it just 75 in the same period, for eight fewer forward entries, and 10 fewer scoring shots.

Speaking after the game, Roos said it was the Swans' lack of intensity in that first half that set up the win.

"We just got beaten inside, outside, upside down," he said, conceding that he was struggling to motivate his team.

The cost of the game was high for both teams in terms of injury. Collingwood skipper Scott Burns left the ground late in the third term, apparently troubled by the calf that forced him to delay his 250th game earlier this year.

Sydney also lost one of its most valuable players when Jarrad McVeigh was forced from the ground early in the final term with a leg injury.

FAST FOOTY

COLLINGWOOD

8.3 11.6 15.8 18.10 (118)

SYDNEY

2.3 4.3 6.7 10.13 (73)

GOALS

Collingwood: Cloke 5, Davis 2, Anthony 2, O'Bree, Medhurst, McCarthy, Pendlebury, Cox, Goldsack, Lockyer, Swan, Clarke.

Sydney: Hall 3, Moore 3, Jolly, Veszpremi, Jack, Goodes.

BEST

Collingwood: Davis, Cloke, Swan, Pendlebury, O'Brien.

Sydney: Kirk, O'Keefe, Hall, Buchanan, Jolly.

INJURIES

Collingwood: Brown (soreness) replaced in the selected side by Cox. Burns (bruised calf).

UMPIRES

Jeffery, Rosebury, Vozzo.

CROWD

45,570 at Telstra Dome.

TALKING POINT

Barry Hall. He copped a fearful spray from Magpie fans, having been rubbed out for his swipe at Shane Wakelin last time they met. Youngster Nathan Brown was expected to line up on Hall this time, but was a late withdrawal with general soreness, bringing old foes Hall and Wakelin together again. Hall snapped a beauty early, but was later dragged after bluing with Shannon Cox.

HOT AND COLD

The Pies were red hot in the first term, booting eight goals for the quarter and five before Sydney scored. The coldest Swan was Peter Everitt, whose influence was restricted to the hit-outs and is moving ever closer to retirement.

THE UPSHOT

Collingwood moves ahead of Sydney on the ladder, and still has an outside chance of making the top four if North Melbourne falters. Sydney's finals position is safe, on account of a superior percentage to Richmond. -- CHLOE SALTAU

Leon Davis, best afield for the Pies, fires out a handball last night. PICTURE: SEBASTIAN COSTANZO

© 2008 The Sunday Age

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