Blues burnt by Pies
Quest for finals has taken hit
CARLTON’S season is on the ropes, while Collingwood has moved closer towards sealing a top-eight spot, after the Magpies’ gritty 24-point win at the Gabba on Sunday.
Blues coach David Teague spent the week playing down the significance of the match, calling it “just another game” and saying Collingwood was one of the club’s “17 rivals”.
But it clearly had extra significance, and the intensity reflected that from the outset.
Neither team could break clear all day and the biggest margin for either side was 10 points, until Josh Daicos extended the Magpies’ advantage to 13 with eight minutes remaining.
Carlton failed to kick a goal in the second half and Collingwood came up big in the final term, having led by six points at three-quarter time.
Goals were hard-earned for the match, apart from the second term, when eight majors were kicked. It became an arm-wrestle again in the third quarter and the first goal did not come until the 16th minute, when Mason Cox trimmed the Blues’ lead to three points.
Jaidyn Stephenson butchered two chances to put the Pies ahead — playing on from 25m out on a slight angle late in the third term and with a set-shot from 40m early in the last, which Liam Jones touched on the line, giving Collingwood its first lead since the opening half. But he redeemed himself with a dribbled major from close range seven minutes into the last term. Once Daicos and Brody Mihocek kicked their goals, the result was sealed.
Carlton is up against it to make the eight now, sitting 12th with a 6-7 record.
EDDIE Betts has played his role, been unselfish as ever and provided a spark for the Blues over the past couple of months.
But there was one thing he had not done since Round 6 until Sunday — kick at least two goals in a game. He was lively from the outset and snapped truly on his left foot in the first term. He added a second from a tight angle.
IT WILL be interesting to see how long Collingwood persists with three 200cm-plus big men — Brodie Grundy, Darcy Cameron and Mason Cox.
For the second game in a row, the Magpies played the tall trio. Cox kicked a crucial goal in the third quarter after a mark from the top of the goalsquare then booted the last major of the game. Cameron was quiet, while ruckman Grundy was influential.
Betts 2, Walsh, McKay, Fisher, Newnes, Curnow.
Thomas, Stephenson, Mihocek 2, Phillips, Cox, Daicos.
Walsh, Curnow, Setterfield, Docherty, Newnes, Weitering
Adams, Elliott, Pendlebury, Moore, Maynard, Grundy, Daicos, Crisp.. the Gabba