Collingwood thrashes Gold Coast to keep the pressure on top four

The past month has been painful for Collingwood — on the scoreboard and in the medical room — but the Magpies had some respite with a percentage-boosting win over Gold Coast.

Collingwood midfielder Scott Pendlebury is tackled by Brayden Fiorini. Picture: AAP

The cryptic message on the Collingwood banner pre-game read: “It’s never as good or bad as it seems”.

In the past month, it has seemed the bad couldn’t get much worse for the Magpies as the team navigated an injury list as long as a fast bowler’s run up that has threatened to thwart the team’s top-four ambitions.

Only one win in the previous five games had seen the Magpies slide from second to sixth on the ladder.

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But Collingwood will be hoping the good is as it seems — and will be a sign of more to come — after the Magpies gave their spluttering form a shot in the arm with a confidence and percentage-boosting 69-point victory in a must-win clash against last-placed Gold Coast Suns at the MCG on Sunday.

Magpies coach Nathan Buckley this week refused to use injuries as an excuse for the team’s performances, arguing they should be performing better with the players they had available.

They backed him up with their biggest win of the season, highlighted by some midfield brilliance from Adam Treloar, a four-goal haul from Will Hoskin-Elliott and more ruck gold from Brodie Grundy.

Adam Treloar tries to break a tackle by David Swallow. Picture: Getty Images

The signs looked ominous for Collingwood when the Suns kicked the opening two goals of the game in the first four minutes, while the Magpies didn’t post their first major until almost mid-way through the term.

It was Treloar who delivered that first goal off a long run as the midfield star sparked his team into action — and it was all one-way from there.

The Magpies dined out on the Suns as Treloar (35 disposals) starred alongside Steele Sidebottom (27 disposals), Jack Crisp (30 disposals), Scott Pendlebury (24 disposals and 10 tackles), while Grundy had 43 hit-outs in his battle with Jarrod Witts (27).

Even with the match well in the bag, Chris Mayne summed up the team’s eagerness at the contest when he copped a heavy hit from Peter Wright on the final siren gunning for the ball.

COX CURTAILED

The spotlight has been shining brightly on the form of Cox, who many pundits believe has been lucky to retain his spot in the senior team — and perhaps only saved by the club’s lengthy injury list.

Cox kicked 18 goals in the first 11 games of the season, but was without a major in the previous two games.

The signs from the big American had been encouraging in the opening half, with an impressive mark on the lead and goal in the first quarter.

But his bid to find more form was curtailed when he was forced out of the game in the second half with an eye injury.

Jamie Elliott gets a hug from Steele Sidebottom after kicking a goal. Picture: Getty Images

BILLY TON

There were some flashes of Billy brilliance from Magpies’ small forward Jamie Elliott in his 100th game.

After a bumpy ride through injury to the ton, Elliott celebrated the milestone with two goals and seven marks, highlighted by a trademark snap near the goals in the opening quarter and some impressive leads

WILL WAIT

It took Hoskin-Elliott almost 45 minutes for his first touch in the match — but he made sure it counted.

Taking the ball outside 50m on a sharp angle on the boundary, Hoskin-Elliott backed his chances for a shot at goal and delivered — after a short wait for confirmation from a score review.

He followed with another three majors to finish as the team’s leading goal scorer after a slow start.

Levi Greenwood marks in front of teammates Jeremy Howe. Picture: AAP

SUN DOWN

The Suns’ miserable season continued as their losing streak stretched to 15 games with the heavy loss to the Magpies.

But one encouraging signs remained the form of young key forward Ben King. After a four-goal haul against Essendon last week, the 19-year-old followed with another bag of three goals against the Magpies in just his 11th game for the Suns.

SCOREBOARD

COLLINGWOOD 4.4 10.6 16.8 18.12 (120)

d

GOLD COAST 3.2 5.2 6.3 8.3 (51)

GOALS

Magpies: Hoskin-Elliott 4, Varcoe 2, Elliott 2, Sidebottom 2, Mihocek 2, Treloar, Brown, Cox, Thomas, Grundy, Pendlebury

Suns: King 3, Sexton 3, Day, Martin

REBECCA WILLIAMS’ BEST

Magpies: Treloar, Grundy, Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Crisp, Hoskin-Elliott, Mihocek

Suns: Lukosius, Miles, Ballard, Miller, Sexton, Swallow, King

REBECCA WILLIAMS VOTES

3 — Adam Treloar

2 — Brodie Grundy

1 — Steele Sidebottom

INJURIES

Magpies: Cox (eye)

Suns: Witts (knee)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Dalgleish, Gavine, Glouftsis

Official crowd: 33,577 at the MCG

DEW: SUNS OUTCLASSED BY MAGGIES

Gold Coast coach Stuart Dew denied his team took a step back in its heavy loss to Collingwood on Sunday after pushing Essendon last week.

The bottom-placed Suns’ losing streak this season extended to 15 games after their 69-point loss to the Magpies at the MCG — the first time the team had played at the venue this year.

Dew said his young side had been outclassed by a better opponent and talk of the Magpies’ injury problems had been overstated.

“We were beaten by a better opponent. I don’t think it was a step back by us,” Dew said.

“When they lifted, we couldn’t go with them ... their outside stuff was far too slick for us.

“But I don’t think it was a step back for us. (I’m) disappointed we couldn’t match them for longer, but we fought out the last quarter.

“There is a little bit of talk about their injuries, but when you run through their list, it’s a pretty good football side.”

Stuart Dew throws a footy before the Suns’ clash with Collingwood. Picture: AAP

Dew said there was no concern over ruckman Jarrod Witts, who finished the match on the bench after copping a knock to the knee late in the final quarter.

“About 11 minutes to go, he copped a little bit of a knock, but absolutely fine,” Dew said.

“We just weighed up the score and Wittsy’s workload and decided to leave him on the pine for the last bit. He wasn’t all that happy with that but that’s because he is a competitor.”

Dew said he was excited about the future for young forward Ben King, who kicked three goals after last week’s four-goal haul against the Bombers.

“It’s on the back of his attitude to hard work. He’s very humble, Ben, and the boys love him for it,” he said.

“His work ethic is outstanding and his application from the moment he walked into the footy club has been outstanding and just impressive on and off the field.

“He is … now hitting the scoreboard regularly and it’s exciting when you see a young lad like that … (11) games into his AFL career, we just need to make sure we facilitate his career and get him to fulfil his potential.”

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Originally published as Collingwood thrashes Gold Coast to keep the pressure on top four