Collingwood plays like Richmond and after smashing North is ready for another shot at the Tigers
NATHAN Buckley might not be trying to copy the Tigers but his side plays in very much the same mould as the reigning premier. And GLENN McFARLANE writes Collingwood is well placed for another crack at the AFL’s pacesetter.
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NATHAN Buckley told a fans forum late last year that his Collingwood 2018 side wasn’t going to copy reigning premier Richmond’s handbook.
He was surely having a lend of us.
If you disregarded the black and white colours at the MCG, and just focused on the manner of Collingwood’s dominant performance against North Melbourne, you would have been forgiven for thinking it was Richmond feasting on the hapless Kangaroos.
GAME RECAP: HOW THE PIES SMASHED THE ROOS
GAME STATS: WHO STOOD UP FOR PIES, NORTH?
Fast ball movement, relentless pressure all over the ground, ferocious tackling, multiple scoring options in attack and the ability for 22 players to connect … all of those elements combined to deal a savage blow to the Kangaroos’ finals aspirations.
The day after Richmond put St Kilda to the sword, Collingwood shook off a rare poor performance against West Coast last week with one of their most complete games of the season.
Now it sets up a mouth-watering clash with the Tigers next Saturday afternoon.
So what’s changed since the Tigers finished like a freight train in Round 6 to overrun a tired but extremely competitive Collingwood to win by 43 points?
Plenty.
Whether it’s enough to bridge the gap between the two teams remains to be seen, but a swelling crowd of 90,000-plus — which would be the highest between these two old foes since the 1980 Grand Final — is about to find out.
This time Collingwood won’t be coming off a four-day break, which perhaps accounted for part of the Tigers’ eight-goal-to-three final term on that April Sunday afternoon.
Leg speed wasn’t an issue for the Magpies against the Kangaroos, and the ballistic, blistering style in which they ran with the ball is surely going to be needed if they have any hope of breaking Richmond’s extraordinary 17-game winning streak at the MCG.
Back in late April, Jordan De Goey had only played three games for the season, was still uncontracted for 2019, and had kicked only three goals for the year, including one against Richmond.
Since then, he’s not only locked in two more seasons, he has become one of the most dangerous players in the competition.
He’s not Dustin Martin, but as he grows in confidence, there are similarities, and he was outstanding with four goals (one in each quarter) on Saturday.
Collingwood had seven different players in the team that beat North to the one that faced Richmond in Round 6. Sure, they have lost key players such as Adam Treloar, Lynden Dunn and Ben Reid, but they have found some along the way, too.
Brody Mihocek was playing VFL the last time the Pies took on the Tigers.
He will be front and centre on Saturday after kicking four goals, and you can see why Buckley resisted the temptation to push him back when Darcy Moore was a late withdrawal.
The Magpies had 10 goalkickers yesterday, with Will Hoskin-Elliott continuing his best season with three more goals, and Jayden Stephenson put another significant down payment on the AFL Rising Star award with three goal
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Josh Daicos played his best game in Collingwood colours and combines pressure with some poise, Taylor Adams missed the Tigers’ game last time and was enormous yesterday, while somehow the Magpies’ back half — led by Jeremy Howe, Matt Scharenberg and Tom Langdon who did good jobs on their opponents — stands up under pressure, despite the injury issues.
And the midfield of Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom, Adams and Josh Thomas, Brodie Grundy and others is a difficult proposition for any team.
Richmond against a resurgent Collingwood who has modelled itself on the Tigers? In a year in which the style of the game has been an endless and often negative source of discussion and debate, that’s gotta be a good thing.
COLLINGWOOD 7.2 13.3 15.5 20.10 (130) def NORTH MELBOURNE 2.3 5.6 7.7 9.10 (64)
GOALS
Collingwood: B Mihocek 4 J de Goey 4 J Stephenson 3 W Hoskin-Elliott 3 B Grundy J Thomas L Greenwood M Cox T Adams T Phillips
North Melbourne: M Daw 3 B Brown 2 J Ziebell 2 N Hrovat T Goldstein
BEST
Collingwood: De Goey, Pendlebury, Adams, Mihocek, Hoskin-Elliott, Sidebottom, Howe, Daicos, Thomas
North Melbourne: Cunnington, Higgins, Goldstein, Tarrant, Daw
Umpires: Robert Findlay, Dean Margetts, Brendan Hosking.
Official Crowd: 50,393 at MCG.
VOTES
3: Jordan De Goey (Collingwood)
2: Scott Pendlebury (Collingwood)
1: Taylor Adams (Collingwood)
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Originally published as Collingwood plays like Richmond and after smashing North is ready for another shot at the Tigers