Collingwood gets season back on track with thrilling one-point victory over West Coast
Is this Collingwood’s best win under Nathan Buckley? The Magpies embarked on the toughest trip in footy reeling from back-to-back losses but, with their backs against the wall, they prevailed with a point to spare.
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Nathan Buckley has been coaching for a while now, but he won’t have many better wins than Friday night’s one-point triumph over West Coast at Perth Stadium.
Collingwood’s 11.12 (78) to 12.5 (77) win was achieved with Darcy Moore injured, and Brodie Grundy, James Aish and Scott Pendlebury sore.
But the Pies willed their way over the top of the fading Eagles with two goals in a desperate last quarter.
The Pies were brilliantly led by captain Pendlebury, who defied a sore hand to have 11 last-quarter possessions.
Adam Treloar was prolific with 39 and Brody Mihocek was the game’s best forward with four goals.
The Eagles were left to wonder what had happened. They were 13 points clear at three-quarter time but had just five inside-50 entries to Collingwood’s 20 in the last term.
Andrew Gaff finished with 32 disposals but faded.
Elliot Yeo was solid and Jarrod Cameron kicked four goals early but when the game became about contested ball, Collingwood won it 158 to 126.
What finished as a slog had begun as a shootout.
There were 12 goals kicked in a rapid-fire first quarter.
Cameron kicked three from three kicks which, when added to four from four kicks in the derby last week gave him one of the more remarkable early career statistics.
The slick Eagles looked set to score freely but the Magpies matched them goal for goal with Mason Cox and Mihocek kicking two goals each.
West Coast went to the first break with a three-point lead but it looked like they were in for a contest as Collingwood showed a preparedness to shift the ball quickly forward and block hard for Cox, who took a couple of early marks to help regain confidence.
He and Mihocek both had three goals by halftime.
The signs were ominous for the visitors.
While West Coast had Jamie Cripps gone for the game with what looked like a serious groin injury, the Magpies had lost Moore to a hamstring problem and were not scoring as freely.
The Eagles kicked four second-quarter goals and should have had a fifth — Tom Hickey butchering a handball to Jack Darling in the goalsquare.
The scoring dried up in the third term, which suited West Coast.
The fit bodies were also drying up for Collingwood, which had its ruckman Grundy limping, Pendlebury nursing a hand injury and Aish sent to the rooms after landing heavily on his right shoulder.
The last term was sheer mayhem as the Pies chose the hard road over the free-scoring one.
They surged and surged but couldn’t score. West Coast couldn’t clear the ball from their defensive 50.
Mihocek gave his team a sniff with a strong mark at the front of a huge pack to drag the margin back to seven points.
It took a surgical piece of Jordan De Goey brilliance — a banana from the pocket, to put them one point back and then it was a matter of centimetres and a matter of points. Ben Crocker managed one, Grundy managed one. The Pies won by one.
SCOREBOARD
WEST COAST 6.3 10.4 12.4 12.5 (77)
COLLINGWOOD 6.1 8.3 9.6 11.12 (78)
GOALS
West Coast: Cameron 4, Darling 3, Yeo 2, Ryan, Hickey, Allen
Collingwood: Mihocek 4, Cox 3, Phillips 2, De Goey 2
MARK DUFFIELD’S BEST
West Coast: Yeo, Gaff, Sheed, Cameron, Naitanui, Shuey
Collingwood: Treloar, Sidebottom, Mihocek, Pendlebury, Grundy, Crisp
MARK DUFFIELD’S VOTES
3 — Pendlebury (Coll)
2 — Treloar (Coll)
1 — Yeo (WC)
INJURIES
West Coast: Cripps (adductor)
Collingwood: Moore (hamstring)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Margetts, Stevic, Stephens
Official crowd: 56,251 at Optus Stadium
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