Brodie Grundy’s masterful ruck display lifts Collingwood to gritty win over Western Bulldogs
Tom Liberatore pulled Brodie Grundy’s sock down before the game. But by the final siren the Western Bulldogs had their pants pulled down by the Pies big man. Plus Nathan Buckley on the win, and how The Bont has changed.
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Tom Liberatore pulled Brodie Grundy’s sock down before the start of the game.
But the Western Bulldogs had their pants pulled down by the end of it.
In a cagey, low-scoring slog, Collingwood found a way to overcome a go-slow possession game that looked like it might win the Dogs this game.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE WHAT BUCKS SAID
STATS, SUPERCOACH: PIES v BULLDOGS
But Brodie Grundy’s complete dominance of Tim English helped the Pies kick four of the last five goals to snatch a much-needed 14-point win and improve to 2-3.
A dull first half in which the game was slower than a dead snail gave way to an intense and absorbing second as the normally frenetic Dogs went slow-motion to protect the turnover against the fleet-footed Pies.
It meant there were 75 uncontested marks taken in the first term — almost twice the AFL average.
When the Bulldogs hit the lead for the first time half way through the third quarter and kicked five goals to two in that term, it appeared Luke Beveridge’s ploy was about to become the stuff of genius.
But it was All-Australian Grundy’s control of 13th-gamer English that was the story.
With Bulldogs leadership group member Jackson Trengove starring in the ruck in the VFL over the road at Olympic Park, promising big man English was being monstered at the MCG.
Grundy had 58 hit-outs to English’s six — the fewest hit-outs the Dogs have had in a game since 1991.
If raw hit-outs can be overrated, Grundy had 17 hit-outs to advantage to English’s zero. Ten of those hit-outs were sharked by the superb Dogs midfield, but Grundy’s influence only grew as the game went on.
Clearances were even at three-quarter time, but the Pies won this stat 11-5 in the last quarter in what proved a game-winning surge.
ROUGH HEAD, CLEAN HANDS
The first game against the old mob is always a daunting proposition.
But Jordan Roughead shook hands with Josh Schache before the first bounce and it was one of the few times his hands were anywhere else but on the ball in the first half.
Roughead took four intercept marks in the first quarter, had five by the main break and with Darcy Moore (three intercept marks in the first half) commanded the air in the Dogs forward line.
The pair didn’t have it all their own way in what was a very different second half, but Roughead was excellent.
THE MAYNE MAN?
Unfortunately for Chris Mayne, a milestone game he wanted to remember will now be one he wants to forget.
All week, the former Docker’s journey to 200 games was celebrated as a journey of persistence and determination, and rightfully so.
But Mayne’s special night ended inside five minutes when he dropped as easy chest mark in defence and “copped a knock to the back” from Mitch Wallis, according to the club.
He went to the rooms and never returned, the damage to severe to continue.
SOCK OFF
Zaine Cordy lost his right boot in the second quarter, but in a bizarre series of events, ran around in his sock for a while.
Unable to find the opportunity to come off, the Dogs defender had to play for more than five minutes with one boot.
When he took a mark on the members wing it was always going to be interesting what he had less faith in — his left foot or the sock.
The answer was his left, but Cordy’s sock kick went as you might expect — along the ground.
THE BIG GRABS
Hayden Crozier might have taken the mark of the year so far with an exquisite leap over Jamie Elliott and a three-man pack late in the second quarter.
The defender leapt into the sky on the Southern Stand flank and despite the bumpy landing, held the ball all the way to the ground, which we like.
After a quiet first half, Aaron Naughton excited the crowd with a trio of huge contested grabs in the third quarter to help spark a Dogs revival.
Tom Phillips kicked a goal after a 50 metre penalty, but commentator James Brayshaw suggested measuring tape may have been needed in this instance. #AFLPiesDogs pic.twitter.com/cyuNq8ndsX
— AFL.com.au (@AFLcomau) April 12, 2019
COLLINGWOOD 1.2 4.6 6.9 11.12 (78)
WESTERN BULLDOGS 0.3 2.7 7.8 9.10 (64)
GOALS: Collingwood: J Elliott 2 J Stephenson 2 J Thomas 2 T Phillips 2 J de Goey M Cox T Varcoe
Western Bulldogs: S Lloyd 2 A Naughton B Smith J DunkleyM Suckling M Wallis T Dickson T McLean
BEST: Collingwood: Grundy, Phillips, Pendlebury, Adams, Roughead, Moore, Cox, Varcoe
Western Bulldogs: Bontempelli, Macrae, Liberatore, Hunter, Daniel, Naughton
Umpires: Shaun Ryan, Brendan Hosking, Robert O’Gorman
Official Crowd: 59,257 at MCG
SAM EDMUND’S VOTES
3 — Brodie Grundy (Coll)
2 — Marcus Bontempelli (Dogs)
1 — Tom Phillips (Coll)
BUCKLEY: BEAMS NO CERTAINTY NEXT WEEK
Dayne Beams is no certainty to line up against the Brisbane Lions team he walked out on in next week’s Easter Thursday blockbuster at the Gabba.
The Collingwood superstar was a late withdrawal from last night’s win against Western Bulldogs with a virus last night and coach Nathan Buckley said he remained in doubt.
“Not definitely (returning next week),” Buckley said.
“It was a late call this afternoon and he was just unwell,” Buckley said.
“He wasn’t at 100 per cent capacity. We’ve always been a club that believes the next bloke in is going to play the role.
“Callum (Brown) came up late and executed the role.”
Buckley said veteran Daniel Wells – who returned in the VFL curtain-raiser – required several more VFL matches until he could be considered for selection.
American Mason Cox took four contested marks in the last quarter to help stabilise his team at 2-2.
The Magpies trailed at the last change before Cox and All-Australian ruckman Brodie Grundy helped the Magpies boot clear, kicking 5.1 (31) to 2.3 (15) in the final term.
Buckley credited the contested-ball dominance and pressure for the late surge.
He said Jordan De Goey helped “stabilise” the midfield in the second half with the explosive bull’s tackling a highlight.
“He helped us with our grunt inside. He gets a lot of momentum through stoppage and he gets his timing right, so if he’s not winning it he’s sticking tackles,” Buckley said.
“We’ve used 24 players this year. So we’ve only made one or two changes at most.
“We go into another six-day break in Brisbane, but we’ve prepared our players for this period. I think we’ve got six or seven six-day breaks this year and we’ve handled it really well.
“We think our players blossom and grow from it. It shows resilience and we enjoy the challenge it represents.”
Chris Mayne’s 200th game lasted just five minutes as it appeared he copped a nasty knock to his hip region, which saw him hospitalised.
“He’s still really ginger and really sore,” Buckley said.
“We won’t know whether there’s any structural damage or any internal damage. He’s cleared a few tests.”
Dual premiership player Travis Varcoe (20 disposals) was dropped to the VFL last week but Buckley said his work-rate against the Dogs saw him rewarded.
“Trav’s game was solid across four quarters. His energy was up,” Buckley said.
- Sam Landsberger
Goal or point 🤔#AFLPiesDogs pic.twitter.com/7TcCdELmgW
— 7AFL (@7AFL) April 12, 2019
THE BONT COMBINES QUANTITY WITH QUALITY
Reading Marcus Bontempelli’s stats used to have a bit of the Cyril Rioli-like feel to them.
Like Cyril, The Bont didn’t need a heap of possessions to slice a team to pieces.
With quality foot skills and eagle-like vision, the No.4 glided around grounds with the ability to do bursts of damage in single thrusts, rather than by 1000 cuts.
You only need to look at his 2016 Grand Final performance, where he had 22 brilliant disposals in a performance which looked better and better with every replay.
Well, that’s changed.
Now The Bont has combined quality with quantity, and that should have him in Brownlow Medal discussions.
Friday night’s 36 disposals was one below his career best but topping 30 is suddenly the norm.
In fact, over Bontempelli’s past seven matches he is averaging 32.3 disposals.
Since 2016 the Bulldogs have targeted Bontempelli in attack about 180 times, far more than any other player, yet this season he seems set to camp in the midfield.
Bontempelli laid a team-high six tackles, won a team-high 16 contested possessions and a game-high eight clearances in another beautiful performance.
Last week The Bont put in a complete performance sans his goalkicking.
He was unlucky on Friday night with an early set-shot – kicked from 60m and with 211cm Mason Cox standing the mark – shaving the post.
That remains a few question mark on a player who is best-equipped to become the Dogs’ next Brownlow Medallist as well as their next captain.
What made his clearance work spectacular was the ability to read rival ruckman Brodie Grundy, who won the hitouts 58-6 against Tim English.
At the last change, 12 of Grundy’s were to a Collingwood midfielder’s advantage and yet seven of those golden taps were sharked.
Entering this season English had played just nine games and yet he was entrusted with the No.1 ruck duties.
“He’s brilliant below his knees. Two times he’s picked the ball the ball up as cleanly as a rover,” dual Brownlow Medallist Chris Judd said on Triple M.
“When that frame fills out he’s got a bit of Dean Cox about him,” former Dogs ruckman Luke Darcy added.
For Bulldog fans he might appear more like 1992 Brownlow winner Scott Wynd, given his blond hair and penchant to handball.
English’s smart running around the ground is improving by the week. But whether he needs assistance will be a key question this week.
Jackson Trengove is earning $1.5 million across three years, having been recruited to add some mongrel after a season of bullying in 2017.
This season Trengove has been paid like a millionaire to be a VFL minion although has been elevated to the leadership group.
It mightn’t be long until he is elevated to coach Luke Beveridge’s team, too.
- Sam Landsberger
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