AFL Collingwood v West Coast: Pies cause upset as Eagles give top-eight contenders a glimmer of hope
Robert Harvey pulled off the club’s best wins since he began as interim coach, but will the spectre of Alastair Clarkson hurt other candidates for the Pies coaching job?
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Collingwood gave its fans a delicious taste of the future and West Coast an anxious next three weeks on the back of a 45-point smashing.
The Pies’ faster and braver ball use under Robert Harvey was on full show, owning the corridor and opening up their forward 50, taking 18 marks inside 50.
Collingwood was able to control the ball and showed West Coast up with its superior work rate around the ground on their way to 155 uncontested marks.
While West Coast’s fate remains in their own hands, they face a nervy few weeks ahead with GWS, Richmond, Essendon and Carlton pushing for their spot inside the top-eight.
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Collingwood got their customary jump on the Eagles in the first quarter on the back of brave and precise ball movement.
The Pies looked inside whenever they could, but importantly didn’t use the corridor for the sake of it. Stand-in skipper Steele Sidebottom, Jamie Elliott, Will Hoskin-Elliott kicked goals before Jack Ginnivan nailed a 50-metre bomb for the first goals of his career to give Collingwood a 21-point quarter-time lead.
If Pies supporters thought they were in dreamland in the first quarter they hadn’t seen anything yet.
Collingwood played its best footy of the season during a six goal to one second term.
Stalwarts Taylor Adams, Jack Crisp and Steele Sidebottom, who had 11 touches in the second quarter, were all too much for the Eagles’ midfielders to handle, but it was the Collingwood kids who at times stole the show.
A perfectly weighted Finlay Macrae left foot pass to Brody Mihocek landed between four players where only the Magpie forward could mark it, while a Ginnivan pass to Ollie Henry inside 50 resulted in a goal for Collingwood. Add Trent Bianco’s goal and Isaac Quaynor’s rebound from 50 and it was the perfect black and white quarter.
The young Pies tired in the second half as West Coast added some respectability to the scoreboard, kicking five of the last eight goals.
Harvey believes Jordan De Goey will only get better as a genuine midfielder after his best afield performance against West Coast.
De Goey had 34 disposals, 518-metres gained and six score involvements in the Magpies’ thrashing of the Eagles at the MCG.
His best football has been as a deep forward, but his move up the ground since Round 13 has been an inspired one.
“I think Jordie obviously wants to play midfield, he’s really hungry to play midfield and he’s got some great guys to learn off in there with Taylor Adams and Steele Sidebottom,” Harvey said.
“He’s never really played there for an extended period of time, so he’s learning his craft as he goes.
“I think he is getting better each week with that midfield work and he’s got three more games to build on that this year and put the full stop on this year.”
The win came a day after it was revealed four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson would depart Hawthorn at the season’s end.
He is on the market while Collingwood looks for a new senior coach, but Harvey said he did not know if the spectre of Clarkson would make it difficult for any candidate vying for the Magpies’ job.
“In the end it is for others to work on,” Harvey said.
“I’ve got my job there just trying to get through this little period the best I can.
“Whatever happens will happen.
“He’s obviously a great coach so in the end it is what it is and it’ll be what it will be.”
Harvey bolstered his credentials on Saturday with the Magpies’ producing their best quarter of the year in the second term to set up the win.
“That first half is something we’ve been building towards and it’s really good for the players to get a result,” Harvey said.
“I just think to be a bit more consistent in that first half with our offence and defence was something we’ve been working towards.
“I think they looked like they had fun out there and played some really good footy.”
Collingwood kids
The loss of Jaidyn Stephenson and Adam Treloar has been well documented, but the Collingwood kids are demanding more airtime.
The Pies had five players in this game who had played 10 or fewer games, and 10 players who had played 50 or fewer.
You wouldn’t have known it, not just looking at the scoreboard but watching them play.
Macrae (16 disposals) looks like a steal at pick 19. Henry (three goals assists), who the Pies got with a pick from the Treloar deal, is seemingly going to light up the Pies’ forward line for the next decade. And Jack Ginnivan (one goal and one goal assist), taken in the rookie draft, is as crafty as any first-year forward in the AFL.
Harvey ball
Play fast. Use the corridor. Run and link up.
Robert Harvey and his young troops are delivering what Collingwood fans spent half the season asking for.
The Pies looked slick and unstoppable when they rifled the ball through the middle of the MCG, running rings around West Coast.
Such was the success of the system, Collingwood actually three fewer inside-50s than West Coast but six more scoring shots.
And make no mistake, the Pies’ accuracy in front of goal can partly be attributed to the ball use through the corridor, opening up the forward 50 for easier set shots.
De going
Since Jordan De Goey’s more permanent move into Collingwood’s midfield in Round 13 the inked star has been involved in everything for the Pies.
The 25-year-old has averaged almost 9 score involvements a game since that move and had his fingerprints over everything good for the Pies again.
De Goey had three score involvements and a goal assist to second-gamer Jack Ginnivan in the first quarter as the Pies jumped the Eagles.
De Goey ended the game with 34 disposals, 518-metres gained and six score involvements.
Howe-dy, remember me?
It’s no secret Jeremy Howe makes Collingwood’s defence better, but perhaps some had forgotten how much better.
The luckless 31-year-old was impenetrable in his return for his first game since Round 5 this year.
Howe finished with 24 disposals, 331-metres gained and five intercepts.
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