Pies secure four points but lose Dan McStay and Nathan Murphy to injury
The Pies thrilling win came at a cost, with injuries to two more of their talls. A key defender will miss ANZAC Day with concussion, while Dan McStay looks set for a stint on the sidelines.
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St Kilda’s unbeaten start to the season ended in dramatic fashion on Sunday after Collingwood hung on to bring the curtain down on Gather Round with a hard-fought six-point win at Adelaide Oval.
The win for Collingwood came at a cost, with two of their already depleted talls suffering injuries.
Little separated the sides during a tense opening three quarters, but the tight tussle broke open in the final term when the Magpies booted four goals in a row.
The Saints needed four goals in 16 minutes when Bobby Hill gleefully pounced on a loose ball in the goal square for his third.
It was a tall task, but Ross Lyon’s men were up for the challenge, rattling home with the last three goals of the enthralling encounter to fall agonisingly short as the Pies hung on to claim a 10.10 (70) to 9.10 (64) win.
The Saints kept going until the very end, the final siren sounding as the ball was thrown up deep in their forward 50.
It was a fitting end to an engrossing game and a magnificent round of footy
Nick Daicos was outstanding for the Pies with a game-high 42 possessions, a new career-high, with Brad Crouch instrumental for St Kilda with a team-high 33 touches and two goals.
In his first game for the season after serving a club-imposed suspension for illicit drug use, Jack Ginnivan finished with 13 possessions and kicked the first goal of the last quarter that sparked his side’s game-defining run of goals.
Hill was the leading goalkicker on the ground with three.
It was an impressive result for the Pies who suffered early injury blows.
Before the match an unwell Jordan De Goey was a late withdrawal, with Will Hoskin-Elliott replacing the game-breaker in the 22, but more ill fortune was to come.
Daniel McStay didn’t make it past the first break, the key tall subbed out with a finger tendon injury and replaced by Tom Wilson in his eighth senior game.
Nathan Murphy was also concussed and will enter the AFL protocols, ruling him out of ANZAC Day.
TOGETHER WE STAND
On a day that the Collingwood Football Club acknowledged it had been 30 years since Nicky Winmar’s proud stand at Victoria Park, and apologised to Winmar and Gilbert McAdam for the hurt they experienced, both teams came together in powerful pre-match scenes.
All players joined to run through one banner that read “Together we stand united against racism, call it out”, with Winmar on hand to toss the coin with the skippers, who were joined by First Nations players from each team.
TOUCHED?
Collingwood piled on the pressure in the third quarter, with 15 more inside 50s, but the Saints’ vaunted defensive structures largely held firm.
Brody Mihocek became the first multiple goalkicker on the ground when his set shot from the boundary worked beautifully right to left, but Anthony Caminiti answered soon after much to the dismay of Collingwood defenders.
The five-gamer played on after taking a mark, with the players believing an umpire had called the ball touched.
But the controlling umpire came in and told him to go back and take his shot, which he drilled, then added his second to slice the Pies’ lead to six points at three-quarter time.
SCOREBOARD
MAGPIES 2.2 4.4 6.10 10.10 (70)
SAINTS 2.2 4.3 6.4 9.10 (64)
PHELAN’S BEST
MAGPIES: N Daicos, J Daicos, Pendlebury, Mitchell, Hill, Sidebottom, Moore.
SAINTS: Crouch, Battle, Sinclair, Marshall, Wilkie, Clark, Wood.
GOALS
MAGPIES: Hill 3, Mihocek 2, Mitchell, McCreery, Johnson, Ginnivan, Elliott.
SAINTS: Caminiti 2, Higgins 2, Crouch 2, Phillipou, Clark, Byrnes.
INJURIES
MAGPIES: McStay (finger), De Goey (illness – late withdrawal).
SAINTS: Nil.
UMPIRES:Fisher, Broadbent, Findlay, Wallace
CROWD: 43,796 at ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 N Daicos (Coll)
2 Crouch (StK)
1 J Daicos (Coll)
MCSTAY INJURES FINGER
Collingwood’s big man injury crisis has worsened with key forward Dan McStay subbed out of Sunday’s blockbuster clash with St Kilda.
McStay suffered a tendon injury in his finger that forced him into the back row on the bench and out of the game after some deep conversations with the club’s medical staff at the first change.
It’s yet another blow for the Magpies who have lost all of their experienced recognised ruckmen to injury in recent weeks.
It puts McStay in serious doubt for Tuesday week’s Anzac Day clash against a resurgent Essendon, who has a double pronged ruck attack of Sam Draper and Andrew Phillips.
With the club’s two best ruckmen Darcy Cameron and Mason Cox already on the sidelines, and three-game big man Aiden Begg also out injured, the Magpies started defender Billy Frampton into the ruck against Rowan Marshall at the first bounce on Sunday.
McStay had filled that role against Brisbane last round, but started forward against the Saints before being withdrawn from the game.
Forward Jamie Elliott also came from the ground at one stage of the second term after being tackled by Liam Stocker.
The Magpies were relieved when Elliott returned to the fray later in the second term.
COLLINGWOOD’S 11TH HOUR DE GOEY BLOW
Collingwood star playmaker Jordan De Goey missed the club’s match of the round against St Kilda on Sunday due to illness.
The Pies have had illness sweep through their camp this week, with De Goey one of the worst affected.
The club gave him every opportunity to play, but he was unable to prove his fitness and was always likely to be a late withdrawal.
De Goey was replaced in Sunday’s game by Will Hoskin-Elliott, who was also battling with a virus earlier in the week.
The doubt on De Goey caused some headaches in the Magpies’ camp, as they had sent one of the emergencies Trent Bianco back to Victoria to play VFL only to recall him.
De Goey’s absence took a little sting out of the game, given he was so close to joining St Kilda in the off-season before deciding to remain at Collingwood.
The Magpies chose Hoskin-Elliott over the other emergencies in Bianco, Trey Ruscoe and Tom Wilson. Wilson started as the sub.
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