AFL Round 15 Collingwood v Fremantle: Dockers spoil Robert Harvey’s first game in charge
A crucial umpiring call — and an ‘unforgivable’ reaction front Brayden Maynard — helped Fremantle spoil Robert Harvey’s first game as Collingwood coach. See the incident.
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Fremantle ruined Robert Harvey’s first game in charge of Collingwood, holding on for a nailbiting win at Marvel Stadium.
Harvey’s jump into the Collingwood coaching hot seat started perfectly as the Pies kicked the first two goals of the match with slick and direct ball movement.
But after Fremantle took control of the game, a late Collingwood fightback was hampered by one of the worst decisions of the season which completely stopped the Pies’ momentum.
Brayden Maynard was penalised for front-on contact after Liam Henry pushed off the Collingwood defender, and an ensuing 50m penalty following Maynard’s remonstrations — labelled “unforgivable” by Brisbane legend Jonathan Brown on Fox Footy — ensured Fremantle kicked the unlikeliest of steadying goals.
How on earth was that a free kick AGAINST Maynard? Utterly incomprehensible. #aflpiesfreo
— Zac Fisher’s mullet (@Strauchanside) June 26, 2021
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Sam Switkowski had a heavy influence on proceedings in the first and second quarters, and two goals from Lachie Schultz to go with singles from Liam Henry and Andrew Brayshaw in the second term helped extend Fremantle’s lead to 19 points at halftime.
When Rory Lobb kicked a goal just 40 seconds into the third quarter it looked like an uphill battle for the Pies.
But goals to Brodie Grundy, Callum Brown and Josh Thomas had the margin back to just two goals.
A third goal to Rory Lobb in time-on had the Dockers’ lead back at three goals as the sides turned for home.
Three goals in the opening six minutes of the last quarter to Collingwood — to Will Hoskin-Elliott, Brody Mihocek and Trent Bianco — remarkably had the scores level and Harvey’s men with the momentum.
But the extraordinarily dubious free kick and ensuing 50m penalty made sure all momentum Collingwood had built was eroded as Liam Henry gave Fremantle back the lead with just more than half a quarter to play.
The Pies were able to blunt Fremantle again after Rory Lobb sprayed two shots at goal, before Josh Thomas answered to carve the margin to just one point.
But two late goals to Fremantle secured the four points and kept them in touch with the top eight.
McCREERY HAMSTRUNG
Collingwood’s standout first-year forward Beau McCreery lasted only a couple of kicks of the Sherrin before limping his way to the Pies’ bench with a left hamstring injury.
So good has McCreery been in Collingwood’s forward line, he’s the only player in the competition to average more than two tackles inside 50 per game this season.
The Pies missed that forward pressure and small forward buzzing around the feet of twin towers Mason Cox and Darcy Cameron as the Dockers transitioned the ball from defensive 50 with ease.
CLEARANCE CONUNDRUM
Coming off smashing the league’s pacesetters in the clearances and with Brodie Grundy back in the side, this shaped as an area for Collingwood to dominate.
But despite losing Nat Fyfe as a late out the Dockers were able to assert dominance around the footy, and much of their early dominance could be put down to winning the clearance battle 17-11 at halftime.
Young Fremantle ruckman Sean Darcy led the way for the Dockers with four, and his tap work to Adam Cerra (also four clearances) proved pivotal in them establishing dominance in the game.
It creates a headache for Harvey following the two strong games Max Lynch put together for the Pies before making way for Grundy.
LOBB STANDS TALL
With Darcy Moore out for the Pies the tall Fremantle forward line was always going to be an issue.
But when Matt Taberner went down early in the second quarter with a leg injury, the Dockers needed one of their big men to stand up.
Rory Lobb proved to be just that for Freo as he kept the Pies at bay with two of his three goals in the third quarter as Collingwood looked to get rolling.
MILESTONE BLINDER
Will Hoskin-Elliott has been at the centre of Collingwood fans’ wrath at times this season, but the winger put together his best performance of the year to mark his 150th game.
The 27-year-old was a constant option for the Pies on the wing and provided the perfect link between defence and attack, finishing with four goal assists to go with 17 disposals.
He also chimed in with a goal in the third quarter.
Act I: Harvey’s opening highlight reel doesn’t win over critics
By Nick Smart
It’s a good thing Robert Harvey still has eight auditions left up his sleeve to prove he should be Collingwood’s next senior coach, because his final presentation needs some work.
For the first 10 minutes of Collingwood’s clash with Fremantle at Marvel Stadium on Saturday, the first Magpies side to play under a new coach in almost a decade looked like millionaires.
With skipper Scott Pendlebury back in the middle and dominating early, the Magpies didn’t allow the Dockers to go inside 50 for the first seven minutes.
After that they fell into old habits, squandering their early dominance with slow, stagnant play and little go-forward initiative to infuriate Magpies supporters.
When they finally decided to take the game on and play with some fluency, they hit the lead in the final term and looked like winners.
Only for Fremantle to steady late and score a rare win at Marvel Stadium — their first in seven starts — minus superstar Nat Fyfe, who was a late withdrawal.
Harvey admitted his side lost its dare for large parts of the contest.
“It’s not going to be perfect first week…it’s a nine-week project,” Harvey admitted post-game.
Other than moving Pendlebury back into the middle from the half-forward flank, Harvey’s other noticeable first up move was bringing Mason Cox back into the side.
Now former coach Nathan Buckley had seemingly drawn a line through the big American forward, but Harvey showed faith by bringing him back for his first game in charge.
After starting on the bench, Cox presented a target but would kick just two behinds to go with his six disposals.
“He was a bit like Brodie (Grundy) in the fact I thought late some of his contests were crucial,” Harvey said of Cox.
“Going forward his challenge and our challenge will be to get him up to speed, and when he does that I think he makes us better.
“We’ve just got to keep coaching him in the right way to be able to help our team.”
Forward Jamie Elliott also played further up the ground than he did under Buckley.
He played well at times and looked dangerous when out in space, but it was not one of his better games.
Will Hoskin-Elliott played his best game of the year, perhaps in two years, in his 150th game.
In the ruck, Grundy had an absorbing duel with Sean Darcy.
DETAILS
MAGPIES 2.2 4.4 7.6 12.7 (79)
DOCKERS 3.3 7.5 10.6 14.7 (91)
MOTTERSHEAD’S BEST
Pies: Hoskin-Elliott, Maynard, Adams, Mayne, Sidebottom.
Dockers: Mundy, Lobb, Brayshaw, Wilson, Schultz, Bewley.
GOALS
Pies: Thomas 2, Bianco 2, Grundy 2, Elliott, Cameron, Sidebottom, Brown, Hoskin-Elliott, Mihocek.
Dockers: Lobb 3, Schultz 3, Henry 2, Bewley 2, Treacy, Switkowski, Brayshaw, Crowden.
INJURIES
Pies: McCreery (hamstring). Dockers: Taberner (leg).
Umpires: Gianfagna, Rebeschini, Mollison.
Crowd: 11,570 at Marvel Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JAMES MOTTERSHEAD’S VOTES
3 D. Mundy (Frem)
2 W. Hoskin-Elliott (Coll)
1 R. Lobb (Frem)
HARVEY OUTLINES VISION FOR PIES GAME STYLE
Collingwood will look to play with more flair and employ a more expansive and faster game style in the next eight weeks, caretaker coach Robert Harvey said after his side’s 12-point loss to Fremantle.
Harvey said it would be a nine-week project, but he wanted his side to play with more dare, something that was fleeting for much of the contest at Marvel Stadium.
In his first game in the Collingwood hot seat Harvey said it was a bit of a different feel and lamented second and third quarters where the Pies went into theirs shells.
“We started really well and finished really well and had some inconsistent moments in the middle patch, in the second and third quarters,” he said.
“I thought from the point of view of what we asked the players for before the game their intent was good around what we wanted to do.
“We just fell into a few patterns where we couldn’t quite get out of that affected our ability to score and also getting scored against.”
Collingwood’s game style and ball movement has been criticised heavily this season, but Harvey said he will urge his troops to put more speed on the ball in their last eight games.
“It’s finding the right opportunities to speed the ball up,” he said. “We were a bit slower in the third quarter and didn’t want to do that per se.
“As we go forward it’s about finding that balance in our game. To score six goals from the back half is an improvement for us. We haven’t done that for a while.”
Harvey said while Collingwood lost its edge with the ball in the middle part of the game, the last quarter was a model of where they want to get to.
“We did (lose a bit of dare in the second and third quarters),” he said.
“We want our players to express themselves and in the last quarter the gloves came off and we were bolder and that’s what we want to see. It’s not going to be perfect first week. This is a nine-week project and we scored 79 points, ideally we’d just keep them to less.”
DOCKERS REVEAL HOW CLOSE FYFE WAS TO PLAYING
The decision on whether Nat Fyfe would play was left until an hour before the game started, and Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir said he expects to have his skipper back for the Dockers’ game at home against Carlton next week.
Fyfe was a late out, replaced by Brett Bewley — who kicked two late goals.
“He was close enough to playing for him to travel with us and for us to make the decision last-minute, so having said that he should be right for next week, we expect him to play,” Longuire said.
Meanwhile, Matt Taberner has escaped serious injury after being subbed out of his side’s 12-point win against Collingwood.
There were fears the 28-year-old had suffered a reoccurrence of a serious ankle injury when he was subbed off in the second quarter.
There were also fears it could’ve been a knee injury, but Longmuir said the key forward has suffered a high calf strain and escaped a prolonged stint on the sidelines as his side pushes for a top-eight berth.
“It doesn’t look like Tabs is a serious injury,” Longmuir said.
“It’s not a reoccurrence of an ankle injury, it looks like a high calf strain, so fingers crossed it’s only a short-term injury.”
Fremantle will return home to Perth to quarantine before its clash against the Blues.
“We’ll get exemptions to train and then once we’ve trained we’ll go home,” he said.
“It is an imposition, but really every team has had to go through something like this during the season, and we’re not immune to that, it’s our turn now.”
Longmuir reserved special praise for veteran midfielder David Mundy after another stellar performance.
“I’d be surprised if he wasn’t All-Australian,” he said.
“He’s a super player and been our captain the last two weeks and leads us really well, whether he’s got a title or not.
“He understands the position we’re in with starting younger players in the midfield, and the midfield battle was crucial all day and he was a big part of that.”
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