St Kilda coach Alan Richardson has every reason to be furious after defeat to Collingwood

With Collingwood losing two stars before the match and another ruled out at half-time, the Saints won’t get many better chances to claim a big scalp - yet somehow they blew it.

Travis Varcoe faces a stint on the sidelines

ALAN Richardson had every reason to be furious; Nathan Buckley had so much cause for relief ... and pride in the resilience of his players.

With Collingwood losing two stars (Jordan De Goey and Darcy Moore) before the game, and a defender (Tom Langdon) by half-time, St Kilda won’t get many better opportunities to claim the scalp of one of the leading premiership contenders.

But the Saints twice blew their chances when kicking towards the City End - in contrasting circumstances.

In the second term they dominated possession and inside 50m count - but missed the chance to put a space on the Magpies with poor connection centre forward.

During a 15-minute period of that quarter, the Saints had 15 consecutive inside 50s for a scoreline of 1.4.

St Kilda had the ball in their forward half 75 per cent of the time in the second term - the most of any side in any quarter this year - but left the door ajar with poor efficiency and finishing skills.

Then the Magpies barged through that door like a steam-train, turning a five-point three-quarter-time lead into an emphatic 41-point win.

All of Collingwood’s final quarter goals came from turnovers.

While Richardson was frustrated by the way his team failed to run out the game - evidenced by the mood in the Saints’ room - Buckley couldn’t have been more pleased with the way his team finished for a second straight week.

Collectively, the Magpies have beaten their opposition in the past fortnight by almost ten goals in final terms, taking their winning streak to six matches.

In contrast, the Saints have lost four in a row - all against likely finalists. They must make more of their chances, or remain ‘an almost team’.

The Saints leave the field after their loss to Collingwood

UNCORKING THE GENIE

Like the team, Collingwood’s forward line - without De Goey, Mason Cox and Jamie Elliott - rose to the occasion when the question was put to them.

Ben Reid staked a claim with three goals; Brody Mihocek slotted through four; and Jaidyn Stephenson produced one of the game highlights - a 60m last quarter torpedo goal.

Everyone wondered why David Myers didn’t a kick a torp last week, but Stevo was never leaving anything to chance when he unloaded.

That won him a post-game “selfie” with Brodie Grundy, with the Magpie ruckman tweeting: “He uncorked the genie on that barrel.”

Travis Varcoe faces a stint on the sidelines after being reported for a head-high bump on St Kilda’s Ed Phillips

TRAV IN TROUBLE?

Collingwood forward Travis Varcoe faces a stint on the sidelines after being reported for a head-high bump on St Kilda’s Ed Phillips which also inadvertently collected Phillips’ brother Tom during the first quarter of the Magpies-Saints clash at the MCG.

Varcoe spoke eloquently during the week about his desire to wear the club’s indigenous jumper over the next two weeks in honour of his late sister Maggie, who died last year after a freak football accident.

But the 31-year-old is unlikely to get the chance to take on Sydney at the SCG next week - and potentially Fremantle at the MCG - with his fate in the hands of the match review officer Michael Christian.

Ed Phillips had his head down low on the half back line near the end of the opening term when Varcoe crashed through. Tom Phillips also copped some of the contact from the incident.

Magpie Travis Varcoe has been reported after this first quarter hit on Ed Phillips. pic.twitter.com/GSqbe8PpWS

— St Kilda FC (@stkildafc) May 18, 2019

The young Saint was immediately taken from the field for a concussion test as Varcoe had his number taken from the incident.

The only bit of good news for Varcoe was that Phillips passed his concussion test and was able to enter the game again, which could have a bearing on what sort of penalty he might receive in coming days.

The act could fall under rough conduct.

Travis Varcoe vs St Kilda

Depending on how it is classified by Christian - and whether it is deemed that he elected to bump - it could see Varcoe facing up to a two-match penalty.

That would only be if it is graded as intentional conduct that was high, it would be either one or two matches depending on if it ticks low or medium impact.

If it is deemed to be careless, it will be either one game or a fine depending on whether it is medium or low impact.

Bulldogs great Brad Johnson said Varcoe can argue he had his hands down to contest the disputed ball even though he went past it at speed.

“The other thing in his favour is Phillips gets up and says ‘I’m OK, I’m OK’.

“So there’s a couple of things that will go in the discussion of whether he’s guilty or not.”

Varcoe didn’t let the report affect him, kicking an early goal for the Magpies in the second quarter from a set shot.

RO V BRO

Rowan Marshall stirred Brodie Grundy’s competitive juices when he scored a goal from 50m in the second term.

From that moment on, Grundy turned on a masterclass performance against young Saint, who had been highly competitive in the first half.

As Richardson acknowledged, Grundy was enormous, finishing with 24 disposals (including 18 contested) and 49 hitouts.

BUCKS PROUD OF MATURE TEAM

Nathan Buckley has praised the maturity of his Collingwood team for weathering an early St Kilda pressure storm to become the first AFL team this season to win six consecutive matches.

The Magpies coach couldn't have been more pleased with the final-term demolition of the Saints, particularly from a reshaped forward line without injured trio Jordan De Goey, Mason Cox and Jamie Elliott, saying he welcomed future selection headaches.

While Travis Varcoe is on report for a head-high bump on Saint Ed Phillips that could see him miss Friday night's clash with Sydney at the SCG, and with Tom Langdon (knee) also doubtful, given the quick back up, the Magpies are hopeful of getting late withdrawals De Goey and Darcy Moore back this week.

"We were on the ropes for large periods of the first half, and even in the third quarter, we held up against multiple D (efensive) 50 stoppages," Buckley said, putting much of it down to the Saints' relentless early pressure.

"We needed to grind in and get the job done. We were on the back foot for a lot of it, but the composure … to be able to absorb that and come back with more on the return serve was impressive.

Magpies head coach Nathan Buckley celebrates the win with Jeremy Howe

"It was a really mature response to the situation. It was well led, and pretty sustained over that hour of footy, culminating in a pretty dominant last quarter."

He stressed he hadn't seen a replay of the Varcoe incident, offering: "instinctively I thought he was going low to take the ground ball in play" when quizzed about it.

Langdon is believed to have had bone bruising to the knee and sat out the second half of the game, with the coach saying that meant he had to be in doubt.

Buckley gave his "big men" forwards a tick, including Ben Reid, who staked his claim with three goals, and Brody Mihocek, who continued his good form with four goals, who made the most of their opportunities.

He also suggested Jaidyn Stephenson's long bomb 60m final quarter goal would "keep 'Blighty' (AFL legend Malcolm Blight) happy for a week."

Buckley said: "Cox is injured, but has performed … he will come back into the side at some point. 'Reidy' has played two good games out of three, and 'Checkers' (Mihocek) keeps producing."

"If we have blokes competing for spots, it might give you an opportunity to rotate spots and maintain that hunger … it is a good problem to have."

The Magpies have won their past six games, taking their season tally to 7-2, with winnable games to come against Sydney, Fremantle and Melbourne before the mid-season break.

SAINTS LAMENT MISSED CHANCES

St Kilda coach Alan Richardson last night was left lamenting missed opportunities and a drop off in pressure - not for the first time this year - as he dissected Collingwood’s final-term demolition of his side at the MCG.

The Saints could have taken a sizeable lead into the half-time break after a wasteful second term, and trailed by only five points at the last change.

But the frustration of giving up a six-goal to one final term - leading to a 41-point loss - saw Richardson insist his team had to find a better way to get more bang for their buck, particularly with their forward half rewards.

“We’re disappointed with ourselves,” Richardson said. “We’d given ourselves a real chance, we’d played strong footy for three quarters.

“ We had some really dominant periods but weren’t able to make the most of that on the scoreboard.”

“(That’s) been a bit of a story for us.

“The disappointing part is they did just outplay us in the last (quarter).

“Just being able to finish our work has been a challenge, but having said all that, at three-quarter time the game was up for grabs.

Jade Gresham of the Saints is tackled by Rupert Wills of the Magpies

“(But) the stuff that had given us the ... opportunity to win the game, we fell away.”

While acknowledging his team is doing plenty right, he knows they must take the next step if they are to get the most out of a season that started so brightly, but has now seen them four games in succession.

“There are periods in the game where we’re just going away from what’s working for us, and we have to get better at that,” he said.

“The last four weeks have been against ... quality teams and you don’t beat quality teams unless you make the most of your opportunity or you stick at your method for 120 minutes. That’s why we haven’t ended up getting the results.”

He was pleased with the debut performance of Robbie Young, who kicked two goals and provided solid forward pressure, and said ruckman Rowan Marshall would derive some valuable learnings from gis clash with Brodie Grundy.

The Saints take on Carlton at Marvel Stadium next Sunday.

COLLINGWOOD 17.10 (112) BT ST KILDA 10.11 (71)

Goals: Collingwood: B Mihocek 4 BReid 3 J Stephenson 3 J Thomas 2 S Sidebottom 2 T Varcoe 2 W Hoskin-Elliott. St Kilda: T Membrey 4 R Young 2 J Battle J BruceR Marshall S Savage.

Umpires: Simon Meredith, Robert Findlay, Andre Gianfagna.

Official Crowd: 60,702 at MCG.

VOTES

3: Steele Sidebottom (Collingwood)

2: Brodie Grundy (Collingwood)

1: Luke Dunstan (St Kilda)

BEST

Collingwood: Sidebottom, Grundy, Treloar, Crisp, Reid, Mihocek, Stephenson, Beams

St Kilda: Dunstan, Billings, Membrey, Savage, Gresham, Steele