Collingwood’s win over Melbourne at MCG on Queen’s Birthday no spectacle, writes Mark Robinson

IT was boring and almost effective. For the neutral fans, it was the former. For Melbourne fans, it was the latter. For Pies fans, it was both.

AFL Round 12 Melbourne v Collingwood at the MCG. chris Dawes battles 2 magpies . Pic: Michael Klein. Monday June 9, 2014.

IT was boring and almost effective.

For the neutral fans it was the former. For Melbourne fans, it was the latter.

For Collingwood fans, it was boring, effective and when the final siren sounded, there was a collective sigh of let’s get outta of here.

MATCH: SCRAPPY PIES KNOCK OFF DEFENSIVE DEES

ANALYSIS: CROSS TICKS BEAMS BOX

ROOS: I COULDN’T BREAK THE GAME OPEN

BUCKS: ‘IT WASN’T ONE FOR FOOTY FLASHBACKS’

The Queens Birthday extravaganza was a snooze fest. It was a slog through midfield and when it eventually got forward for either team, the forwards were outnumbered by the defenders. The slog-fest would start again.

The final score was 8.13 to 3.10.

It could be the score of the 1926 Queen’s Birthday clash on a boggy MCG. It wasn’t. It was perfect conditions at the MCG yesterday and the result of defensively minded contest.

Collingwood’s Scott Pendlebury showed some class in a dull contest. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Indeed, it was Melbourne’s lowest score against Collingwood since 1960.

The Demons would be disappointed with the result, but delighted with the competitiveness.

The past three Queen’s Birthdays’ have returned wins of 83, 42 and 88 points for the Magpies. In that sense, the Demons losing by 33 was a hell of improvement.

Still, it was a laborious contest to watch.

“It was a funny old game, it was an ordinary contest,” Collingwood’s Dane Swan said.

Skipper Scott Pendlebury was more enthused.

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“It was a fantastic game to play, but I’m not sure visually how it looked,” he said.

Brent Macaffer apologised on SEN, while Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley conceded it was ugly.

MELBOURNE-COLLINGWOOD GALLERY

Melbourne skipper Nathan Jones didn’t talk of the spectacle.

He told Fox Footy: “You play to get a result and this one is definitely hurting. We want to be a team to get respect back and you do that by performance.”

The Demons kicked the first goal of the match inside 25 seconds and then two goals in the next 120 minutes.

Not that the Magpies were thrill-a-minute, either. They kicked five goals to three-quarter time, and then three in an “avalanche” in the final quarter.

The low scores meant it was a close enough contest, but the further the game played out, the inability of Melbourne to score became more obvious.

Collingwood’s first goal of the last quarter, a 50m bomb from Dayne Beams, virtually ended the game. The Pies were 22 points ahead and the Demons had only kicked 24 points for the game.

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In normal terms, this was a gettable margin. In this game, where Melbourne was averaging almost 120 possessions per goal, a comeback was practically impossible.

They had their chances in the final quarter, though.

Substitute Jay Kennedy-Harris kicked a point, then Jack Watts kicked another and Cam Pederson fell short on another, and from there all momentum was lost.

The Magpies took the ball down field, won a free kick for high contact, Jamie Elliott kicked the goal, and the game was cooked.

The Demons didn’t attack anywhere near fast enough or aggressive enough. When they won the ball back, possession was key and offensive forays a secondary thought.

Lynden Dunn, Brodie Grundy and Cloke compete.

In the second half, the pies shut down the switch, and forced Melbourne to go down the line.

While Melbourne strangled Collingwood in the first half, Collingwood did the same in the second half, and Melbourne offensive threats were few and far between.

This was vintage Paul Roos. He is not about entertainment. He’s about winning, he’s about restricting and curtailing opposition threat, and against the Magpies that was denying Collingwood the ball, and pushing back when Collingwood won it.

At quarter-time, the Melbourne fans cheered the effort. At half-time, they did the same. At three-quarter time there were boos for the umpire.

And at the final siren, there was the spectre of defeat, but every one of them leaving the MCG, certainly wasn’t devastated.

Originally published as Collingwood’s win over Melbourne at MCG on Queen’s Birthday no spectacle, writes Mark Robinson