David Harding
Gippy
Kristy lee
Cain RiveraSaints escape late Magpie Challenge
February 19th 2010 14:05
Travis Cloke scored two of the third-term goals for Collingwood while Dane Swan also contributed. Nick Riewoldt had a 4.1 swag along with 13 touches and nine marks in an outstanding all-round performance for the St Kilda skipper.
The Saints were missing nine players, including Ball, from the side that lost last year's grand final to Geelong. Collingwood were also missing players with John Anthony, Josh Fraser, and Shane O'Bree not playing tonight. The state of the Etihad Stadium Survace didn't come into calculation tonight players seemed to do fine on the surface which was damaged from the AC/DC series of concerts at the venue.
Nick Riewoldt coughed up the ball late in the last quarter when a pass he tried to hit was cut off by Harry O'Brien, the Magpies however failed to capitalise on this as Cameron Wood who was playing in the forward line was unble to mark. Poor man marking late saw Adam Schneider free to take a mark late in the game which clincehd the hard fought victory. Nick Riewoldt has been outstanding during the pre-season as a forward option for the Saints in a practice match he managed to slot home 6 goals.
Collingwood would be bouyed by the performances of Luke Ball, Simon Buckley and Darren Jolly in this game, Leigh Brown was a surprising one managing to slot home those four goals, the Magpies' backline seemed to be exposed a lot tonight before Simon Prestigiacomo was brought into the fray and assisted, Beams was thrown on as well and the Collingwood revival was on. Rhys Stanley for the Saints looked pretty good tonight as well.
There might not be many disappointed fans tonight, even though the Magpies lost the game, there were a lot of good signs there for the team, the way Luke Ball was able to slot into the side like he did, Darren Jolly was winning ruck contests, something the Magpies have struggled to do in the last few years with ruckmen. Travis Cloke was inaccurate again, but this should allow the Collingwood coaching staff some work ahead of their trip to Alice Springs next weekend.
Nathan Buckley will take the Magpies in that Regional Challenge match, it will be interesting to see how Collingwooc coach in wating Nathan Buckley does in his first outing next weekend. The Saints move on in the nab cup and should be able to put behind them the loss of the 2009 AFL Grand Final.
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