Magpies Fly With Flag On Friday | Thebigtip

Friday, 8th April
MCG (N)
Collingwood vs. Carlton
Magpies by 28 points

Collingwood
4.2.26
9.7.61
12.8.80
15.12.102

Carlton
4.3.27
5.4.34
8.5.53
11.8.74

Goals
Collingwood: Blair (5), Dawes (3), Krakouer (2), Cloke (2), Jolly, Didak, Ball
Carlton: Garlett (3), Waite (2), Hampson, Simpson, Thornton, Robinson, Gibbs, Betts

Bests
Collingwood: Shaw, Blair, Swan, Sidebottom, Ball, Johnson, Cloke
Carlton: Judd, Scotland, Yarran, Curnow, Gibbs, Garlett

Injuries: Nil

Crowd: 88,181

Collingwood faced their greatest challenge to date in the 2011 season, eventually running out comfortable 28 point winners against a gallant Carlton side. It was a night to remember for Magpie fans as the 2010 premiership flag was unfurled in front of a massive crowd, with past greats such as Lou Richards, Peter Daicos, Peter McKenna and Tony Shaw all taking part in the celebration. The final honour of unfurling the flag went to Simon Prestigiacomo who was the unlucky player to lose his spot in the Grand Final side.

It was a tight opening quarter, with Carlton clearly keen to spoil the Magpies party. Collingwood jumped out to an early 2 goal lead and seemed to be playing the better football until the Blues hit back late to go into quarter time with a 1 point lead. Garlett, Hampson and Warnock were all looking dangerous for the Blues, whilst Jarryd Blair kicked 2 opening quarter goals.

The second term was all the Magpies, kicking 5 goals to 1 and skipping away to a 27 point half time lead. Blair and Krakouer did the damage for the Magpies, whilst Heath Shaw dominated across half back.

However, Collingwood was unable to break Carlton apart from this point. Recent history has seen the Magpies lift a gear and bury their opponent. To Carlton’s credit, they hung on all match and never looked completely out of it. Nick Maxwell looked very rusty in his return game, whilst Jamison had his work cut out with Cloke and Dawes up the other end in his first game of the year.

In the end, it was Jarryd Blair who was the best on ground with a 5 goal effort, which remarkably has him leading the goal-kicking tally with Jeff Garlett on 10. Garlett was Carlton’s best player with 3 goals and provided a spark all night.

Ultimately, the midfields broke pretty even. Swan finished with 34 possessions, but was only really let off the leash in the last quarter. Judd was very good with 24 disposals, but lacked the usual support from Gibbs and Murphy. Pendlebury was quiet for the Pies picking up only 21 disposals. I thought Warnock was the dominant ruckman on the ground and gave his midfielders first use. However, Jolly was the more dangerous player in the general field of play and continuously pushed forward to provide a target.

The difference in the end was that the Pies had way more goal-scoring options and a much more disciplined defence. The Blues lacked a real presence up forward. Waite was patchy, whilst Hampson and Betts were very quiet. Dawes and Cloke didn’t get shorter as the game wore on and ended up kicking 5 goals between them, whilst Krakouer also finished with 2.

Carlton has definitely displayed significant improvement and would feel as if they had opportunities in match. However, the experience and depth in the Collingwood side was the decisive factor.