Collingwood Finding their Stride with Big Win
After winning it all last season, Collingwood was expected to once again be title contenders this season. They have underperformed early on, winning just three of their first six games. They had an opportunity to turn things around last week in a tight game with Essendon but were only able to get out with a tie.
This week, they took on the Carlton Blues in a rivalry game looking to get their season going.
They got off to a good start with a Brayden Maynard goal three minutes in but quickly relinquished the lead. After trading a pair of goals with Carlton the Magpies again took a lead off the boot of Nick Daicos.
The rest of the first quarter was all Carlton. The Blues put through the matches next three goals with a pair of behinds to lead 34-20 at the quarter’s end.
After scoring again in the second quarter and surrendering a behind, they led by 19. Collingwood then fought back mightily. Their run began with a Harvey Harrison goal, followed in quick succession by a goal from Lachie Sullivan, with what was his first ever AFL kick.
The big man Mason Cox then got in on the action with a goal and then Patrick Lipinski gave the Magpies the lead. They weren’t done there however, as Lachie Schultz also put a goal through before the halftime whistle.
By the time the half was over, Collingwood led 52-41.
The second half was filled with lead changes in a physical back and forth battle between the two rivals.
Collingwood put through a behind early, but Carlton found the first goal off the foot of Matthew Owies. Owies then struck again 15 minutes later to get his Blues within two.
Five minutes later Harry McKay scored his fourth of the match for a four-point lead. Carlton stretched their lead to five by the end of the third quarter.
Just 42 seconds into the fourth Collingwood snatched the lead right back thanks to a Bobby Hill goal. The Magpies looked primed to take control of the match after another quick goal and two behinds but again, the Blues came roaring back.
Tom De Koning then scored two goals within five minutes of each other to give a three-point lead back to Carlton. Collingwood Captain Scott Pendlebury then came up big for his side with a goal to turn the three-point lead in Carlton’s favour.
They had chances to put the game away over the next ten minutes but instead came away with three behinds.
Their failure to convert came back to bite them when Matthew Cottrell blasted through a goal to tie the game with less than five minutes remaining.
When it looked as though the Magpies were moving towards a second straight tie, Nick Daicos flipped the script.
Daicos slipped out the back of a stoppage, accelerated into open space, and delivered an absolutely beautiful strike on the ball to put through a goal from 40m out.
He struck just before the one-minute mark, stealing the win for his magpies, 85-79.
Lachie Sullivan’s Storybook Start to AFL Career
26-year-old Lachie Sullivan had been looked over in six drafts and had yet to find his way in the AFL. He was picked up by the Magpies just prior to the season and against Carlton, took his first AFL kick.
It was a pure strike. From 40m out, Sullivan put through the goal to join the small club of first-kick-first-goal AFLers.
