Media articles & stats: Pies take points over Tigers in a one-point thriller

[one-eyed]

Pies take points over Tigers in a one-point thriller

Nathan Schmook 
afl.com.au
April 1, 2016 10:17 PM


COLLINGWOOD has made it on to the winners' list after defeating Richmond by one point on Friday night in a sensational game of contrasting halves.

In an error riddled first-half supporters were left wondering if either team deserved to take the points.

The first term in particular held concerns for Richmond with both Nick Vlastuin and Jacob Townsend reported, and Dylan Grimes out of the contest with a hamstring injury.

But the standard of play and intensity lifted greatly after the long break, with multiple lead changes on the way to the 13.9 (87) to 12.14 (86) result.

Alex Fasolo was the difference between the teams with six goals.

More to come

COLLINGWOOD       2.1   3.3   7.7   13.9     (87)
RICHMOND             2.2   3.8   7.12  12.14  (86)

GOALS
Collingwood: Fasolo 6, Grundy 2, Moore, De Goey, Langdon, Cloke, Aish
Richmond: Short 3, Riewoldt 3, Lambert 2, Vickery 2, Martin, Lloyd

BEST
Collingwood: Fasolo, Pendlebury, Adams, Greenwood, Treloar, Ramsay
Richmond: Martin, Houli, Cotchin, Lambert, Riewoldt, Short, Hampson

INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
Richmond: Dylan Grimes (right hamstring), Jayden Short (left collarbone), Shaun Grigg (ankle), David Astbury (right hand)

Reports: Jacob Townsend for rough conduct on Jackson Ramsay, Nick Vlastuin for rough conduct on Taylor Adams

Umpires: Foot, Farmer, Rosebury

Official crowd: 72,761 at the MCG

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-04-01/pies-get-points-by-a-point

[one-eyed]

Magpies snatch victory from Tiger's slack jaws

Greg Baum
The Age
April 2, 2016

COLLINGWOOD  2.1  3.3   7.7   13.9 (87)
RICHMOND        2.2  3.8  7.12  12.14 (86)

Goals:
Collingwood: A Fasolo 6, B Grundy 2, D Moore, J Aish, J de Goey, T Cloke, T Langdon.
Richmond: J Riewoldt 3, J Short 3, K Lambert 2, T Vickery 2, D Martin, S Lloyd.

BEST
Collingwood: Fasolo, Treloar, Pendlebury, Adams, Greenwood, Ramsay.
Richmond: Martin, Cotchin, Houli, Lambert, Riewoldt, Short.

Umpires: Brett Rosebury, Luke Farmer, Nicholas Foot.
Official Crowd: 72,761 at MCG.

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First it was the game neither side dared to lose after underwhelming performances in round one, and it showed; the jitters were killing. Then it was the game neither side could win. It was the match Richmond frittered away, then won anyway, and then lost. It was the match Collingwood lost and then stole, and there was unbridled rejoicing in Magpie heaven, as ever for repentant sinners.

In the cold light of Saturday, both sides will still wonder at what happened. Winning needs no explanation, which was as well, because there really wasn't one. Losing has no alibi, and don't the Tigers know it.

"Admirable," said Nathan Buckley, trying to balance euphoria with relief. Somehow, the Magpies had ground out victory, he said, but he was not in the business of celebrating grinding wins. "We're so far from where we want to be." But at least they are less distant than they were with five minutes to play in this match, and a whole lot closer than where they were in Sydney last week.

In truth, this whole night was an accident waiting to happen, or more correctly two of them, one happy, one not. In round one, Richmond had been unconvincing and Collingwood unseen. The Tigers needed a big win, and all but got one, and the Magpies any sort of win, which, at length, was what they got.

Happiness is as happiness does. The first half of this game was littered with intercepts, fumbles and misses as both teams tried too hard. "I don't think either side played particularly well," said Buckley later. "We gave them a chance, they gave us a chance." When at last they settled, Richmond dominated the clearances and had the preponderance of possession and shots at goal, which should have told and did tell and then suddenly didn't. Collingwood shaded the Tigers for inside 50s, but in the final tally, only the last mattered. But how!

It was a chaotic game, full of oddities, so the improbable finish should not have surprised really. Scott Pendlebury played much of the second half in the backline, perhaps to nurse a knock, perhaps to try to bring a bit of precision to that area of the ground for the Mapgies; coach Buckley was cagey. Once, he also overran the ball, as commonly seen as Halley's comet, yielding a goal.

A first-gamer, Jayden Short, kicked three goals for the Tigers. Jack Riewoldt kicked three, but all in the last quarter, and they looked to be decisive. Travis Cloke played better, but kicked only one, on his right foot, if you don't mind. Alex Fasolo kicked three, which suddenly became five. And all night long, Adam Treloar was booed because he wasn't playing for a club he had never played for. With 32 touches, that added up to a lot of booing.

The finish, like the match, was all crossed wires and happenstance. Nick Vlastuin was penalised for handballing out of bounds deliberately; it woudn't have been a free kick last year. Nineteen seconds remained. In the box, Buckley thought to himself that if Darcy Moore kicked to the top of the goal square, where Richmond waited in numbers, the Magpies would not score.

Moore kicked to the top of the square. The Tigers were on the lookout for a high-flying Collingwood six-footer. They mislaid a 203-centimetre ruckman, and so it was that Brodie Grundy gathered the crumbs and kicked the winning goal.

Coaches try to shape patterns out of chaos, but sometimes can only watch as patterns dissolve into chaos. For all the untidiness of this game in parts, Buckley was delighted with the Magpies' cool in the dying seconds, which, as it turned, out were the reborn seconds. "To be honest, the way we moved the ball in the last five minutes was the way we wanted to move it in the first five minutes," he said.

For Damien Hardwick, the opposite held. He could only wring his hands as drills sharpened in many close games these last two or three seasons suddenly fell apart, perhaps because this wasn't really a close game until suddenly it was. "We played unintelligent footy towards the end," he said.

Nonetheless, for the Tigers, this must have felt like the last practical joke of Aprils Fool's Day, and that the Magpies were the Joker.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/afl-season-2016-magpies-snatch-victory-from-jaws-of-the-tiger-20160401-gnwip6.html

[one-eyed]

Collingwood get home with just seconds to spare

Larissa Nicholson
The Age
April 2, 2016

But it could have been worse for the Tigers – at halftime three players were under an injury cloud.

Their main concern will be for defender Dylan Grimes, who left the ground clutching his hamstring in the dying minutes of the first quarter.

The 24-year-old immediately went down the race and spent the entire break out of view, then returned to the sidelines at the start of the second term where he could be seen being massaged by a physiotherapist.

He spent much of the rest of the match sitting at the back of the bench with an icepack strapped to his leg.

Rookie Jayden Short, in his first game, was one of the very few Richmond players who was kicking straight in the first half and booted two goals.

He left the ground immediately after his second with his left arm bent awkwardly, but appeared unharmed when he returned to the ground and kicked a third after the main break.

Midfielder Shaun Grigg was hobbling early on but remained on the ground.

A Friday night match at the MCG between Richmond and Collingwood at the MCG will always have a sense of occasion, but the less said about the first quarter the better.

Both teams were plagued by errors and relied on short, chip kicks to score two goals apiece.

The second quarter did not see much improvement, but Richmond reached the main break five points up.

Trust Tiger Dustin Martin to inject some excitement into the game.

Early in the third he accepted a pass from Jack Riewoldt and surrounded by Collingwood players snapped a round-the-body goal.

Suddenly it was a very different sort of game – Magpie Alex Fasolo returned the favour with a contested mark and goal from just 20 metres out, directly in front and Tom Langdon followed with another, to see the 'Pies hit the front.

Fasolo set up another goal, this time with a pass to Brodie Grundy and the crowd erupted, suddenly the game became something worth watching and all the momentum was with Collingwood.

That woke Richmond up and they responded, Riewoldt was sublime in the final quarter, taking a flying mark against youngster Tom Langdon and kicking truly from about 40 metres out.

But it was Fasolo's score of 6.0 that made the match for the 'Pies.

The Tiger's Bachar Houli was one of only a few players who performed really well throughout, finishing the match with more than 30 possessions.

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-season-2016-the-g-comes-alive-late-as-collingwood-sneaks-home-20160401-gnwk6v.html

[one-eyed]

Pies pinch win from Tigers with seconds left

Herald-Sun
April 2, 2016

THE date line seemed strangely appropriate, but at least Collingwood could see the funny side to last night’s remarkable come-from-behind one-point win over Richmond.

For three quarters, this match was not much better than a poorly delivered April Fool’s Day joke, littered with errors and errant kicking, with each side seemingly trying to outdo the other in terms of mistakes.

But in an extraordinary finish to a very ordinary game, Magpies big man Brodie Grundy was able to steal victory from the jaws of defeat, kicking the matchwinning goal of the game with only four seconds left.

Collingwood looked beaten when it trailed by 17 points 20 minutes into the final term after Jack Riewoldt kicked his third goal of the term, but somehow Nathan Buckley’s men were able to get themselves off the canvas.

Alex Fasolo kicked goals at the 23-minute-mark and the 28-minute-mark of the last term, with those two majors taking him to a career-best six for the game.

Yet as the Tigers edged the ball out of defence and with time ticking away, it seemed as the Magpies were still destined for a 0-2 start to the season for the first time since 2005.

But a deliberate out of bounds decision against the Tigers left the door ajar almost as much as Richmond’s woeful inability to close out a game it seemingly had in its grasp.

With 19 seconds left, Darcy Moore drove the ball into the goal-square and Grundy flew for the ball, lost it, then gained it back. His snap for goal provided their first win of the season — a lifeline after such a poor performance against Sydney last week.

It was hardly a win for the ages, but it might be something that they can build a season on, and the performance of Fasolo, the hardworking efforts of boom recruit Adam Treloar and Scott Pendlebury and a much better showing from the forward line, including a better effort from Travis Cloke, was encouraging.

It’s far too early to decide whether Treloar made the right call last year when he chose black and white over yellow and black, but he would have been pretty satisfied last night.

Never mind the boos, never mind the abuse that the Richmond supporters gave him. He showed last night the sort of grit to close out what president Eddie McGuire labelled a “week from hell” for the club.

Fasolo was extraordinary, and five of his six goals came in the second half. He took every opportunity that was presented to him and it was arguably his most important game for the club.

Six days ago, he went head first into the SCG turf. Last night he flew without fear and finished with 6.0, not leaving out the four scoring assists he provided as well.

Importantly, at the other end, Ben Reid showed just how important he is to the structure of the Magpies’ team.

The celebrations of the Collingwood players contrasted with the body language of the Richmond group who slumped to the ground, realising what a massive opportunity they had given up.

Time and again the Tigers looked as if they would had this game in their keepings, but that will mean nothing to Damien Hardwick who deserves to be furious with both the misses early — including 1.6 in the second term — and their lack of poise under pressure.

They conceded 70 points from turnovers and led for 71 minutes. Collingwood had the scoreboard lead for 28 minutes but importantly had it at the end.

Trent Cotchin tried his hardest with 38 touches, Bachar Houli had 35 and Dustin Martin produced a strong second half, taking his tally to 30.

But too much was left to too few. And Collingwood somehow conjured the miracle near the end that it so desperately needed.

Now with games against St Kilda, Melbourne and Essendon to come, the Magpies have a chance to launch a season that looked like careering out of control at stages of last night.

COLLINGWOOD 13.9 (87)

def

RICHMOND 12.14 (86)

GOALS

Collingwood: Fasolo 6, Grundy 2, De Goey Langdon Aish Cloke Moore

Richmond: Riewoldt Short 3, Lambert Vickery 2, Martin Lloyd

BEST

Collingwood: Fasolo, Treloar, Pendlebury, Ramsey, Reid, Greenwood, Adams

Richmond: Cotchin, Houli, Martin, Riewoldt, B Ellis, Lambert, Short

VOTES

3: Alex Fasolo (Collingwood)

2: Trent Cotchin (Richmond)

1: Bachar Houli (Richmond)

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/more-news/afl-2016-collingwood-defeats-richmond-by-1-point-at-mcg-in-round-2/news-story/05c63d7e45344ca7a3de2a0030648e58