GIVING THE PIES A BATH by George on the Outer

The pre game activities in support of Neale Daniher’scampaign to Freeze MND got the day off to the perfect start when we finally saw the Collingwood president getting a well deserved bath. It was an unusual experience to behold the scene of a drenched Eddie McGuire as most Collingwood fans don’t go near water on a regular basis ... and of course, the crowd lapped it up. 

But the pre game goings on were only a portent of the bath that Eddie's team was about to endure from an invigorated Demon outfit. A scrappy first quarter saw them open with almost five minutes of football during which the opposition barely touched the football. The problem was Melbourne's inability to put something decent on the score-board came back to bite them and at quarter time it found itself two goals down.  

That was enough and the second term saw the Demons come out firing as they stopped over-using the ball and handballing at times when a kick was needed. The result was a seven goal to one quarter and the game was as good as over.  Then they came out and finished the game by truly putting Collingwood to the sword, kicking a further seven goals to three in the second half of the game.  

Max Gawn absolutely and utterly cleaned up the three opposition ruckmen in Grundy, Witts and Cox with three goals, 27 disposals and 31 hitouts.  He even roved to his own taps and showed the Pies how a top class ruckman plays.  

The injection of Jack Viney back from injury just gave others the chance to create mayhem around the ball.  Bernie Vince with a mammoth 42 disposals and Dom Tyson and Ben Kennedy 29 each backed up Viney's 30 of his own. With this amount of talent around the ball it relieves the pressure from the new boys in Oliver and Petracca as they can then learn their craft without the pressure of top line opposition players. 

Once again Jesse Hogan stamped his authority on the game with three goals and eight contested possessions.  He gave Jesse White an absolute spray when he flinched as Hogan approached from behind and dropped the mark.  White then spent the rest of the match looking in the rear view mirror.  It has been a long time since a Melbourne player has truly terrified the opposition, like Hogan did today.

The backline is still fragile but starting to meld together.  Once again Hunt and Wagner did well and provide that much needed fire from out of the defence.  They also keep putting in and their second efforts, even after errors, are a credit to themselves.  

Even Oscar McDonald looked more at ease, and has put another game under his belt.  It was particularly difficult with the three Collingwood rucks resting in their forward line, and our matchups simply weren’t good enough.  We can’t have Nev Jetta trying to outmark players who are over 200cm.  

It is also difficult to understand why we persist with a six person forward line and only four in the backline. Too many bodies get in Hogans way, and the backs can sure use an extra body down there sometimes.  

With only a six day break to a game against Sydney in the Harbour city, it will be a difficult act to follow next week. However, the Swans have suffered some serious injuries and are not invincible as was proven this week against GWS.  

Given the rain that Sydney has faced in this past week, they surely wouldn’t be looking forward to another bath ... would they?

Melbourne 2.4.16 9.6.60 11.7.73 16.8.104

Collingwood 4.4.28 5.4.34 6.6.42 8.10.58

Goals  

Melbourne Gawn Hogan Kent 3 Watts 2 N Jones, Kennedy Petracca Trengove Viney

Collingwood Cox 2 Greenwood Grundy Maynard Sidebottom Varcoe White

Best

Melbourne Gawn Vince N Jones Kent T McDonald Tyson

Collingwood Treloar Pendlebury Howe De Goey Varcoe 

Changes

Melbourne Nil

Collingwood Nil

Injuries 

Melbourne vandenBerg (nose)

Collingwood J Frost (shoulder) Reid (left knee) Pendlebury(left ankle)

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Collingwood Nil

Umpires Nicholls, Jeffery, Wallace

Official crowd 60,158 at the MCG