The Giants are yet to win a game this season, but they don’t play at the MCG very often and with Kevin Sheedy stepping down as coach at the end of the year, he’ll be keen to fire one last salvo at his old rival.
Match Details
Collingwood v Greater Western Sydney
Round 18
Saturday 27 July 2013
MCG
Start time
Local: 4.40pm
EST: 4.40pm
CST: 4.10pm
WST: 2.40pm
Head-to-Head
Collingwood: 1
Greater Western Sydney: 0
Drawn: 0
Past One
Round 18 2012
Collingwood 26.18 (174)
Greater Western Sydney 7.12 (54)
Goals – Collingwood: Cloke 6, Swan 5, Dawes 2, Beams 2, Elliott 2, Goldsack 2, Maxwell, Mooney, Blair, Tarrant, Fasolo, Shaw, Sinclair
Greater Western Sydney: Smith 3,Cameron 2, Giles, Palmer
Disposals – Collingwood: Swan 37, Pendlebury 33, Beams 30, Reid 25, Young 25
Greater Western Sydney: Treloar 37, Greene 35, Scully 27, Adams 26, Bugg 26
Brownlow: 3. D.Swan (Coll), 2. T.Cloke (Coll), 1. D.Beams (Coll)
At Skoda Stadium
Stats and figures
- The Magpies made light work of the Giants in their one and only home and away meeting in round 18 last season. Greater Western Sydney gave its more senior opposition an early shock when it kicked the first two goals of the evening through Devon Smith. But that was where the fun ended as Collingwood went on a rampage, kicking the last seven goals of the quarter to open up a 25-point lead at the first change. The Pies went on to win by 120 points with Travis Cloke (six goals) benefitting from the presence of Chris Dawes (two goals) and Chris Tarrant (one goal) alongside him in attack. Dane Swan kicked a career-high five goals and also managed to win 37 possessions along the way, while Tom Young (now at the Western Bulldogs) played his best game in the Black and White with 25 possessions.
- Many will have forgotten that Collingwood was one of the two clubs to play against the Giants on their first night in the competition. Kevin Sheedy’s new team began its time in the big league with round-robin matches against Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs in the NAB Cup last February. After losing to the Bulldogs, the Giants put up a real fight against the Magpies and pushed them all the way the shortened match. Collingwood got home by three points by the virtue of debutant Jackson Paine’s freakish goal in the forward pocket late in the night.
- Greater Western Sydney’s General Manager of Football Operations Graeme ‘Gubby’ Allan has a strong Collingwood connection. He was a key figure at Victoria Park during the late 1980s and early 1990s as the club’s Football Manager and was even embroiled in the famous quarter time brawl against Essendon on Grand Final Day, 1990.
- Kevin Sheedy has a strong record when taking on Collingwood from the coaches box. During his 27 years at Essendon he won 34 of his 55 games against the Magpies including the 1984 Preliminary Final.
- A lot can change in 12 months. Just ask the Collingwood players that took to the field against the Giants in round 18 last year. Nine of the 22 players didn’t play against Gold Coast last Saturday, five of whom are no longer at the club.
What can the Magpie Army do?
The Magpie Army has another chance to break an attendance record on Saturday evening. Greater Western Sydney has only ever played in front of more than 30,000 fans on two occasions and haven’t drawn a crowd larger than the 38,203 that turned up for their first match against Sydney in round one last season. Last year’s match against the Giants drew only 8,102 fans at Skoda Stadium, which was Collingwood’s lowest turnout since 1997. That will surely be eclipsed at the MCG on Saturday.
Injury List
Collingwood
Jarryd Blair (calf) – test
Nathan Brown (groin soreness) – test
Jack Frost (knee) – 1-2 weeks
Darren Jolly (knee) – 2-3 weeks
Alex Fasolo (foot) – indefinite
Dale Thomas (ankle) – indefinite
Clinton Young (hamstring) – indefinite
Michael Hartley (shoulder) – season
Alan Toovey (knee) – season
Greater Western Sydney
Stephen Coniglio (hamstring) – test
Stephen Gilham (soreness) – test
Tom Scully (concussion) – test
Andrew Phillips (hamstring) – 2 weeks
Anthony Miles (toe) – 4 weeks
Jonathon Patton (knee) – season
Next Five Weeks
Collingwood
Round 19 – Essendon at the MCG
Round 20 – Sydney at ANZ Stadium
Round 21 – Hawthorn at the MCG
Round 22 – West Coast at the MCG
Round 23 – North Melbourne at the MCG
Greater Western Sydney
Round 19 – Melbourne at Skoda Stadium
Round 20 – Fremantle at Patersons Stadium
Round 21 – Brisbane at the Gabba
Round 22 – Richmond at Skoda Stadium
Round 23 – Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium
