CTV > Rnd14 VFL Wrap: Pies v Roosters
COLLINGWOOD VFL > Match reports, fixture, player profiles

A well organised North Ballarat proved too strong for Collingwood’s VFL combination at a windswept Princes Park on Sunday afternoon, running out 79-point victors.

The third-placed Roosters, boasting a number of North Melbourne listed players, including Corey Jones, comprehensively outplayed the Magpies, who generally lacked the efficiency of their counterparts when moving into attack.

Despite the result, black and white hearts (of the Magpie variety) will be gladdened to hear that ruckman Josh Fraser made a successful return from a knee injury.

Having initially injured his knee whilst playing for Victoria against the Dream Team in the AFL’s Hall of Fame match in May, Fraser has been absent since round 12 (as well as missing the round eight clash with St Kilda), but made his return on the proviso that he would spend his afternoon in attack, where he booted two goals from four opportunities, and allowed Chris Dawes to shift further afield.

The match never reached any great heights, with North Ballarat gaining the ascendancy early, refusing to let go. Their accuracy in front of goal in the first half netted them 11 goals and six behinds, a tally boosted by North Melbourne rookie Michael Wundke, who booted seven goals without a blemish, taking his season tally to 34.

Collingwood was well served by Dawes (15 possessions, seven marks), who repeatedly led hard up the field for his marks, but lacked support due to the weight of numbers. Justin Crow (18 touches, six tackles), forever manful, gave his all in the ruck, and Danny Stanley (26 possessions) again found a lot of the Sherrin. Alan Toovey (20 disposals, three tackles) was another to impress, locking down his more senior opponent, Jones, for the duration of the afternoon.

Shannon Cox (16 possessions, five tackles) and Ryan Cook 16 touches, three tackles) were two players to provide some run from the back half of the ground, but with the side breaking down across the centre; it meant that the ball was often swamped back in the other direction. Although Fraser’s return stole the limelight, Ryan Lonie was another to restart his season, mostly off the back flank and along the wings. Lonie put in an encouraging display, and finsihed as the Magpies' leading possession winner with 16 kicks and 13 handballs.

It was all one-way traffic in the opening term, with the Roosters’ five majors punctured by Fraser’s first of the day, a snap-and-goal following a dashing run from Kevin Dyas through the centre.

The 22-point quarter time deficit was blown out to 50 at the main break; with North Ballarat piling on six more goals to Collingwood’s two.

It must be mentioned that the Pies' two majors were both well-deserved, with the rookie-listed Luke Casey-Leigh running down a Rooster from the kick-out, winning the free and goaling, before Cook followed it up with a beautiful running goal from the boundary line.

Collingwood managed to negate North Ballarat in the third quarter, restricting them to only three goals, but failed to capitalise on their opportunities in attack, Fraser booting the side’s solitary goal of the term, and in doing so proved that he has lost no spring in his knees. Dyas left the field late in the quarter with an injured hamstring, his side trailing at the final change by 60-points.

The final quarter saw the Roosters put the finishing touches on their afternoon’s work, adding five goals to the Woodsmen’s two, although the ball spent much of the term in the Pies forward fifty, with Dawes and Chris Egan (20 possessions), in particular, presenting well at the conclusion of a trying afternoon.

Coach Gavin Brown later admitted that the match was not a reflection of the team’s recent performances.

“It was very disappointing. We have been good over the course of the last three weeks, going back to the Williamstown game, we just got rolled there, and we beat Box Hill, so we had actually come a fair way, but now we’ve dropped back off, back, really, to where we were six or seven weeks ago," Brown told collingwoodfc.com.au.

"The boys have got to learn that that’s what footy’s all about, it’s about four quarters of hard effort, not just giving up and going through the motions.”

Brown added that is was important that Fraser was able to gain some match fitness while not stretching his knee too far.

“Josh didn’t go into the centre bounces, and instead just ran around. I tried to get him off about halfway through the quarter and just give him a bit of time on the bench, but he got through ok, so that was good.

"I just didn’t want him to jump, or let him get any impact sort of injuries, but we wanted to get some game time into him, so it didn’t make any sense not to play him, even with his availability as only a forward.

"I’m not sure (whether or not he’ll play next week), because we have the bye next week, so we’ll see what happens. Having the stand alone side means that we get the chance to do what we want with him, so I guess, as I said before, he gets to play a game of footy, so instead of saying ‘there’s no point in playing a game in the ruck’, we can play him up forward in our side, and do what we want with him and give him the game time.

"It is a terrific advantage, in that regard.”

Meanwhile, Brown praised the work of injured forward Anthony Rocca, who worked as an assistant coach with his younger forwards, and singled out the efforts of Ryan Lonie, both on and off the field.

“He was good, he took the forwards today, he was terrific, Anthony, he was really good. It will be a good insight for him. I think he’s been pretty keen to do that, I think he was fantastic for us today and our key position players especially, it worked out really well. It’s good for us too, because to have a senior player of that ilk come back and spend a fair bit of time with us would have given them a lift.”

“Lones was good, he was terrific, a real positive. He is coming to an interesting point in his career, he’s been helping us out lately with the coaching side of things in his six or so weeks off, so I think that that’s been a real benefit for him.

"It’s opened his eyes up a little bit, and I thought he applied himself really well today, got a bit of the footy, and gave himself a chance.”

And as for the rest of the season?

“We’ll just reassess and have a look at the post match review, and see where we were poor, we know partly where we were, but the last six weeks will be all about making sure that these young blokes understand that that’s what footy is about.

"It’s not about just turning up and playing at times, it’s about effort, and from effort you have the chance to get your game plan right, your structure right, your match ups right, so if you haven’t got the effort, then all that stuff goes out the window.

"We’ve got to make sure that they get that right, because if they’re going to play senior footy for Mick, you’re not going to play by hoping. We need those blokes pushing the senior blokes.”

The Magpies have a bye this week before returning to Princes Park to tackle the Bendigo Bombers on Sunday .

Collingwood: 1.2, 3.4, 4.9, 6.10 (46)
North Ballarat: 5.1, 11.6, 14.9, 19.11 (125)

Goals – Collingwood: Fraser 2 Casey-Leigh, Cook, Barham, Egan.
North Ballarat: Wundke 7, Smith 3, Sansbury 2, McMahon 2, Driscoll 2, Chester 2, Jones.

Best – Collingwood: Dawes, Crow, Stanley, Toovey, Lonie.
North Ballarat: Wundke, Roach, Greig, Sansbury, P.McMahon.
 
2008 collingwoodfc.com.au VFL MVP Award
* A total of 10 votes can be allocated each match
Round 14 votes:
1 - Dawes, Crow, Stanley, Toovey

Progressive
11. Macaffer
9. Iles, Crow, Stanley
7. Cox, Nicholls
6. Anthony
5. Licuria, Dawes
4. Wellingham, Cook, Frost, Toovey
3: Bryan, McCarthy, Pendlebury
2: Walsh, Lonie
1: Carmody, Clarke, Holland, Jurrah, Reid, Dyas, Egan