Collingwood has had a positive start to its 2021 campaign having claimed a 12-point win over North Melbourne in Sunday’s practice match.

While the Kangaroos were strong out of the stoppages, it was the Pies ability to find strong connections across the field along with their clean use of the ball that saw them claim victory, (47) to (35) at Ikon Park.

Collingwood head coach Steve Symonds was pleased with his side’s win and said there were many positives to take away from the match.

“We were looking for a good hit out against a good team,” Symonds told collingwoodfc.com.au.

“We tried a few little things we’ve been working on throughout the summer and some of those things worked well and showed signs that they could be things we’ll keep persevering with.”

Despite the Pies trailing the Roos for most of the first half, they remained hard at the contest and demonstrated some good passages of play.

The Pies first goal of the day came from speedy midfielder, Ebony O’Dea who managed to level the scores just before half-time.

Returning for the second half, the Pies took their game to the next level having found a steady rhythm that allowed them to move the ball smoothly down the field.  

Chloe Molloy slot nicely back into the forward line booting one nicely from a set shot, giving the Pies a five-point lead early in the third.

The newbies also showed some exciting signs with Amelia Velardo (2) and Abbi Moloney as well as former Demon, Aliesha Newman all securing their first majors in the black and white.

Former Norwood player, Bella Smith proved most versatile having first started strong up forward, before moving into the ruck as Erica Fowler came off having suffered a knock to the head late in the second term.

Other standouts included experienced Magpie, Brittany Bonnici who was dominant through the midfield, dashing swiftly passed her opponents, while Aishling Sheridan positioned herself well around the ball up forward.

Down back the combination of Stacey Livingstone and Ruby Schleicher made the Pies defence consistently reliable in holding up the Kangaroos forwards. Youngsters Alana Porter and Lauren Butler were also impressive laying several tackles between them. 

With round one only 11 days away, Sunday’s win should give the group some confidence heading into that match. 

“Today’s the first time we’ve actually played since the end of March last year, so it’s been a long time since we’ve played against an opposition,” Symonds said.

“I just cast my mind back to this time last year when we played North in the first trial game, the first time I’d coached the group in a game-scenario. Our progress from that day to where we are now we’ve taken some strides but we’ve still got a lot of work ahead of us and we’ll just keep working on that each week.”

Collingwood: 7.5 (47)
North Melbourne:  5.5 (35)

Goals – Collingwood: Velardo (2), Molloy, Newman, O’Dea, Alexander, Moloney.
North Melbourne: Bateman 2, Hammond 2, Brown 1