Collingwood will be looking to continue their strong form of late as they host the Gold Coast Suns at the MCG. We’ll have live scores from the match from 4:40pm AEST.
The Pies come into today’s match full of confidence after their stunning four goal win last week against Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
It was a game that was tight for most of the night, until the likes of Scott Pendlebury and Dayne Beams came to the fore to continue what is an impressive away record for Collingwood.
The win did come at a cost with Lachlan Keefe adding to the long injury list at Collingwood, doing his knee in a marking contest late in the match. They bring in Tom Young as cover for him, while Nathan Brown has come in for Heath Shaw.
Today, they’re back at the home of footy and will be expected to put the Suns away quite comfortably.
Collingwood is a far superior team to the Suns – they lead them in just about every statistic including contested possessions, disposal efficiency, clearances, inside 50’s, tackles.
If they don’t come away with the win today, to borrow a phrase from Fox Footy’s AFL 360, it would be the Doomsday Scenario. It seems highly unlikely.
Scott Pendlebury is building his form up nicely for the back-end of the season, Alex Fasolo and Dayne Beams continue their rapid improvements, while the inclusion of youngsters like Marley Williams, Jamie Elliott and Kirk Ugle (emergency today) has shown the team is blooding some exceptional future talent.
There’s plenty of talent for their opponents today, the Gold Coast Suns. However, they just can’t put a full four quarter performance together.
The Suns second halves this season have been beyond woeful. Sure, a young team with a lot of second year players. But the fadeouts we’ve seen from them so far are just unacceptable.
If they want any chance to win any games this season, they’ll need to find a full four quarter game quick smart.
Gary Ablett has been under par by his own expectations since his return from injury. The usual impact we’ve seen from him in at the start of the season hasn’t been there. He will need to find a way to improve against one of the best midfields in the competition.
For the youngsters, if they want to make the next leap, they need to lift as one. Not as individuals, but as a team.
We see glimpses of brilliance from the likes of Sam Day, Matt Shaw, Dion Prestia, Tom Lynch, Harley Bennell… the list goes on and on.
I know the team is being built for solid performances from next season onwards, but it would be nice to see them gel together as a team, especially against a powerhouse like Collingwood.
But, then again, as much as you can sit back and ask “when will the Suns finally switch it on”, keep in mind there isn’t a lot of experience in the line up – Ablett, Campbell Brown, Matthew Warnock, Michael Rischitelli and Andrew McQualter the only players to come from other clubs with games under their belt.
The Suns have had a few injuries to some of their future stars which hasn’t helped things.
Today, are footy fans expecting miracles? Probably not. They would like to see some competitive footy across the full game though. That could be a tough task, but they were able to do that in matches last year. We’ve probably only seen it once or twice so far in 2012.
Live scores kick off at 4:40pm AEST. Join in the conversation below and give us your predictions for today’s game from the MCG, as Collingwood host the Gold Coast Suns.
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