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Collingwood and Brisbane Lions face off at Etihad Stadium for a spot in the NAB Cup grand final. Join us from 6.40pm AEDT for live scores and a blog of this unofficial pre-season preliminary final.
On a six-day break after a 20-point win over the Eagles in Perth last Sunday, Collingwood may be a bit underdone for tonight’s clash but they are not short on confidence.
In the first weekend of the NAB Cup, the Pies were too good for the Western Bulldogs before prevailing over Essendon in a last-minute thriller.
Last week, the Pies’ pressure against the Eagles was first-rate and they have plenty of improvement left in them.
At Patersons Stadium Collingwood were without quality midfielders Dayne Beams, Dale Thomas and Luke Ball.
Coach Nathan Buckley has admitted that winning isn’t the main focus tonight but even he would understand that such is Collingwood’s quality they are going to be hard to beat regardless of what their driving ambitions are.
Beams, Ball and ruckman Darren Jolly return to the squad, while Ben Reid and Lachlan Keeffe join Thomas as the only notable absentees.
The Lions’ journey to this NAB Cup grand final qualifier wasn’t as easy as Collingwood’s but they too are yet to lose in 2013.
Last weekend, Brisbane was able to get the better of GWS Giants by three points in a classic at Wagga Wagga. The week prior they easily accounted for Gold Coast and Hawthorn in their Metricon Stadium triangular series of matches.
The Lions return to a near full-strength outfit for what is virtually a preliminary final. Jonathon Brown plays his first match of the year and is joined by quality sextet of Daniel Merrett, Daniel Rich, Joel Patfull, Andrew Raines and Ash McGrath, all of whom missed the Giants clash after playing in round one of the competition.
Michael Voss, the coach of the Lions, has made his intentions clear – he views tonight as the perfect opportunity for Brisbane to test their mettle against one of the competitions star outfits.
And I think the Lions are up to the challenge. As far as I’m concerned, Brisbane is on their way to a finals berth in the season proper and I can see them getting over the Pies in this pre-season clash.
I’m tipping Brisbane to book their spot in the NAB Cup final with a 12-point victory.
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