Football’s fiercest rivalry resumes at a new time slot of Sunday night when the Collingwood Magpies and the Carlton Blues duke it out at the MCG. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:10 pm AEST.
Collingwood have been in indifferent form. From their last four they have some relatively routine wins against St Kilda and Melbourne, along with a shock loss to the Western Bulldogs and a more expected loss to Hawthorn last week.
They’re a notch below their best form at the moment, though they won’t necessarily have to lift in order to beat Carlton.
It couldn’t be harder to get a read on the Blues at the moment. They’re 0-4 in their last month, but seemed to be on the cusp of making things click given how far they managed to push both Geelong and then Hawthorn in successive weeks.
Any optimism at Carlton however was quickly ended when they were thoroughly outplayed by Greater Western Sydney last weekend, and became just the fourth established AFL club to have lost to both expansion teams.
Collingwood have the wood on Carlton at the moment, with three wins on the trot. Former Collingwood premiership coach Mick Malthouse is yet to taste victory against his former side, with Carlton’s last wins against Collingwood coming back in 2012 during the tenure of Brett Ratten.
As an historical point of interest, these two clubs have met 226 times, and the ledger is currently dead even – both sides have defeated the other 111 times, with an additional four matches being drawn. Whoever wins tonight will take the lead in the all-time record between the bitter rivals.
The Magpies welcome back Steele Sidebottom from suspension this weekend, as well as Tyson Goldsack. Tim Broomhead has been omitted to make way, while Marley Williams will miss with an ankle injury.
Marc Murphy returns to captain the Blues after missing last week as a late out, while Blaine Johnson has been named to make his debut for the Blues. Jarrad Waite and Dennis Armfield have been omitted.
The Pies have been badly missing Steele Sidebottom in recent weeks, and it will be interesting to see what impact he can have in his first game in almost a month. The Collingwood midfield certainly bats much deeper than that of Carlton, and Sidebottom is a big part of this.
Can Mick Malthouse finally get a win over his former side? Or will Collingwood make it four on the trot and take the all-time lead?
Prediction
After watching Carlton struggle against a high-performing GWS last week, it’s hard to imagine them knocking of Collingwood, even if the Magpies are below their potential.
Collingwood should win comfortably, though Carlton are a chance if they can rediscover the form that pushed Geelong and Hawthorn.
Collingwood by 30 points.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:10 PM (AEST).
Macca
Guest
Jack, Once again you miss all the defensive work he does, there was a reason he got in the blues best and was lauded by the commentators. And I am all for bringing in youth, I have been talking up Graham for almost 2 years now but he isn't going to be brought as a tagger. And I have also been a consisten and massive fan of Bell but that was his first game sonce last time we played the Pies and only the second since we beat the bulldogs in round 5. If you said those 2 should come in for Armfield and McLean you might have a case but Curnow (who is only 24 by the way) is massively important for the blues. And its Curnow, Curnow with a C.
Jack
Guest
FYI Tom bell and graham had big ganes in VFL yesterday. The older players who should be leaders that you keep promting are keeping the youth out
Jack
Guest
Macca he could have 50 Touches but if he keeps kicking it to pies players he has to go. No good looking at the stats of guys like him and McLean when they keep butchering the ball. Kurnow basically have the pies 12 points from turnovers at the end of quarter 3 and 4 . Would Fremantle take him GOD no . If u want to be a good team u can't give free goals away.
Macca
Guest
Cripps broke his leg, I told you that weeks ago, if you want to be taken seriously keep up
Macca
Guest
Yeah he only got the 28 touches, held beams well and was named amongst the blues best players what a dud. You could at least learn to spell his name right!
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Sorry about that Josh... Something very bizarre has happened here.
Josh
Expert
Apologies for the missing preview, not sure what went wrong there, must be a few wires crossed at The Roar HQ. Take my word for it, it was a great preview, just beautiful prose, poetic even... you would laugh, you would cry, it would change your life. Sadly, it may never see the light of day... (don't check back later to read it... it MAY not live up to my praise). Hope you enjoyed the blog, folks, see you all next week.
Josh
Expert
Well, a win tonight puts Collingwood ahead in the all time ledger against Carlton, 112 to 111 (four drawn), and extends my tipping streak out to 5... we're building, my friends, we're building. 7 tips for the week as well (missed Brisbane and Adelaide). How did you do?
Josh
Expert
As I predicted in my preview (which you'll have to take my word for), big impact from Steele Sidebottom in his return game from his three-week suspension. Had 22 touches and kicked two goals, not a bad return at all - probably close to best on ground all things considered. Pendlebury also quite good. Not a lot to write home about for Carlton. Judd had a good impact with 27 disposals and a goal, Andrejs Everitt and Lachie Henderson each bagged two majors, but really, they needed some star power to step up in a big way, and it didn't happen.
Josh
Expert
Well, kind of a dull game in the end. The Pies jumped out to an early lead and while Carlton threatened at times they never got closer than 10 points from the lead. Story of the night was the Magpies just grabbing a lead and holding on to it without really ever putting the foot down.
Josh
Expert
FULL TIME COLLINGWOOD 13.13.91 CARLTON 11.10.76
Josh
Expert
Carlton, it seems, are very good at being about 20 points worse than their opponents, whether it be Hawthorn, Collingwood, or GWS.
Josh
Expert
GOAL COLLINGWOOD The deal is sealed - Steele Sidebottom runs into an empty forward 50 and kicks a long, rolling goal to put the margin out to 15 points with 2:30 left on the clock. COLLINGWOOD 13.13.91 CARLTON 11.10.76
Jack
Guest
Yeah mate kurnow is a real keeper
Josh
Expert
According to Twitter, this is the lowest crowd for a Collingwood V Carlton match since - get this - 1921. Unverified (and I won't repost the tweet because it has a few, ah, stern words in it), but very interesting if true.
Josh
Expert
GOAL CARLTON That's MY BOY! Troy Menzel snags a nice mark behind the pack and sends it through easy as you please. The Blues are within 9 points, and there is still five minutes on the clock! Anything could happen. COLLINGWOOD 12.13.85 CARLTON 11.10.76
Josh
Expert
GOAL CARLTON Well well well... this game might not be dead after all. Chris Yarran has a pinpoint pass to Lachie Henderson and he sinks his second goal of the evening, dropping the margin back to 15 points with 11 minutes left in the game. Plenty of time, but do the Blues have the talent? COLLINGWOOD 12.13.85 CARLTON 10.10.70
Josh
Expert
GOAL CARLTON Nice little bit of work from Mitch Robinson gets the ball to Marc Murphy who sinks a goal, brings the margin back down to 21. COLLINGWOOD 12.13.85 CARLTON 9.10.64
Josh
Expert
You know what's a shame, because the preview is all buggered up, you all missed out on a really cool little fact I found while preparing for this game, so I'm going to share it with you now. Before tonight, Collingwood and Carlton had played 226 games against eachother in VFL/AFL history, with the record being evenly split - 111 wins to Collingwood, 111 wins to Carlton, and four games drawn. The winner tonight (and it looks almost certainly to be Collingwood) will actually take the all-time lead against the other, which in a rivalry this bitter is a very big deal. Given this will be the fourth straight win by Collingwood over Carlton, that means they've gone from 3 down to 1 up in the last three years. Congrats to the Pies.
Josh
Expert
GOAL COLLINGWOOD Pies snag a goal, this time it's Clinton Young taking a snap out play and he snags his second, the margin goes out to 26 - and I'd say that just about seals this one, Carlton look a long way from being a 5-goals-unanswered team at this point. COLLINGWOOD 12.12.84 CARLTON 8.10.58