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Collingwood
69
Match Complete
GWS Giants
59
| Fourth Quarter | ||||
| 26:40 |  | A. Tomlinson | ||
| B. Mihocek |  | 18:16 | ||
| 15:31 | | J. Cameron | ||
| J. Thomas | | 11:59 | ||
| 10:33 | | H. Himmelberg | ||
| 8:09 | | M. D. Boer | ||
| J. D. Goey | | 6:47 | ||
| J. D. Goey | | 5:00 | ||
| W. Hoskin-Elliott | | 2:35 | ||
| T. Varcoe | | 0:56 | ||
| 6.12 (48) | Third Quarter | 7.3 (45) | ||
| 4.9 (33) | Second Quarter | 4.2 (26) | ||
| 3.6 (24) | First Quarter | 0.2 (2) | ||
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Suddenly there are only four AFL matches left in season 2018, as the Collingwood Magpies play host to the GWS Giants in the second semi-final at the mighty MCG. Join The Roar for live scores and updates from 7:25pm (AEST).
As our own Ryan Buckland pointed out in his preview, tonight’s match promises to be a much closer affair than the Demons’ demolition of Hawthorn.
While the Pies are coming off a loss, their loss was very closely fought, and but for one or two bounces of the ball, they would be enjoying a week off again, and the Eagles would be hosting the Giants.
There is a lot to like about Collingwood this season, and putting aside my own misgivings about a coach being given five consecutive years of decline to finally show he can coach, the Pies this year have shown that teams truly must find one system to rule them all.
Collingwood have been the perfect example of a club that places system above personnel, because if you consider the personnel that have been on the sideline all year for the Pies, they should have been knocking on the bottom of the table’s door.
Instead, Collingwood have blooded new players, and the team is playing together, and they are one win away from a preliminary final.
As for the Giants, in some ways, they have been the opposite of the Pies, in that they have shown that the right personnel can thwart any system.
GWS have seemingly been running on empty all year, with key absences at the wrong time halting their progress towards being the AFL juggernaut they so desperately want to be.
However, having destroyed the Swans, where everybody was kung-fu fighting, the Giants are on the cusp of their third straight prelim, with all their key players coming right at the right time. If Josh Kelly were playing, you would almost consider the Giants as favourites.
The Giants should be up for this, right up to their eyeballs, and they have that most wondrous of things behind them, momentum, to give them every chance of seeing two top four sides go out in straight sets in the same finals series for the first time this century.
It is something of a poisoned chalice though for the winner, given that a win takes them desperately close to a Grand Final appearance, but having to go through the seemingly unbeatable Richmond hardly looks like a fair ‘reward.’
Prediction
I like the upset. The Pies are good, absolutely no doubt about it, and they deserve favouritism. But the loss in Perth was a tough game, and a tough result, and how they back up from that against a blisteringly hot Giants’ outfit just seems like a step too far for Buckley’s brave men. It should be tight to the very end though.
Giants by 3.
Join us for live scores and updates from 7:25pm (AEST) and leave a comment in the section below.
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