The Team
B: Prestigiacomo / Brown / Goldsack
HB: Clarke / Maxwell / O’Brien
C: Lockyer / Burns / Cox
HF: Pendlebury / Cloke / Davis
F: Dawes / Medhurst / Anthony
Foll: Fraser / Swan / O’Bree
IC: McCarthy / Thomas / Bryan / Cook
EMG: Reid / Shaw / Wakelin
Changes
IN: Scott Burns
OUT: Rhyce Shaw (Omitted)
Preview
After overcoming the Crows in what was an inspiring effort, the Pies march forward into September to take on the Saints. Collingwood have already overcome the Saints twice this year, but finals football is an entirely different kettle of fish – especially with the Saints looking to redeem themselves after being trounced by the Cats.
Collingwood’s chances have been improved with the return of our captain Scott Burns, who played a pivotal role the last time these two sides met. The last time we faced off against the Saints, Collingwood was recovering from the aftermath of the Didak/Shaw incident. It was Sir Scott Burns who set the standard early in that match by putting his body on the line and leading from the front. A similar effort this time around will put Collingwood well on the way to victory.
Rhyce Shaw could be considered a little unlucky, as he paid the price for a poor first half against Adelaide despite working his way back into the game. It was always going to be a tough choice and it seems that the match committee viewed Rhyce Shaw’s early errors as critically as a lot of the Collingwood faithful. For St. Kilda, Luke Ball and Armitage have been named in their squad, replacing Xavier Clarke and Charlie Gardiner.
Luke Ball is the most dangerous inclusion from a Collingwood perspective, as St. Kilda have sorely missed his hardness at the contest, especially around the stoppages. There will still be questionmarks over Ball’s fitness, but the same could possibly be said for Scott Burns. Collingwood can’t be hinging its bets on an underdone Luke Ball though, as there is little margin for error in finals and St. Kilda would not have selected him if they weren’t confident he would come up.
Prestigiacomo has been chosen over Wakelin once more, despite receiving a hard knock to the shoulder last week. I trust that the powers that be down at the Lexus Centre wouldn’t take any undue risks, so it’s safe to assume that Presti has pulled up alright. Once again Wakelin has been named in the emergencies, so there is always a chance of a late change. Malthouse quoted his “horses for courses” philosophy earlier in the week, so it seems that he is backing Prestigiacomo to be the best option for Koschitzke whilst I would expect to see Nathan Brown given first crack at Riewoldt, with Harry O’Brien a secondary option should that fail.
Collingwood have won four out of its last five matches and enter this game as favourites. In my mind, this match is yet another 50/50 prospect, despite beating the Saints twice this year and having a more promising week one of September action. St. Kilda will be desperate to bounce back from last week; not to mention the fact that they will be determined to avoid sending Harvey off with a straight sets exit.
The Road To Victory
With the omission of Rhyce Shaw, Collingwood has lost a fair bit of pace. Because of this, the onus will be placed on Dale Thomas and Leon Davis to break the lines and provide us with some dash. Harry O’Brien and Marty Clarke will also be expected to give us good drive from the defensive half. We have to try and curb the influence of Jason Gram and Brendon Goddard, as their drive from the half back line for the Saints is often what leads to Riewoldt being isolated one out. If we can keep Gram and Goddard in check, it will go a long way to quelling St. Kilda’s forward thrusts.
Goddard played a blinder against us the last time and is capable of pushing forward and causing havoc with his excellent foot skills. Whoever Goddard mans, they must make themselves dangerous from the get go to ensure that he is forced to be accountable. Nick Dal Santo hasn’t been in the best of form and does have a tendency to go missing, but regardless he always looms as a potential match winner if he isn’t closely checked. In light of Maxwell’s efforts against Thompson last week, there may be a chance he will be asked to do another midfield stopping job. Dal Santo may shape as a potential target, being that he isn’t a player who will expose Nick’s lack of leg speed and the general belief that Dal Santo doesn’t like the rough stuff.
Nick Riewoldt got the better of Nathan Brown in the last outing, but Nathan did well enough to force Riewoldt up the ground, thus preventing him from doing too much damage on the scoreboard. With Harry O shaping as the likely match-up for Milne, Brown will be required to improve upon his last effort on Riewoldt. The good news for Pies fans is that we have options for Riewoldt if Brown should fail, as O’Brien has a good track record against lead-up forwards despite being somewhat undersized.
As for our forwards, Cloke will most likely get manned up by Max Hudghton. Cloke didn’t have a memorable match last week against the Crows, but he’ll be given more license to roam this time around as Hudghton doesn’t have the rebounding attributes of Nathan Bock. Cloke can work his way into the game a little more freely this week and can hopefully find his feet early and finish strongly. Dawes and Anthony had fantastic finals debuts and if they can contribute similarly this week, then we’ll be in good standing.
Medhurst was phenomenal in the last quarter of the elimination final and we’ll be expecting him to carry that kind of form into this week. When on song, Medhurst is an almost impossible match-up and he shapes once again as our most likely match winner in the forward half. Leon Davis is in the same bracket and we’ll be looking for him to get off to another sizzling start. If we can gain the ascendancy early it’ll go a long way to unsettling the recovering Saints.
We must also keep close tabs on the Saints small forwards, specifically Schneider and Milne. Schneider has been in good form of late and Stephen Milne always has the potential to kick a bag. Lockyer, Harry O’Brien and Tyson Goldsack will be depended on to keep these goal sneaks honest. When Milne is off-song and well held, he can be as detrimental to the Saints forward structure as he can be influential.
It must be remembered that St. Kilda have some fantastic talent on their list, with the likes of Hayes, Ball, Dal Santo, Goddard, Riewoldt and even the out of form Koschitzke; but if we can play high intensity football and gain supremacy in contested situations, we can expose St. Kilda’s weaker links and cause their game plan to break down.
Final Words
The most important facet of this game – and also what Collingwood supporters are most nervous about – is what team of Magpies will show up. We have been inconsistent throughout the year and quite often we have seemed to rest on our laurels after similar performances to last week. Malthouse made an immediate point of refocusing after last week’s win and I trust in his ability to get the team up again for this match. It’ll be a packed house at the MCG on Saturday night and hopefully the boys will be able to draw upon the Magpie army to push further into September.
The Saints may come marching in, but if Collingwood brings its best contested football then I expect us to go marching on.
Go Pies!
