Collingwood broke through for their first win since round seven when they overcame Frankston on Saturday at Victoria Park as Luke Mason reports.
The two sides sat in 11th and 13th respectively, but the clash of the two sides was hardly to the standard their ladder positions suggest. A number of young players took the stage, with Frankston skipper Paul Kennedy sidelined, and the 25-year-old Kris Pendlebury the oldest Magpie to take the field.
Collingwood rookie Jye Bolton played the best game of his short career, kicking four goals and found plenty of the footy around the ground. He was supported in the midfield by Josh Thomas and Tom Young, who also registered the best individual games of their seasons, and are likely to be prominent when Collingwood's AFL match committee sits on Thursday night.
Frankston was led by Luke Potts and Tyson Mitchem who were solid four-quarter performers onball, holding their own against bigger opponents and keeping their side competitive throughout. Star ruckman Russell Gabriel was another not to disappoint, breaking even with Collingwood's ruckman Cameron Wood, running hard both ways to plug the gaps for his side.
Although Collingwood got out to an early 23-point buffer through the early work of Luke Rounds and Jack Bull, the Dolphins hit back hard in the second term, outscoring the Pies with five goals for the term. Matt Clark and Mitch Bosward began to find more of the ball around the ground, and Khan Haretuku began to provide a presence in attack.
Order was restored in the second half when the home side ran out the match 30 point victors, with Bolton continuing to control the midfield and Magpie draftee Paul Seedsman finding some telling touches across half back.
Both sides have tough assignments ahead of them in round 19, albeit of vastly different natures. Collingwood travel to Skilled Stadium to face Geelong on Saturday in the 10:10am (note time change from 10:40am) curtain raiser, while Frankston plays host to the rampaging Port Melbourne the following day at 2pm in the bottom versus top clash.
Photo: Brett Kenny
Last Modified on 02/08/2011 09:29