A star-studded Collingwood line-up has kicked off the season in style, with a 52-point victory over an inaccurate North Ballarat at Victoria Park on Saturday as Catherin Durkin reports.
The Magpies – strengthened by the inclusion of many notable players, including Dale Thomas, Alan Didak and Andrew Krakouer – commanded much of the play. But several fade-outs during the second and final quarters could have proved costly, had the Roosters converted their opportunities.
The game also saw the return of Alex Fasolo and Clinton Young from injury. While Fasolo managed to run out the game well, Young will return to the sidelines due to a hamstring injury sustained in the first quarter.
Mature-aged recruits Kyle Martin and Josh Thomas shone for Collingwood, notching up 33 disposals and 26 disposals respectively. Jack Frost was also comprehensive across the backline, continuing the form that saw him selected for Collingwoo’s round one AFL side.
First-year Collingwood coach, Dale Tapping praised his team’s efforts, but was quick to dispel any suggestion that the higher-profile players carried the team.
“Obviously we had a good team in terms of names, but as we discussed during the course of the week that's only part of it.
“It’s nice to have quality players at your disposal but fundamentally you've got to get it done and you've still got to be fundamentally correct,” he said.
Positives for North Ballarat included their ability to win the ball and create scoring opportunities. This was heartening considering the late withdrawal of ruckman Ben Mabon, meaning their structure needed to adapt to a loss of height.
Aaron Black, Cam Richardson and Matt Austin were among the Roosters’ best. Nick Rippon was also promising, proving himself worthy of his recent elevation from the North Ballarat Rebels in the TAC Cup to the Roosters’ senior list.
But Roosters coach Gerard FitzGerald reiterated that it was his teams inability to make the most of their opportunities that cost them.
“For us to be a top side, we’ve got to be more efficient,” he said.
“We just weren’t able to exert any scoreboard pressure. We had shots at goal from good spots, but we didn’t kick them and therefore we couldn’t convert the things we did right into scoreboard efficiency.”
Horror season-openers have plagued North Ballarat for several years now. They will seek to overturn this when they take on the Casey Scorpions at Eureka Stadium next Saturday. As for Collingwood, they face the Werribee Tigers under lights Saturday night, after they were defeated by the Northern Blues on Saturday night.
Last Modified on 15/04/2013 14:53