Collingwood and Coburg travel into Sunday's match at Victoria Park sharing a season of ups and downs with both teams struggling for constancy and wins. Collingwood have fared better so far this season and currently sit in sixth spot on 20 points while Coburg languish down in 11th position on 12 points. Alexander McLeman previews this weekend’s important match-up.
The Pies come into their round 10 match with Coburg following a heavy 90 point loss to the Casey Scorpions in round 9. Collingwood allowed Casey to score 21 goals from 12 different players while only scoring 7 goals in return. The game was over by half-time with Collingwood 40 points behind unable to answer the quick and skillful play Casey used. However their round eight 17.9-111 to 17.12-114 three point win over the Northern Blues demonstrated their powers of perseverance and endurance to battle hard against an impressive Blues team. The Pies have racked up wins against the impressive Geelong (round 6), Essendon (round 7), Bendigo (round 4), North Ballarat (round 1) and the Blues in round 8. They have also lost some close battles with Williamstown (round 5), Frankston (round 3), Werribee (round 2) and last week’s defeat to Casey put them mid table but still in with a shout of a top eight finish and finals footy.
This weekend Collingwood have the luxury of playing off-season recruit Clinton Young, who has spent the past 11 weeks out nursing injuries, while also calling on the impressive Sam Dwyer, Brodie Grundy, Paul Seedsman and Andrew Krakouer to help bolster an already great squad. The Pies will be looking for Jackson Paine and Jarrod Witts to get their hands on the ball early and follow up their four and three goal hauls respectively against the Blues. Timothy Broomhead and Peter Yagmoor are another two who help drive the Pies forward with their quick hands and speed. Collingwood will need all of their players firing on Saturday to stand any chance of finishing off Coburg.
Coburg are coming off a bye which followed a narrow, but important, 10 point win over Bendigo 11.22-88 to 11.12-78 in round eight. The Tigers have been unable to string consecutive wins this season with losses to Port Melbourne (round 7), Werribee Tigers (round 6), Box Hill (round 4), Northern Blues (round 3) and Williamstown (round 2) all separating Coburg’s wins against Sandringham (round 1), Essendon (round 5) and Bendigo (round 8).
For Coburg to realistically make the top 8 this season they will have to start treating each game as a Grand Final which begins with Collingwood this weekend. Players like Luke McGuane and Robin Nahas need to stand-up with top draw performances. They will want to put on impressive performances to win back their places in the Richmond team following their move to the VFL side.
This weekend’s match could solidify Collingwood’s push for a top eight finish and all but consign Coburg to another missed finals series or it could be the game that restarts Coburg’s faltering season, pushing them up the lapper and into contention.
Venue
Victoria Park
First Bounce
2:00pm
Conditions
With the weather in and around Melbourne all week being cold, wet and windy this weekend’s conditions look to be on a similar track. All spectators are advised to wear appropriate clothing for the match and wrap-up warm.
Prediction
Collingwood by 25 points.
Last Modified on 14/06/2013 16:51