Brave West Coast upset wasteful Magpies

West Coast have pulled off the bravest of victories over Collingwood overcoming the absence of five of their best midfielders and the COVID-19 chaos that engulfed their club to record their first win of the season.

Jeremy McGovern made it virtually impossible to score with a brilliant intercept marking performance while the Eagles took every chance they could kicking 14.3 to defeat the Magpies by 13 points.

Reason to celebrate: Luke Edwards boots a goal.Credit:AFL Photos / Getty Images

Collingwood threw everything at them managing 61 inside 50s to the Eagles’ 42, but they could not penetrate the wall kicking just four goals in the second half. The Magpies pressure was fierce but they lacked composure and were outscored for the third week in a row in the final quarter.

It was returning forward Jack Darling who had spent time away from the club as he resisted being vaccinated who kicked two final quarter goals to help the Eagles to victory.

Being without Taylor Adams and Jordan De Goey did not help Collingwood, who also lost Jamie Elliott to a shoulder injury early in the final quarter, but their absence was nothing compared to what the Eagles had endured in the first month of the season.

They were missing their famous five midfielders in Andrew Gaff, Luke Shuey, Dom Sheed, Tim Kelly and Elliot Yeo and had only four players who had played each game of the season, but they somehow found a way as the Magpies will rue their inability to convert inside 50s into goals.

The Magpies pressure was high but their conversion rate was low, a brilliant smother from Reef McInnes, a 50-metre penalty to Jack Ginnivan and a long bomb from Brayden Maynard resulting in goals.

The Eagles were fortunate to goal after Willie Rioli received a free kick when he slid into the behind post after losing his balance in Magpie defender Darcy Moore’s vicinity.

The inability to cash in was a concern for Collingwood as their frenetic game style has led to last quarter fade-outs in two of the first three rounds.

Collingwood’s pressure was high but they were not as smart as they needed to be spending the second quarter attempting to find a way to avoid or neutralise McGovern’s aerial dominance after failing to do so in the first quarter.

When they couldn’t avoid him, or Tom Barrass for that matter, they resorted to attempting low bullet like passes that at least forced the defenders to be in position quickly.

It helped to some extent but McGovern still had five intercept marks at half-time with Collingwood’s scoring coming via stoppages, often started by one of the Daicos brothers – Josh and Nick – who had 39 disposals between them at the long break and finished the game with 60 disposals.

The Eagles were scoring on the rebound with the Magpies occasionally being caught out the back when they pressed up too high, but they looked to have given up the half-time lead when Brody Mihocek put Collingwood in front with 50 seconds remaining only to allow Liam Ryan to mark and goal from a centre break.

It was frustrating for the Magpies had they also coughed up a goal when Darcy Cameron could not kick straight from 10 metres out early in the second quarter, then allowed the Eagles to go end-to-end goal.

The question at half-time was whether the Eagles midfield would hold up against the Magpies. They answered that question emphatically.

Collingwood: 1.2 6.6 9.10 10.14 (74)
West Coast: 2.2 7.2 9.3 14.3 (87)

Goals: Collingwood: Ginnivan 2, Mihocek 2, Henry, Hoskin-Elliott, Josh Daicos, Wilson, Maynard. West Coast: Kennedy 3, Rioli 3, Ryan 2, Darling 2, Langdon, Edwards, Naish, Waterman

Best: Collingwood: Nick Daicos, Josh Daicos, Grundy, Pendlebury, Howe, Maynard. West Coast: McGovern, Rioli, Kennedy, O’Neill, Redden, Naish

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