Collingwood vs Melbourne Round 18

[Barra13]

COLD AS ICE by JVM

Two teams whose recent records have been disappointing meet on Saturday afternoon at the MCG. The Magpies are on a five game losing streak, their last win coming against the GWS Giants in the week after Queens Birthday. That was the day that Mummy, Phil Davis and Joel Patfull all got injured and the Giants fell apart conceding eight final quarter goals in what became a 42 point defeat. A week earlier, it also took a resounding final term for the Magpies to prevail over their old rivals, the Demons.

For its part, Melbourne has also been disappointing with two wins (Geelong and Brisbane), some narrow defeats (St. Kilda and Essendon) and a couple of beltings (West Coast and St. Kilda, the second time around).

Both teams can lay claim to being young and inexperienced and use that to explain away their indifferent form. You could also say that the form of both teams is as cold as ice (or snow in the case of the MFC :lol:) However, most people would still see the Magpies' form as more encouraging than the Demons.

Whilst Collingwoods run of losses has been disastrous to its finals prospects, the defeats have in the main been gallant as they have struggled with injury and still come close to beating some of the competition's leading lights like Fremantle and Hawthorn. Recently, they have had to soldier on without Travis Cloke and Jamie Elliott who between them kicked 10 goals straight and registered 200 dream team points on Queens Birthday.

With both players highly in doubt to take their places in their team this week, you would have thought Collingwood might start underdogs but hey ... the opposition is Melbourne, a team that's flakey and never too comfortable with the prospect of being the favourite. In fact, the Demons are more likely to perform well when they're down and out ... so perhaps there's hope for them.

THE GAME

Melbourne v Collingwood at MCG Saturday 1 August 2015 at 2.10pm (AEST)

HEAD TO HEAD

Overall Collingwood 146 wins Melbourne 79 wins 5 drawn

At the MCG Collingwood 79 wins Melbourne 54 wins 3 drawn

Last Five Meetings Collingwood 5 wins Melbourne 0 wins

The Coaches:  Buckley 2 wins Roos 0 wins

MEDIA

TV - Fox Sports 3 at 2.00pm (live)

Radio - Triple M 3AW

THE BETTING

Collingwood $1.31 to win Melbourne $3.45  to win

LAST TIME THEY MET

Collingwood 17.8.110 defeated Melbourne 13.7.85 at MCG in Round 10, 2015

It was a game where both teams played in fits and starts but the Demons were forced to play catch up footy for most of the afternoon after Travis Cloke burst out of the blocks with a bang and smashed the previously untouchable Tom McDonald. Melbourne made a good fist of catching up, doing so twice in the space of the afternoon before a goaless final quarter finished them off.

TEAMS

COLLINGWOOD

B: Tom Langdon, Nathan Brown, Marley Williams
HB: Alan Toovey, Jack Frost, Brayden Maynard
C: Paul Seedsman, Dane Swan, Steele Sidebottom
HF: Sam Dwyer, Darcy Moore, Jordan De Hoey
F: Alex Fasolo, Brodie Grundy, Jamie Elliott
Foll: Jarrod Witts, Jack Crisp, Scott Pendlebury
I/C: Tyson Goldsack, Levi Greenwood, Paul Seedsman, Travis Varcoe
EMG: Jarryd Blair, Jonathon Marsh, Matthew Scharenberg

IN: Taylor Adams, Sam Dwyer, Jamie Elliott, Paul Seedsman
OUT: Jarryd Blair (omitted), Ben Kennedy (omitted), Adam Oxley (rested), Jesse White (omitted)

MELBOURNE

B: Colin Garland, Lynden Dunn, Neville Jetta
HB: Daniel Cross, Tom McDonald, Jeremy Howe
C: Jack Grimes, Dom Tyson, Heritier Lumumba
HF: Angus Brayshaw, Chris Dawes, Bernie Vince
F: Jeff Garlett, Jesse Hogan, Jack Watts
Foll: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Jack Viney
I/C: James Harmes, Viv Michie, Alex Neal-Bullen, Aaron vandenBerg
EMG: Mark Jamar, Matt Jones, Jordie McKenzie

IN: Alex Neal-Bullen

OUT: Billy Stretch (omitted)

[T Dog]

A must win for the Pies. So, Pies must win  :o

[Purple 77]

Still pretty disgusted about last week; month.

Couldn't care less tbh, except for Jesse <3

[My Chumps]

Well...

If the Dees could string two good games together.

[Grazz]

Great win well done.  ;)

[Purple 77]

This one does indeed feel pretty good  8)

[Barra13]

Well...

If the Dees could string two good games together.

It would be nice.  :P