We got there nice and early and found a great spot on the wing, just in front of the Fremantle coaches box, and just over the fence from the members. From there we got a good view of the Fremantle coaching staff each time they needed to run the gauntlet and actually get out to the ground. It seemed that Gerard still has a good turn of speed left in his legs, because the security guards really had to work to keep up with him a couple of times.
Fremantle started the game on fire. Spider was able to beat Monkhurst easily, and with the centre breaks and some quick ball movement, Freo soon had 5 on the board. Then Collingwood struck back. They dragged Monkhurst, and Buckley gave up waiting for the ball to come from a teammate, and started just gathering Spider's hit outs. Unfortunately Buckley was reading the play better than the Freo centre line, so Collingwood got a lot of the ball in the second half of the first quarter. The Big Sausage (Sav Rocca) kicked 4 for the quarter, and even the Little Sausage was able to bob and get one.
At quarter time, or a little bit before, Neesham took O'Reilly off Big Sav, and gave the job to Trent Carroll. Although Carroll was able to judge the ball well, and always gave a contest, he couldn't actually stop Sav from getting it, and by three-quarter time Sav had booted 10. For the final quarter Dan Parker got the job on him, and actually did a surprisingly good job. Sure Sav kicked a goal, or maybe 2 on him, but the landslide was stopped.
The second quarter was the quarter of bloodshed. Fremantle were once again able to kick away in the early part of the quarter, but this time the turning point came with a "Vic Park special". Callaghan marked on the half forward flank, and then copped a fist to the head which floored him. The umpire reported Scott Burns, but didn't pay the 50. Callaghan regained conciousness, and didn't need to be strechered from teh ground, but looked decidedly wobbly on his way off. The Collingwood faithful thought he was acting, and in teh third quarter, he was taken off again, with the blood rule, after he got hit in the head with a beer can.
After that incident, both teams attacked the ball with plenty of vigour, which suited Collingwood much more than Freo, who needed to avoid letting big packs form, and use their leg speed to keep the ball moving. Oh, and the umpire who reported Burns, copped plenty from the Collingwood faithful, and completely lost the plot. As is so often the case, Freo responded to an opponent doing something stupid by doing something stupid themselves. In this case it was Michael Brown (surprise, surprise!) reported for striking in an incident which didn't look like much to me, but apparently the video replay didn't look good. This time the umpire did pay the 50, which was interesting, because he hadn't previously paid the free kick - just taken Brown's number.
The third quarter started with a Freo goal, but after that it was even, and in time-on started to tilt Collingwood's way. The Pies added three goals in time-on, and were within 2 goals at three-quarter time. With that scoreline, I was able to confidently predict an easy Collingwood victory. The first part of the final quarter confirmed my suspicions, with the Pies adding goal after goal. Fremantle staged a mini-fight back for a moment, with Hunter adding a goal, and one other coming soon afterwards. But then Osborne cleaned up Fletcher with a hip and shoulder that left Fletcher with a broken collarbone. After that, the fight went out of the game, and Collingwood wound up winning by 7 points.
There were some good signs in this game for Freo, though. Spider was excellent in the ruck, and Hunter looked even better than his five goals suggest. If he had just held a few more grabs he could have had 7 or 8. The downside, of course, was that Fletcher's injury looks like keeping him out of the team for weeks, and by the time he is back, Fremantle's fate for the season may well be sealed.
Final Score : Collingwood 19.5-119 defeated Fremantle 17.10-112
timnfromoz
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