Another week. Another 4 points! We like to make hard work of some of these games, don’t we? They’re not all going to be easy however and we stand up when it counts. Lately at least. I’d like to see us keep that up. It doesn’t matter how much you win by as long as you win, right? Though, it WOULD be easier on the old ticker if we made sure of teams a bit earlier in the match. Our old foe The Bombers gave us a bit of a run for our money. A valiant effort but one that turned out to be fruitless. Good for us.

A couple of injuries (how unusual) with Flynn Appleby awaiting results of a scan on a hammy that does’t look good and Hoskin-Elliot trying to scare us with what looked a horrible angle to have a knee. I couldn’t believe it when he returned to the playing field. He looks likely to playin the upcoming match in any case. A few blokes look to return this coming week and we really need some of them to plug some holes. Oxley, Brown, Moore, Murray and Varcoe are all waiting to get out there. Fingers crossed.

Last time we played the Bombers, up until half time we were evenly matched but we ran over the top of them. This time we didn’t sort them out until there were only a few minutes, maybe slightly longer, to make sure we collected the win. I say it often, against the better sides, this will NOT work. We need to play OUR game OUR way regardless of who we’re playing. We seem to fall into opposition’s trap or game style and it doesn’t suit us. Granted, there is added pressure in some situations but we should be good enough to rise above it.

We’ve showed that we can do it. Now just to KEEP doing it.

I think we are missing Treloar for that flair and running goal he pulls out of nowhere when we need a momentum shift. We get similar from De Goey which helps and he showed on the weekend why teams were throwing money at him.

I think we missed Dunn a little as well. No doubt he could have slowed Mckernan down a little with his agility for his size. It’s hard to cover our injuries but we’re managing, mostly.

My favourite play of the match was Sidebottom selling the candy and smashing one through from fifty, deep in the pocket on the left. He has it all and in his 200th no less! What a star!

Cox crashing packs and taking marks is exciting to watch and will only get better. Now that we know he’ll take a fair whack of them, we can plan around him more. That is a formidable thought for opposing players and coaches. They know he’s coming and it’ll hurt. Especially when he takes the mark and uses it well.

Daicos is in the goal kickers column and it is good for Pie fans of old to see that happening again. Nine goal kickers this week with Sidebottom kicking 2 and De Goey 3 and a couple of close misses. Grundy took a while to warm up but took the wind out of Bellchamber’s sails and dominated once again. Not only hit-outs but following up. He plays like an extra rover after the tap and it’s bloody brilliant. Pendlebury with 34 touches is in pretty good form and Sidebottom 28 and Adams 27 stood out but there are 10 players with 18-24 possies, really illustrating we play as a team.

There is talk the Eagles will get a few key forward players back this week but I have my doubts. Either way we’ll need to play it as it lies…

Go Pies! Let’s make it 8 in a row!!!

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ROUND 16

ESSENDON 1.2 4.5 7.6 9.8 (62)

COLLINGWOOD 4.1 4.4 7.5 12.6 (78)

GOALS

Essendon: Brown 3, McKernan 2, McDonald-Tipungwuti, Langford, Baguley, McGrath

Collingwood: De Goey 3, Sidebottom 2, Stephenson, Grundy, Daicos, Hoskin-Elliott, Mihocek, Cox, Adams

BEST

Essendon: Merrett, Smith, Heppell, Hurley, McKernan, Goddard

Collingwood: Pendlebury, Grundy, Sidebottom, De Goey, Adams, Crisp, Langdon

INJURIES

Essendon: Orazio Fantasia (groin) replaced in selected side by Jake Long, Ambrose (hamstring), Heppell (cut eye)

Collingwood: Hoskin-Elliott (right knee), Appleby (hamstring)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Donlon, Foot, Rosebury

Official crowd: 69,868 at the MCG

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