Essendon vs Collingwood

Follow along as we cover the major moments and post-game reaction as Collingwood takes on Essendon in their annual Anzac Day game at the MCG.

McRae speaks about the privilege of the two clubs playing at the MCG on Anzac Day, and gives a special shoutout to the Pies fans. He gave the Essendon fans a bit of a rev-up during the game, but he has given this Magpies followers plenty to get excited about. He has a smile going from ear to ear and has been mobbed by his teammates.

The traditional Anzac Day clash saw 84000 hit the MCG to see the Pies triumph over the Bombers. The Doc has all the details in his autopsy.

Only got his hands to the ball 10 times in this game, but half of them were scores, three goals and two behinds playing predominantly as a forward. Nothing flashy to it, but he harasses, chases, and pressures the opposition and in the modern footy, every little pressure act and tackle matters in football. I can see Rutten trying to inject the speed of Hind, hoping he would give them a lift in the last quarter. Jayden Laverde was subbed out at the start of the last quarter, but he looked cooked from the moment Mihocek took that one-handed mark in the first term. He presents as a lead-up option well, he gets to the foot of the contest well and his set shots in this game were very good. He certainly wasn’t the worst Bomber on the park, set up well behind the ball and competed well in the ruck. At three-quarter time, the Pies were being crucified in the centre clearances, Craig McRae called upon his captain to stand up in a time of need. I don’t want to say I wasn’t impressed with his game, because I’d kill to have a tank like he does, but what he does with the ball is nowhere near the level that it should be. He’s not alone either, there were several players in the red and black that did that in this game. So far this year, he’s risen to 11.7 in the same number of games to start this season, including the bag of five he kicked in this game. When Ginnivan came into this Collingwood side late last year, he provided a steady hand in front of goal – 6.3 in Collingwood’s last five games of the season. But six goals in the final term is indicative of this Collingwood side.

Teen Magpie silences critics in Anzac Day epic as Parish sets record: The 3-2-1.

It was clear the Pies at half-time had identified a need to curtail Parish’s influence. And Pendlebury’s influence didn’t go unnoticed by one of his superstar peers. To tell him he has no right to carry on like he does for a player of his age an experience. The 30-disposal feat saw him usurp Brownlow Medallists Matt Priddis and Tom Mitchell for the most disposals in a first half since 2000, per sports statistician ‘Swamp’. Ginnivan then added another two goals in the third term before delivering a crucial set-shot major at the start of the fourth term. But ultimately for Essendon, too much was left to too few. And it paid big dividends. Predictably, that was met with ample ‘birds’ from the Essendon faithful. He was subbed out of the game minutes later. Now that has completely turned around. The natural tendency will be to shoot Ginnivan down. Nic Martin was able to hit up Peter Wright coming out of defence.