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On the Friday night stage at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Collingwood faltered against Carlton to lose by 17 points. The Blues were cleaner, sharper and produced greater accuracy in front of goal to ensure they had greater control of the game, particularly after quarter time. The opening term saw the Magpies jump the Blues with the first two goals before the Baggers hit back with scores level at quarter time. The second quarter was when Carlton gained ascendancy in general play and the scoreboard where they took away Collingwood's strengths to take in a lead of 17 points at the main break. Collingwood generated a fightback during the third term, but inaccuracy meant they could not eat into Carlton's half time lead with the Blues winning the quarter by 2 points to take in a lead of 19 points atthree quarter time. The last quarter saw the Woods attempt another comeback, but the Baggers found enough answers on the scoreboard to deny the Maggies an improbable victory and prevail by 17 points.

Collingwood won their statistical categories from key indicators such as disposals by +25 (363 - 338), handballs were won by +48 (164 - 116), +50 for uncontested possessions (243 - 193), intercept possessions had a margin of +10 (79 - 69), turnovers had a deficit of -10 (69 - 79), and hit-outs had an advantage of +6 ( 38 - 32 ). Contested marks had a margin of +6 ( 14 - 8 ), intercept marks had a gap of +10 (79 - 69), Marks Inside 50 were up by +8 ( 18 - 10 ), and Inside 50s had a differential of +4 (53 - 49). Carlton won their statistical categories from sources that included kicks by +23 (222 - 199), contested possessions were up by +33 (142 - 109), while clearances had a differential of +10 (41 - 31), +1 for centre clearances (13 - 12), and stoppage clearances had a positive reading of +9 ( 28 - 19 ). Tackles had an advantage of +10 (64 - 54), with Tackles Inside 50 won by +6 (13 - 7). Marks had a margin of +8 ( 96 - 88 ), with uncontested marks won by +14 ( 88 - 74 ).

Nick Daicos (28 disposals @ 54%, 314 metres gained, 9 contested possessions, 19 uncontested possessions, 15 kicks, 13 handballs, 6 tackles, 1 goal assist, 9 score involvements, 6 clearances, 3 centre clearances & 3 stoppage clearances) had his impact minimised for the second week running where his influence on the contest dwindled, and compounded his own issues by wasting two shots at goal in the second half.

[PLAYERCARD]Josh Daicos[/PLAYERCARD] (27 disposals @ 85%, 404 metres gained, 7 contested possessions, 20 uncontested possessions, 6 intercept possessions, 12 kicks, 15 handballs, 2 marks, 2 goal assists, 7 score involvements, 2 Inside 50s, 4 Rebound 50s & 1 goal) recovered from a nightmare start where he recorded just 2 possessions, to accumulate 25 over the remaining three quarters, which produced territory and booted an excellent goal during the third quarter in an attempt to lift his side.

[PLAYERCARD]Jordan De Goey[/PLAYERCARD] (25 disposals @ 84%, 396 metres gained, 8 contested possessions, 17 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 11 kicks, 14 handballs, 3 marks, 4 tackles, 4 score involvements, 5 clearances, 2 centre clearances, 3 stoppage clearances, 5 Inside 50s & 1 goal) generated supply and opportunities from clearances to create opportunities for his forwards while impacting the scoreboard himself.

Tom Mitchell (21 disposals @ 90%, 159 metres gained, 7 contested possessions, 14 uncontested possessions, 3 intercept possessions, 9 kicks, 12 handballs, 6 marks, 3 tackles, 1 goal assist, 5 score involvements, 4 clearances, 2 centre clearances, 2 stoppage clearances & 3 Inside 50s) looked to give off handpasses off after taking marks or kicking short to maintain possession in finding spare teammates.

[PLAYERCARD]Scott Pendlebury[/PLAYERCARD] (20 disposals @ 80%, 328 metres gained, 2 contested possessions, 18 uncontested possessions, 4 intercept possessions, 13 kicks, 7 handballs, 5 marks, 3 tackles, 1 goal assist, 5 score involvements, 2 clearances, 2 stoppage clearances & 5 Inside 50s) maintained possession effectively and kept persisting with the territory game to keep it moving forward.

[PLAYERCARD]Steele Sidebottom[/PLAYERCARD] (19 disposals @ 68%, 333 metres gained, 6 contested possessions, 13 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 11 kicks, 8 handballs, 5 marks, 4 tackles, 2 Tackles Inside 50, 1 goal assist, 4 score involvements, 2 clearances, 2 stoppage clearances, 2 Inside 50s & 3 Rebound 50s) accumulated his standard quota of possessions on the wing, took his marks, and looked to kick the ball long to a contest or handpass his way through Carlton's pressure.

[PLAYERCARD]Darcy Cameron[/PLAYERCARD] (12 disposals @ 83%, 31 hit-outs, 6 contested possessions, 6 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 4 kicks, 8 handballs, 5 marks, 2 contested marks, 4 tackles, 4 score involvements, 4 clearances, 3 stoppage clearances & 1 goal) competed hard in the ruck and won his fair share of ruck contests, while Cameron was able to get forward early and capitalise on his only goal for the game.

[PLAYERCARD]John Noble[/PLAYERCARD] (22 disposals @ 82%, 335 metres gained, 2 contested possessions, 20 uncontested possessions, 3 intercept possessions, 14 kicks, 8 handballs, 2 marks, 7 tackles, 2 Inside 50s & 5 Rebound 50s) looked to maintain possession by foot or kick long to contests, while Noble also attempted daring runs through the corridor or half-back flank to chain handpasses through the gauntlet that the Blues had set up behind the ball.

[PLAYERCARD]Brayden Maynard[/PLAYERCARD] (22 disposals @ 59%, 559 metres gained, 5 contested possessions, 17 uncontested possessions, 7 intercept possessions, 16 kicks, 6 handballs, 5 marks, 4 tackles, 3 score involvements, 3 Inside 50s & 3 Rebound 50s) spent most of his evening being inclined or forced to kick long to contests where the Magpies had enough numbers in aerial contests, but could not win the ball at ground level when the ball came off hands.

[PLAYERCARD]Jack Crisp[/PLAYERCARD] (20 disposals @ 85%, 341 metres gained, 9 contested possessions, 11 uncontested possessions, 9 intercept possessions, 9 kicks, 11 handballs, 3 marks, 2 tackles, 5 score involvements, 2 Inside 50s & 2 Rebound 50s) took the game on with relative success to effectively move the ball through Carlton's zone by hand, while maintaining possession by foot.

[PLAYERCARD]Oleg Markov[/PLAYERCARD] (17 disposals @ 88%, 383 metres gained, 4 contested possessions, 13 uncontested possessions, 5 intercept possessions, 7 kicks, 10 handballs, 4 marks, 3 score involvements, 4 Inside 50s & 2 Rebound 50s) generated serious rebounding power and run from defence to move the ball forward by foot and hand as often as possible.

[PLAYERCARD]Darcy Moore[/PLAYERCARD] (16 disposals @ 75%, 168 metres gained, 9 contested possessions, 7 uncontested possessions, 10 intercept possessions, 8 kicks, 8 handballs, 5 marks, 3 contested marks, 3 score involvements & 6 Rebound 50s) took brilliant marks in defence, but his foot skills coming out of defence let him down.

[PLAYERCARD]Nathan Murphy[/PLAYERCARD] (13 disposals @ 85%, 218 metres gained, 5 contested possessions, 8 uncontested possessions, 9 intercept possessions, 6 kicks, 7 handballs, 3 marks, 2 score involvements & 2 Rebound 50s) played safe and conservative footy by taking the simple options at every opportunity from every mark he took or each ground ball he won at ground level.

[PLAYERCARD]Patrick Lipinski[/PLAYERCARD] (21 disposals @ 67%, 387 metres gained, 6 contested possessions, 15 uncontested possessions, 3 intercept possessions, 10 kicks, 11 handballs, 3 marks, 3 tackles, 3 score involvements, 2 clearances & 5 Inside 50s) won his fair share of possessions up the ground as a high-half forward rotating through the midfield, but his ball use was below par.

[PLAYERCARD]Jeremy Howe[/PLAYERCARD] (17 disposals @ 100%, 350 metres gained, 4 contested possessions, 13 uncontested possessions, 5 intercept possessions, 14 kicks, 3 handballs, 10 marks, 3 Marks Inside 50, 9 score involvements & 3 goals) spent three quarters of the game in defence, before starting the last quarter on the wing, before shifting forward to give his team a spark with all of his goals coming in the last quarter.

[PLAYERCARD]Taylor Adams[/PLAYERCARD] (12 disposals @ 50%, 130 metres gained, 4 contested possessions, 8 uncontested possessions, 5 kicks, 7 handballs, 4 marks, 3 tackles, 4 score involvements, 2 clearances, 2 centre clearances, 4 Inside 50s & 1 goal) contributed to scoring chains and ball movement despite being relatively quiet, while nailing a goal late in the last quarter.

Jamie Elliott (11 disposals @ 54%, 4 contested possessions, 7 uncontested possessions, 2 intercept possessions, 8 kicks, 3 handballs, 5 marks, 2 contested marks, 3 Marks Inside 50, 2 goal assists, 8 score involvements & 2 Inside 50s) took his marks, but did not nail his opportunities in front of goal.

Beau McCreery (10 disposals @ 70%, 341 metres gained, 10 uncontested possessions, 8 kicks, 2 handballs, 4 marks, 7 score involvements, 6 Inside 50s & 1 goal) was involved in ball movement and scoring chains entering the front half, while having mixed results in front of goal.

[PLAYERCARD]Daniel McStay[/PLAYERCARD] (9 disposals @ 78%, 186 metres gained, 3 contested possessions, 6 uncontested possessions, 7 kicks, 2 handballs, 7 marks, 3 contested marks, 4 Marks Inside 50, 2 tackles, 1 goal assist, 7 score involvements & 2 goals) played up forward with presence by imposing himself on the game with several marks taken up forward. Unfortunately for McStay, he did not take all of his opportunities in front of goal, despite booting two goals on the night which was reasonable, but not decisive.

[PLAYERCARD]Brody Mihocek[/PLAYERCARD] (8 disposals @ 25%, 214 metres gained, 2 contested possessions, 6 uncontested possessions, 7 kicks, 3 marks, 3 Marks Inside 50, 3 score involvements & 4 Inside 50s) took his marks and created opportunities for his teammates. Mihocek's attempts at goal were uncharateristically sloppy.

Collingwood's next game will be against Hawthorn on August 5 at the MCG. It is time to be ruthless in the final month leading into September. Winning the contested possession count will be important, as will the want to tackle at every opportunity. Furthermore, every shot at goal needs to be taken and start playing four quarters of consistent and relentless footy.