Saturday night’s feature AFL Round 8 match is between Collingwood Magpies and Geelong Cats with the game to be played at Melbourne Cricket Ground in what is expected to be a full crowd. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:40pm local time with away team Geelong Cats currently holding favouritism. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Collingwood Magpies and Geelong Cats.
WHERE AND WHEN: MCG, Saturday May 18, 7:40pm
Preview:
The clash of the round is definitely Collingwood vs Geelong on Saturday, 7.40pm at the MCG. With Geelong being the last remaining undefeated side of 2013, the Pies will be keen to knock them off. Make no mistake however, this will be a very hard thing to do, with the Cats continuing to defy the odds with a team not expected to do much at the start of the season. While the Pies defeated the Cats twice last year, they are coming off three losses in their last five matches and need to bounce back big time if they want to win this match.
Teams:
Collingwood Magpies:
B: Nathan Brown, Ben Reid, Harry O’Brien
HB: Jordan Russell, Nick Maxwell, Marley Williams
C: Steele Sidebottom, Dane Swan, Luke Ball
HF: Jamie Elliott, Quinten Lynch, Brent Macaffer
F: Ben Kennedy, Travis Cloke, Sam Dwyer
Foll: Darren Jolly, Scott Pendlebury, Jarryd Blair
Int: Andrew Krakouer, Jarrod Witts, Josh Thomas, Paul Seedsman
Emg: Alan Didak, Ben Sinclair, Caolan Mooney
In: Ball, Russell, Witts, Williams
Out: D. Thomas, Shaw, Clarke, Mooney;
Geelong Cats:
B: Andrew Mackie, Tom Lonergan, Corey Enright
HB: Cameron Guthrie, Harry Taylor, Joel Corey
C: Mitch Duncan, Jimmy Bartel, Steven Motlop
HF: Mathew Stokes, Steve Johnson, Billie Smedts
F: Allen Christensen, Tom Hawkins, James Podsiadly
R: Trent West, Joel Selwood, George Horlin-Smith
IC: Josh Hunt, Jordan Schroder, Jackson Thurlow, Mark Blicavs
E: Josh Caddy, Shane Kersten, George Burbury
In: Corey, J. Hunt
Out: Kelly, T. Hunt
Magpies will fight back in AFL, says Ball
Star midfielder Luke Ball has pointed to Collingwood’s pride and durability as they prepare for two blockbusters that could define their AFL season.
The Magpies are teetering with a 4-3 record, a host of injuries and tough matches against unbeaten Geelong on Saturday night and then premiers Sydney next Friday.
Ball will ease their personnel woes when he finally returns from more than a year out with a knee reconstruction and hamstring injuries.
“This is my fourth year at this club and traditionally it has been pretty good when it’s had its fair share of challenges,” he said.
“We’re facing a few at the moment, but you look across the competition and most sides are.
“There’s no better couple of weeks to test ourselves than against two of the best teams of the competition.”
While Ball expects Collingwood to bounce back, he has no doubt the criticism they are receiving is justified.
“We’ve played some good footy at times and we’ve played some pretty ordinary footy,” he said.
“That would lean towards words like ‘inconsistent’ being thrown out and that’s fair enough.
“You probably don’t want to be playing your best footy at round seven, but we know we have a fair bit of work to do and it’s got to start tomorrow night against the hottest team in the competition.”
Ball leads four changes for the Magpies, with Jordan Russell, Jarrod Witts and Marley Williams all returning.
Heath Shaw is suspended and Dale Thomas is again sidelined with an ankle injury.
“He (Thomas) is very frustrated because he’s back on the grinder and all those really ‘fun’ things you get to do when you’re not allowed to do anything with your legs,” Ball said.
“It’s a big blow, because he worked really hard to get back from his first setback.
“I know this one is not quite as bad.”
Ball said his recurring hamstring injury, not the reconstructed knee, had delayed his return.
He said the knee was right after about eight months and it is possibly now the stronger of the two.
After two strong VFL outings, Ball is raring for his comeback.
“I see it in a way as almost a bit of a restart,” he said.
“So I can just go out there and play, obviously within the parameters of the team.
“Possibly expectations are a little bit lower – I can just go out there and enjoy it.”
