Pretty Black and White Wrap Up Collingwood Magpies V Gold Coast Lightning Round 1 Saturday 27 April 2019, Melbourne Arena

The Magpies started as they meant to finish, fast and in front. With 5 new additions, this new look team is looking highly competitive and possibly the team to beat this season.
Brandley started strong in defence with quick hands and Shimona Nelson learned quickly that she needed to adjust from a back hold for the lob to a front hold in the goal circle. Conceding the space was not giving the Pies the lead that they needed. Geva Mentor was up against her old side and showed no mercy in defence. Pretorius (Lightning) took advantage of a disorganised Collingwood side and intercepted the ball. Collingwood led at the end of the first quarter by 4 points and scored the bonus point.
The start of the second quarter saw tight defence by Collingwood. Ash Brazill had great vision and threw a beautiful lob to Nelson under the post and she scored. Another import for Collingwood, Nat Medhurst showed great vision and used fakes to lose the opposition. Lightning were let down by poor feeding around the circle enabling Brandley to pick off a pass. And Kiwi import Langman was quick off the mark and intercepted a Collingwood centre pass. The Pies were outscored by a point with Lightning taking the bonus point leading into half time.
The third quarter saw Collingwood use simplicity in their style of play from the centre pass and Nelson took some sensational grabs under the post. Medhurst was her usual cool self under pressure with her young team mate, Nelson, not quite used to her quick style of play. Ash Brazill was at her athletic best and used good vision and broke the Lightning zone and Mentor took rebound after rebound. At three quarter time Collingwood led by 6 goals and scored another bonus point.
The final quarter saw a change for Lightning in Peace Proscobia coming on as Goal Shooter. The Collingwood defence did not allow her to set up for goals and made her job of shooting very difficult keeping Lightning to a single goal in the first 3 minutes. Kelsey Brown showed that she was a very important inclusion in the side with her lightning passes into the goal circle. Ash Brazill was effective all game and kept her player contained. The last two and half minutes saw the Magpies put on some fresh legs in Gabi Sinclair in GA. Collingwood defeated last year’s Premiers and won the match by 14 goals earning another bonus point.
 
Final score Pies 57   Lightning 43
Player of the match April Brandley, Collingwood
My Take
This new side looks impressive and has a wealth of experience and international caps under its shiny new belt with Geva Mentor and Natalie Medhurst. Also new to the team is Shimona Nelson and at 20 years of age she is impressive. She worked well with Medhurst but needs to get used to her speed and the quick passes. A little more work on positioning her body, timing and movement in the circle should see her create a name for herself by seasons’ end. Mentor and Brandley were very effective in defence and made it difficult for the opposition to score. Ash Brazill managed to keep her opponent out of the game, all game and Kelsey Brown worked her magic on and off the ring to goal assist.
This season looks a lot more promising than that of last year which saw Collingwood miss out on the finals. I’m sure Coach, Rob Wright plans to see this team in the finals and hopefully the grand final. Looking forward to next weeks game. Go Pies!
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