Pretty Black and White Wrap Up Collingwood Magpies V Greater Western Sydney Giants Round 10 Sunday 28 July 2019, Melbourne Arena

Collingwood started with a change up in positions with Ash Brazill starting in Centre and Kim Ravaillion in Wing Defence. The Magpies defence was strong forcing the Giants to play a patient game with plenty of passing. Medhurst played her usual game with great timing and reading the game. Her rebounds from Nelsons attempts at goal kept Collingwood in the game.
Defensive pressure was high in the Giants goal circle with Brandley getting a tip and turning over the ball which resulted in a goal. Mentor chased down a loose ball with another turnover and goal as a result. Ravaillion was good in WD and got a lot of ball.
The Magpies led by 2 goals and the Giants called a time out. The advice to the Giants was to come off the body of Nelson and be patient. The Pies continued to dominate and led by 3 points after the time out. Impressive play and fast hands from Medhurst saw a tip on the centre pass but the Giants retained the ball. Both Harten and Medhurst had 100% shooting accuracy. Ash Brazill got a couple of badly sprained fingers but continued to play on.
At the end of the 1st quarter the Giants led by 2 points and took the bonus point.
The second quarter saw Brazill and Ravaillion back to the old positions and the Giants took control of the quarter. The Pies had two-time out sessions and by the second time out trailed by 7 points. Browne had words with her Coach and got the rough end of the pineapple for banter. The words continued on to the bench and Poi went into WA for Browne.
Giants led by 11 points at the main break.
Browne was back on at the start of the third term and had obviously patched things up with the Coach. Sinclair came on in GA for Medhurst . Collingwood was working hard but had many unforced errors especially in their goal circle.
The Pies trailed by 18 goals at the final break and Giants took another bonus point
The final term saw Garrett in for Brandley and the Magpies began swooping. Great teamwork saw 18 points become 14 points as the Giants called a time out. Mentor took some strong rebounds and the Pies pegged back a further 2 goals. Despite the handicap of sprained fingers Brazill took a beautiful intercept on the edge of the circle. The Pies continued their charge with Mentor taking an intercept and were within 9 points. Collingwood had a fantastic last quarter and showed that they were good competition. They took the bonus point but could not close the gap losing by 7 goals.
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Final score Pies  56   Giants 63   Giants by 7 points

My Take
The Pies played well sporadically in the first half and really struggled in the 3rd quarter. Their game was better with shorter passes, but they continued to belt out long risky passes that were intercepted by players like Price (Giants). I think the issued between Browne and her Coach caused a bit of an upset that wasn’t resolved until the final break. And whilst it was a team effort, I thought the defenders had a particularly good game and I was really impressed by Medhurst’s shooting accuracy. Collingwood is a very competitive team they just need four strong quarters and team cohesion from top to bottom.
Looking forward to the game against the Adelaide Thunderbirds next week. Go Pies!
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