Round 3 - Collingwood vs North Ballarat at Victoria Park

[MagpieBat]

1:10pm this Saturday at home.

Collingwood: 9th (0 wins, 1 loss, 1 bye, 87.37%)
North Ballarat: 11th (0 wins, 2 losses, 0 byes, 62.96%)

Broadcast:
TV - ABC1 in Victoria commencing 1:00pm (replay at 3:00am Wednesday April 11)

Internet - LiveChat on collingwoodfc.com.au

Team:

B: Mooney Corr Rounds
HB: Young Seccull Wellingham
C: Buckley Johnson Yagmoor
HF: K. Pendlebury McNamara Cribbin
F: Brown Wood M. Williams
R: Ceglar Ugle Ferraro
Int: Boland Gault S. Williams* Witts Wallace Debruin Doria Stubbs Cathcart

Last time they met:

Round 5, 2011 at Victoria Park
Collingwood 11.10.76
North Ballarat 11.9.75


It was one of the games of the year, and for Collingwood, the undisputed high point of an otherwise dissapointing year in the VFL. To host the reigning 2010 premiers is challenging enough. To do so on the back of successive 15 goal shellackings is the stuff of nightmares. Playing without significant senior experience, even worse. But to get up and snatch victory by the barest of margins, on the ground that the Collingwood army know better than anywhere else, Victoria Park?

Priceless.

Collingwood goes into Round 3 of the new season with only a bye and a 12 point loss to Geelong to its account, but for diehard Collingwood fans, the first home game at Victoria Park is the last piece of the football puzzle to click into place in 2012, a year that many expect will be one of improvement and progress for the club's young ranks.

North Ballarat, on the other hand, approach this match in a state of near shock, after copping successive touch-ups from flag fancy Werribee and underdogs Sandringham. The Rooster's first game away from home shapes as an important one for the club as it seeks to once again taste success on the last Sunday of September.

When the draw for Collingwood's VFL team was announced late last year, this match would have been regarded by many -the author included- as a likely loss, with the Roosters holding an excellent record against the Magpies (since Collingwood's re-entry into the competition in 2008, North have come away with the chocolates on 5 out of 6 occasions). But the first fortnight of the season has seen the Roosters cede a 37-point half time lead to Werribee, and fall dismally short against recent VFL under-achievers Sandringham.

Both losses were inflicted at the Rooster's home ground, Eureka Stadium, and the prospect of a road-trip to Victoria Park to face a Collingwood side boasting several AFL stars, as well as a fiercely partiasn home crowd at its back, is surely not a pleasant thought for the boys from Ballarat.

Nonetheless, Collingwood fans should not expect a walkover. North Ballarat is a fiercely proud club, and the results of the previous two rounds may very well give its players the ample spark they need to finally kick-start their year. It should be a higly entertaining affair, regardless of the result, but for Collingwood fans, a win at home would be a most pleasent entree before the clash of traditional rivals between the AFL Magpies and the Richmond Tigers at the MCG later in the night.

Tip: Pies by 5 points.

Over to you...

[Presti35]

Last years game was thie highlight of the year VFL-wise.

ATM, I'm in Vancouver and I'll be in Seattle when the game takes place.

Hoping for a 'Pies win and looking forward to reading the reviews.

Since it's on TV, I will have to get my brother to record the game for me.

....someone eat a meat pie for me!

[ronrat]

Join the Sultan, Sharrod, Rat and others as we adjourn to the Yarra Hotel fter wards in what is the last month of an important pub in our history. Cold beer and the best jukebox in Melbourne.

[ronrat]

Join the Sultan, Sharrod, Rat and others as we adjourn to the Yarra Hotel fter wards in what is the last month of an important pub in our history. Cold beer and the best jukebox in Melbourne.

[MagpieBat]

^ Is the Yarra really closing?

[Culprit]

Ferraro is back in.

[MagpieBat]

^ Great to hear. Looking forward to seeing him in action, at last.

[Dave The Man]

Side for Saturday:

[MagpieBat]

Team is now in the OP.

Where the hell is Didak?

[swoop42]

^Where the hell is Elliott?

[Jezza]

I wonder why Didak is not being included?

Either his injury is worse than we first anticipated or he's had an injury setback.

I wish the club would just tell us instead of giving us false hope.

[cmfc_82]

Nothing better than a pre/post match slurp in the Yarra...

and a massive YES to the jukebox! Was the 1st place where we finally got to hear We are the Champions after the 2010 GF...

and all thanks to the AFL/MCG for deciding on trying something "different" with their post match celebrations by playing some other crap!

... FFS, the year we finally win the flag!!!

[MagpieBat]

[Fire Up]

[Fire Up]

would of been good to see maxy in the vfl side as well to earn his spot in the team and get fit