Collingwood head to South Australia and will play Hawthorn on Sunday afternoon as part of the second ever Gather Round.
The Magpies enjoyed a successful trip west in last year’s inaugural edition and will look to emulate the success on Sunday as they do battle with the Hawks in twilight clash to round out the AFL’s ‘Festival of Footy’.
Last time they met
It was the Hawks who prevailed last time ‘the battle of the birds’ was fought out, with the brown and gold running out 32-point winners in a Round 21 twilight clash at the MCG.
Veteran Scott Pendlebury applied the Pies trademark pressure with a game high seven tackles, while Jamie Elliott was busy in front of goal with three majors.
For the Hawks, Captain James Sicily gathered the ball 37 times and Brandon Ryan kicked three goals.
Perhaps the story of the match was the knee injury to Magpies superstar, Nick Daicos. The hairline fracture to his right knee eventually kept the then 20-year-old sidelined for four games, before he returned in triumphant style in Collingwood’s Preliminary Final victory.
Ins and Outs
Pies veteran Steele Sidebottom returns to the side after being managed for last week’s game against Brisbane.
Finlay Macrae has been omitted and will join Joe Richards and Harvey Harrison as emergencies.
Key players to watch
In his 13th season at the Club, Jamie Elliott has been on fire in the forward half of the ground. The 31-year-old has booted a Club high nine goals and has been involved in 25 scores.
Beau McCreery has brought his trademark pressure to 2024, and a game in front of his home South Australian crowd will no doubt see him dial it up even more. The Adelaide local leads the Magpies for tackles (21), tackles inside-50 (eight) and is equal first for pressure acts with 92.
‘Lippa’ reaches 100 games.
Patrick Lipinski will play his 100th game in the AFL. Following 56 games for the Western Bulldogs, the midfielder/forward arrived at the Pies at the beginning of the 2022 season and has since played 43 games for the Club.
The 25-year-old has started 2024 in arguable career best form, averaging 19.5 disposals, three tackles and 2.8 clearances.
Record equalling Steele
Sunday will mark Steele Sidebottom’s 313th game in the black and white, which will see him equal 1990 Premiership Captain Tony Shaw’s record for second most games played for the Club. The pair will sit 75 behind club legend Scott Pendlebury who will play his 388th in black and white.
Drafted at pick 11 in the 2008 National Draft, Sidebottom debuted for the Magpies in Round Seven, 2009 against St Kilda and has gone on to win two Premierships (2010 and 2023), won two Copeland Trophies (2017 and 2018), was selected in the 2018 All Australian side and has been Collingwood vice-captain since 2015.
Sidebottom has averaged 23.5 disposals, 15.7 uncontested possessions, 7.6 contested possessions and 2.5 clearances across his 312 games thus far, and has booted 190 goals.
29 to 10k
Veteran Magpie Scott Pendlebury is 29 disposals away from reaching a significant career milestone. He needs 29 more touches of the ball to reach 10,000 for his career, an achievement he is likely to meet in this week’s clash or in Round Six against Port Adelaide.
In Round 17 last year, Pendlebury overtook Robert Harvey’s record most for most career disposals in V/AFL history with 19,657 and has averaged 25.8 a game since his debut in 2006.
Magpies taking over Adelaide
With the Magpies swooping into South Australia, there is a whole suite of offerings from the Magpie Army:
Take in the action
The match will be broadcast live on Fox Footy and kayosports.com.au. For local broadcast information, visit the AFL website.
The Magpie Army can stay connected with the team via the Official Collingwood website and social media channels. Visit collingwoodfc.com.au, @collingwood_fc on Instagram and threads, @collingwoodfc on X (formerly Twitter), Collingwood Football Club on Facebook and YouTube for a range of behind-the-scenes content, the latest news and more.
Sunday, April 7
Collingwood V Hawthorn
Adelaide Oval, Kaurna
5:10pm (AEST)/4:40pm (ACST)
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