Collingwood’s awesome foursome in midfield gave a tantalising taste of their A-Grade quality on Monday afternoon, starring in a dramatic four-point win over Carlton.
Combining in Collingwood colours for the first time, onball quartet Adam Treloar, Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Dayne Beams were prolific and helped to swing the ledger against the club's bitter foes with an influential collective display.
It came as the Pies withstood a late Blues fightback in Morwell to bring their JLT Community Series campaign to a close on a high with an 11.11 (77) to 10.13 (73) victory.
Carlton had rallied from 21 points down at the final change to draw level late in the last term, only for Josh Thomas' third of the afternoon to seal a thrilling pre-season win.
A number of returning Pies were also impressive as they continued their roads to recovery, with Jamie Elliott and Darcy Moore producing promising displays at either end of the field.
Elliott kicked two goals and looked lively out of the goalsquare, while Moore limited the effectiveness of Charlie Curnow in defence in a clever smothering role.
But it was through the midfield where the game was won for Collingwood.
Treloar (42 disposals, one goal) and Sidebottom (31 disposals, 10 marks) were the stars of the show, frequently getting their hands on the footy ahead of their young and developing opponents in the Carlton engine room to play a leading hand in the win.
Pendlebury and Beams also had 26 touches each, playing important complementary roles.
At the other end, Carlton captain Patrick Cripps was a constant in the midfield, but found help hard to come by in what proved a narrow loss for a young Blues side
Along with racking up 23 disposals, Cripps kicked two goals, aiding youngster Harry McKay's tally of three majors to act as one of his side's most potent forward threats.
Sam Walsh followed up his impressive JLT1 performance with another solid display, winning 23 touches in the defeat, while fellow first-round draft pick Liam Stocker was named in the team but didn't enter the field of play after spending the entire game on the bench.
Instead, the consistent list of performers were coming from the opposition.
Along with the star quality in midfield, Jack Crisp (33 disposals, 12 marks) cleaned up everything in defence and Thomas (19 disposals, three goals) looked dangerous in the forward line as the Pies completed a near faultless preparation for round one.
What we learned
Collingwood: Try stopping this Collingwood midfield. It's not just the stars. Yes, there's Scott Pendlebury, Adam Treloar, Steele Sidebottom and Dayne Beams. But it just grows from there. Callum Brown looks all class, Tom Phillips wins plenty of it regardless of where he is on the field, while Levi Greenwood and Chris Mayne can pinch-hit from different parts of the ground whenever required. Throw in a ruckman who wins plenty of the footy in Brodie Grundy and the quality in depth is as good as you will see anywhere in the competition.
Carlton: Carlton's forward line is still a work in progress. While the smalls look quite dangerous, the three-pronged key-position group are still struggling to jell. Frequently throughout both JLT matches, but more predominantly on Monday, Mitch McGovern, Harry McKay and Charlie Curnow were being drawn to the same aerial ball inside 50. They need to improve upon that and learn to help isolate each other by the time round one rolls around in a fortnight.
New faces
Collingwood: The Pies didn't have any fresh faces featuring in Morwell.
Carlton: First-round draft pick Liam Stocker was named in Carlton's final team but spent the entire match on the bench and didn't make his way onto the field.
Fantasy watch
Adam Treloar (MID, $787,000) is definitely a premium to keep an eye on. In his first JLT outing of the summer, he finished with 42 disposals and 140 AFL Fantasy points.
Next up
Carlton will prepare for its season-opening clash with Richmond at the MCG on Thursday, March 21, while Collingwood takes on Geelong at the same venue the following night.
COLLINGWOOD 2.4 5.7 9.9 11.11 (77)
CARLTON 1.0 5.3 6.6 10.13 (73)
GOALS
Collingwood: Thomas 3, Elliott 2, Varcoe, Goldsack, Sidebottom, Beams, Treloar, Phillips
Carlton: McKay 3, Cuningham 2, Cripps 2, C.Curnow, Setterfield, Plowman
BEST
Collingwood: Treloar, Sidebottom, Crisp, Beams, Pendlebury, Elliott, Moore
Carlton: Cripps, Simpson, Petrevski-Seton, Cuningham, McKay, Jones
INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
Carlton: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Hosking, Gavine, Chamberlain
Official crowd: 6386 at Morwell Recreation Reserve
