Collingwood FC vs West Coast Eagles

Friday’s only AFL Round 22 match is between Collingwood Magpies and West Coast Eagles. The opening bounce is set to commence at 7:50pm local time with the game to be played at MCG. The home team Collingwood Magpies are the favourites for the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Collingwood Magpies and West Coast Eagles.

The penultimate round of the regular season kicks off with Collinwood hosting West Coast.
The Magpies suffered a 35 point loss to Hawthorn last week, their first in the past month and which kept them on equal competition points with Richmond (v GWS this week) and Essendon (v Carlton this week) and only one win in front of Port (v Fremantle this week).
A loss could see the Pies precariously placed heading into the first week of the finals and having to face off against either Geelong or Hawthorn.
They’ll be out to avoid that scenario at all costs.
Collingwood were competitive for most of the match against the Hawks last week and were only 15 points down at the major break however, a goal-less third term and poor kicking in general (12.12) led the Pies down.
It was the fourth time in the past five matches that Collingwood have scored as many if not more behinds than majors and is something they have to remedy immediately if they are to venture past the first week of the finals.
West Coast’s season was finally put to rest last week when Geelong visited Perth and gave the Eagles a 66 point hiding. It was West Coast’s fourth loss in six weeks with those victories coming over Gold Coast and a struggling Essendon outfit.
West Coast’s away record reads 6 – 4 however on closer examination, they include games against Melbourne, GWS, Brisbane and St. Kilda.
Last time the two sides met, back in the second round of last year’s finals, it was Collingwood victorious 73 – 60. That was the fourth successive match between the two clubs that resulted in a total match score under 167 and it was also Collingwood’s eighth win over West Coast in the past nine matches, a record that they should comfortably add to here.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley remains confident that injured midfielder Dale Thomas will stay at the AFL club next season.
Thomas’ season-ending ankle injury has renewed speculation about his playing future, with the star midfielder about to become a restricted free agent.
Carlton are known to be interested in the 2011 All-Australian.
“Clearly there’s going to be a lot of focus on his contractual status,” Buckley said.
“We still are absolutely committed to Daisy beyond today.
“In our conversations, our dealings, that’s basically been the accepted outcome.”
Buckley also reacted to the widespread commentary about Thomas’ playing future.
“If I was in Daisy’s shoes, I’d feel like a commodity and that’s the way he’s been discussed, as a commodity,” Buckley said.
“Dale Thomas is a great young man, who is a great footballer, who currently able to go and ply his trade.
“He wouldn’t enjoy people talking of him as a commodity.”
Thomas returned through the VFL on Saturday for his first game at any level since May, but did not last a half before re-injuring the ankle tendon that needed surgery.
“We will get second and third opinions over the next four-five days and then choose the next course of action, basically,” Buckley said.
“He ticked all the right boxes, he was cleared to take the next step, which was to go into a game of footy and see how it handled that.
“We go back to square one and see where we go from here.
“It’s clearly a concern for Daisy and for us.”
Buckley said Collingwood and Thomas are frustrated by this latest setback.
But the coach added Thomas was in the class of stars such as James Hird and Nick Riewoldt, who had come back from serious injuries and regained top form.