Collingwood continued its surge towards the AFL’s top four to hold off a determined Adelaide in front of 54,790 at the MCG on Friday night.
While the Magpies received special performances from stars Scott Pendlebury, Dane Swan and solid contributions from the likes of Luke Ball and Dane Beams in his first senior match of 2013, Adelaide was forced to dig deep after their best player Patrick Dangerfield suffered a sprain to the AC joint in his right shoulder.
Dangerfield played out the match but was limited and often forced to play up forward, finishing with a substandard 15 possessions. The 23-year-old will have scans tomorrow to determine the extent of the injury and could miss up to three weeks.
The loss has all but ended Adelaide’s chances of making the finals, a year after the club came within a quarter of making a Grand Final appearance.
The Magpies collected win number 10 of 2013 in similar fashion to last week’s 41-point Friday night win against Carlton. After once again got off to a poor start, trailing at quarter-time by 25 points, Collingwood switched defender Ben Reid forward from defence, allowing the swingman to boot two quick goals and help turn the match upside down.
An out of shape looking Andrew Krakouer gave the Magpies a commanding lead with three goals before half-time and helped sturdy an off night from Travis Cloke, who had a disastrous 2.5 effort night in front of goals.
Pendlebury led the Pies with a career-high 42 touches, eight clearances and two goals while Swan chipped in with 31, six clearances and two goals.
Beams experienced a successful return to professional football with 25 possessions while Luke Ball had 30 touches and kicked a goal his 200th game.
Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson opted to remain positive after what was likely a season-ending loss.
“The boys are disappointed tonight. They’re pretty shattered in the rooms and I’m a disappointed coach, but we’ll come to work on Monday and we’ll keep working hard at getting better as a football team,” Sanderson said.
Adelaide faces Geelong next Sunday while Collingwood will look to add another win to its raising tally in a matchup against Gold Coast.
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Michael Dodge, Getty Images.
