Collingwood Forever

A CLOSE GAME AT COLLINGWOOD.
By OBSERVER.

It very nearly fell to Collingwood‘s lot to furnish the third surprise of the day, for they had nothing at all to spare in their game with Essendon at Victoria-park and were rather lucky in getting out of it without loss. It was only Essendon’s bad luck in shooting for goal, and Collingwood’s good luck in getting a fair average, that saved them, for Essendon had the ball 15 times between the behind posts as against Collingwood’s 12. Still accurate shooting is a primal merit in football.

The ground was so bad at one time that they had a fire engine ready to drain it, but this heroic plan was unnecessary. Taking the first half right through, Essendon were, perhaps, a bit the better side, and the football first-rate for such a day. It may have been Collingwood’s inability to put their famous system into effect that hampered them.

At the last change they were only leading by three points, and were never safe until a dash by Rowell scored a goal close up to the finish. Here, as elsewhere, the play towards the end was indifferent, the men being quite tired out with plodding through the mud, and punting a ball that, for its weight, might have been an underdone pudding.

But for Fred Leech’s fine work in the centre Collingwood could hardly have succeeded. His weight and dash were always of value to his side, though Hastings, who opposed him, was wording away with fine pertinacity. Condon played, as usual, a fine game in the ruck, working it out constantly to his rover, Peers, who just as inevitably made good use of it. Pannam had rather the best of Vollugi, who made the mistake, apparently, of over-estimating his opponent, and playing against him, rather than going for the ball in his own decided way. Pannam was severely censured by the association for his misdeeds in the Melbourne match, and the lesson may be of use, for nothing could be fairer or better than his football yesterday.  Monahan, as usual, was constantly the salvation of Collingwood, and Drohan, Dunn, and Lockwood were all excellent.

Cochrane came to the front with a rush for Essendon, and was a long way above his average; Trehey, another of their recent recruits, also showing them some form. Marr, Baxter Geggie, Smith, Barry, and Carkeek played finely, but the latter got a nasty knock towards the end, and was unconscious for some time.

1903 ‘FOOTBALL.’, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), 9 June, p. 6, viewed 31 July, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9807234