Collingwood Forever

CARLTON V. COLLINGWOOD.
NOTES BY OBSERVER.

There were about 6,000 people at the game between Carlton and Collingwood, played on Princes Oval, and the striking impression of the two teams when afield was the greatly superior physique of Carlton. They had a number of their bigger men in again, amongst them Dick, O’Brien, and Houghton, yet I have seldom known a game in which  Carlton wore more considerate in the use of their strength. Collingwood, on the other hand, have seldom had a smaller lot of men in their games.

They began with a strong wind behind them, and in about a minute had got two goals. The first was gained in two kicks. Hughes passing it from the centre, and C. Lee getting the goal. In the second case it went with a rush to Carlton’s end immediately on the bounce, and Laxton snapped the goal. Carlton settled down to better football, yet Collingwood still scored. Wilson, from a bad case of tripping, got a free kick, and the third goal, while Lee, also from a penalty shot right in front, scored the fourth.

From that point Collingwood’s mastery ended. Carlton were improving steadily. Shorthill worked it up from the right wing, and Lear got the first goal for Carlton. Greaves, who was playing a fine game for them, gave Gardiner the chance for a quick pick-up and a hurried, but straight, shot, which got their second goal, while the third was scored just on the change. McGregor, playing forward from the centre, made one mistake, but, correcting it with his usual skill, followed up, got the ball, and third goal for Carlton. At quarter time the  scores were Collingwood 4-2, to Carlton’s 3-1.

On changing ends Carlton began to batter Collingwoods goal without luck. Daykin, Valentine(on two occasions), Gardiner, Dick (in two instances), and Shorthill all had shots without scoring anything. Collingwood got within range a couple of times, but Carlton’s defence was pretty sound. They were soon attacking again, and Dick scored their fifth goal, just getting it inside the post, while Gardiner, hanging on to the last moment, and taking all the risks, got his shot and sixth goal immediately afterwards.

Collingwood at this stage lost the help of Cody, who was playing back for them, and who injured his leg. In a rally just before half-time Curtis got the ball  from Drummond on the wing, and dropped a good sixth goal for them. At half-time Carlton had a slight lead with 6-6 to 6-3.

The third quarter commenced with a good deal of fumbling, and the wind, increasing in strength, forced the play into the south-east corner of the ground. But Carlton were working up long-distance exchanges with remarkable skill, and from one of these, in which Houghton, Daykin, Dick, and Dunn were conspicuous, they got their seventh goal. Laxton immediately afterwards had an easy chance for Collingwood. He was not more than five yards from the goal, but quite that distance outside the behind posts. Curtis, with a running shot, failed to cover the distance, hut Lee broke in twice in quick succession with better effect. His first highmark within range gave Collingwood their seventh goal, and a free kick shortly afterwards got the eighth, but in between Gardiner, getting it from  Brown, scored eight for Carlton. At the last change Carlton had 8-6 to Collingwood’s 8-5,and a strong wind to finish with. With the rising wind Carlton had absolute command of the situation in the last quarter, and scored five more goals, the final being: CARLTON – 13 goals, 7 behinds – 85 points, COLLINGWOOD – 8 goals 6 behinds – 54 points.

On the winning side Greaves was very conspicuous as a comparatively new man, and there can be no doubt as to his footballing capacity. Shorthill and Daykin were both consistently useful, and McGregor maintained his reputation, not merely for effective, but always fair play. Other men who did well were Brown, Greenhill and Kennett. On the Collingwood side, Reynolds had a tremendous amount of work to do in defence, and Dobrigh gave him valuable assistance. Drummond, on the wing, was also excellent. Hughes hardly took his usual share in the game, because, as the one big man on the side, he was very closely watched, but Laxton, Wilson, Colechin, and Jose all shaped well.

1917 ‘LEAGUE MATCHES.’, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1957), 21 May, p. 4, viewed 13 August, 2015, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1619269