Collingwood Beats Melbourne, Carlton Takes Care of Sydney

Top seeded Collingwood is moving onto the preliminary final after beating Melbourne while Carlton defeated Sydney to qualify for the semi-final.

The 2023 AFL Finals are upon us with two matches having taken place thus far. Collingwood was able to take down Melbourne to claim the bye and an automatic spot in the preliminary finals while Carlton narrowly held on for victory against Sydney to move onto the semi-final. 

Collingwood Takes Down Melbourne

The first game of the 2023 AFL Finals took place on Thursday as Collingwood and Melbourne met in the qualifying final. Nearly 93,000 were in attendance at the MCG to watch the match. 

The top seeded Magpies have been somewhat struggling as of late but still came into this match as favourites to claim victory at most betting sites. Collingwood proved the bookmakers correct coming away with a 60-53 win.

Collingwood started off the match hot as they had the first four inside 50s of the match and jumped out to a 12-0 lead early. Bobby Hill had both of the goals for the Magpies who were in clear control just a few minutes in. 

Bayley Fritsch cut the lead in half just two minutes later with a goal of his own for Melbourne who were still being severally outplayed in every facet of the game. 

Then came a scary moment in which Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard collided with Melbourne’s Angus Brayshaw just after he had gotten rid of the ball. Maynard’s shoulder connected with Brayshaw’s chin who was knocked unconscious and stretchered off the field. 

Maynard was sent directly to the AFL tribunal for the hit and is in jeopardy of missing the Magpies preliminary final game. 

Jacob Van Rooyen of Melbourne also got in on the chippy play throwing an elbow at the chin of Dan McStay. For the action Van Rooyen was given a one-match suspension and will miss their semi-final next week. 

By the end of the quarter, Collingwood had found two more goals to go with as many behinds taking a commanding 26-6 lead. 

Both teams sputtered offensively in the second quarter as the intensity of the match had ramped up and space was hard to come by. 

Melbourne settled into the game but were unable to substantially cut into Collingwood’s lead as they headed into halftime down 33-16.

The third quarter wasn’t completely one sided, but Collingwood had certainly opened up a sizeable lead as they headed into the final frame up 58-33. 

Melbourne stormed back in the fourth quarter allowing just two behinds and scoring three goals and two behinds themselves. The comeback was alarming for Magpie fans but the team had built just a large enough cushion for themselves that they were still able to get the 60-53 victory. 

With the win Collingwood will enjoy a bye week before their preliminary final.

Carlton Hangs on Against Sydney

The Carlton Blues and Sydney Swans faced off in the first elimination final of the season with the Blues coming out victorious. 

Interestingly, the game went somewhat similarly to the Collingwood and Melbourne match from the day prior.

Carlton started strong and by the end of the first half were holding a massive 29-point lead as they were up 47-18. At one point in the third quarter, they had pushed that lead to 35 points and it looked as though they were set to run away with the match. 

However, the Swans showed heart and whipped up a five goal, 33-point third quarter to trail by just 15 heading into the fourth. 

Sydney cut the lead to eight early in the fourth quarter but a Blake Acres goal for Carlton moved the number back up to 14. Sydney would keep fighting till the very end moving within six points with 30 seconds to go. The Swans ran out of time however and fell 74-68. With that, their season is over.