Last time they met - Round 17, 2012
Collingwood 3.2 6.7 8.8 13.13 (91)
Hawthorn 5.6 9.8 17.9 21.12 (138)

Best: Collingwood - Beams, Swan, Pendlebury, Maxwell, Jolly
Hawthorn - Mitchell, Lewis, Breust, Roughead, Rioli, Schoenmakers, Gunston

Goals: Collingwood - Beams 4, Swan, Jolly 2, Dawes, Tarrant, Thomas, Sidebottom, Cloke.
Hawthorn - Lewis, Breust 5, Gunston, Roughead 3, Sewell, Young, Rioli, Puopolo, Murhpy.

The Hawks were at their best in the Round 17 clash, dominating all facets of the game as the Magpies couldn’t cope with the Hawks’ pressure and precision. Jordan Lewis nullified Heath Shaw and was outstanding up forward with five goals along with small forward Luke Breust. Ryan Schoenmakers blanketed Travis Cloke while Cyril Rioli and Sam Mitchell were damaging in the middle.

Looking ahead

Despite the Magpies entering Friday night’s Qualifying Final having lost two of its past three matches, form goes out the window when September rolls around.

It’s tough, it’s hard, it’s physical, it’s a different ball game.

The most recent finals-like match Collingwood has played, was its Round 20 battle against Sydney at ANZ Stadium. The Magpies were ferocious, efficient and back to their pressuring best against the Swans, in a dour battle that ended in an eight-point win.

The Magpies laid 90 tackles to Sydney’s 81, illustrating that the Magpies still have what it takes to put its opponent under an avalanche of black and white pressure.

Dane Swan was a notable absentee from the win over the Swans, but the Collingwood midfield didn’t suffer, with Dayne Beams filling the void left by the Brownlow medallist.

Beams has been one of Collingwood’s best this season, averaging 30 disposals, six clearances, four tackles and two goals a game. Important to note for the Hawks, is that he was Collingwood’s best in the Round 17 match with 34 disposals, six tackles and four goals.

His hardness and nous around goals makes him one of Collingwood’s most dangerous midfielders, along obviously, with Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury.

He has been, however, arguably their most damaging midfielder though, with his ability to be both an inside and outside player. Expect Coach Alastair Clarkson to lock down on Beams, possibly with Brad Sewell to be given the job of nullifying the 22-year-old.

In the Round 17 clash, the Hawks successfully nullified Heath Shaw’s defensive rebound ability by sending midfielder Jordan Lewis forward.

Lewis dragged Shaw to the last line of defence, restricted his ability to provide run off half back and managed to be the Hawks’ most dangerous forward with five goals. A similar tactic could be used on Friday night, given its overwhelming success in Round 17.

Travis Cloke is the other danger man the Hawks will need to plan for, with the towering Magpie seemingly finding form against the Bombers in Round 23. Cloke took 16 marks and kicked five goals from nine scoring shots to be best on ground for Collingwood against Essendon.

Ryan Schoenmakers is likely to be given the job, haven played on Cloke twice this season. The key for the Hawks to quell Cloke’s influence is the ability of the Hawthorn midfielders to pressure the delivery to Cloke from the likes of Swan, Pendlebury, Beams and Dale Thomas.

Collingwood’s disposal efficiency runs at an average of 73 per cent over the course of the season - Hawthorn’s ability to get the percentage down could be the key to a brown and gold victory.

If stats are anything to go by, Friday night’s clash will be one for the ages.

The two sides are tightly matched in all key performances indicators, but the Hawks have the edge in most, including - clearances (average 41-38), tackles (67-64), disposal efficiency (75-73 per cent) and inside 50s (59-53).

The Magpies are statistically the better side at winning the hard ball though, averaging 146 contested possessions per match compared to Hawthorn’s 144.


Josh Gibson: “They’ve got such a good (forward) mix, they’ve got good talls and also some smaller player who are quite mercurial around goals.

“Then you throw in the mid-sized guys like Fasolo that can really play tall and take a good mark.

“They’ve got a dangerous forward line and you’ve got to respect them all.”


Grant Birchall: “I guess it does (give us confidence), we’ve beaten them the last couple of times, which has been good but it’s a whole different ball game now.

“It’s pretty much a different season now, it’s finals. It all starts over again.

“We match up pretty well against them so hopefully we can put in a good performance.”


Luke Beveridge: “Travis had a really good game last week, and he kicked half a dozen against GWS a couple of weeks ago, so we know how dangerous he is and we know we need to curb his influence to make sure we win the game.

“Ryan played on him last time and did an outstanding job.

"He has had him in both games this season and I've been over the moon with his games on Travis.”


Ryan Hammond on Facebook: “Beams, Pendlebury and Swan dominated last time we played and we won by 7 goals. Stop Cloke and we win.”


Mark Hallam on Facebook:  “Just play our normal game and let them worry about stopping us!”


Mac Nicolson on Facebook: “Stop the run off half back, keep Swan scrambling his possessions in defence and out of his forward 50. Tag Beams with Shiels and let someone else take Gibson’s man once he moves out of the forward 50 arc so he can help Schoey against Cloke deeper near goal. And win the clearances and stoppages of course.”