The Collingwood Victorian Wheelchair League (VWFL) Team produced a solid performance in their season opener against Essendon but were unable to come away with the win losing by 8 points.
Pies Coach, Andrew Paddles, emphasised before the match how well the team was positioned beginning the season with a very experienced starting 5. His advice was to focus on being clean with the ball and letting Essendon chase.
Collingwood started strong securing a 4 point lead at half time. Going into the second half, the team was able to extend this lead to 17 points at 3 quarter time. The game turned in the fourth quarter as Collingwood struggled to control the ball resulting in Essendon taking the win.
Despite the confident return of the Collingwood team with only one missing player from the senior squad, it was missed targets in the second half that cost the team the win.
The message at full-time from Coach Paddles was to highlight the positive lead Collingwood maintained throughout the game but that the team needed to be able to continue this brand of footy for all four quarters.
COMMUNITY WHEELCHAIR TEAM
Collingwood’s Community Wheelchair League (CWFL) Team also started their season on the weekend securing their first win of the season against the Essendon Community Team.
Coach Andrew Paddles told the team pre-match to take their chances in front of goal. The Pies started the match well gaining a 15 point lead coming into half time, which then extended to an eventual 29 point victory.
Jack Elliot landed his first goal for Collingwood in the first quarter of the game.
Matthew Blunt played a crucial role in the ruck for the team consistently tapping the ball down to Andrew and Alex to gain possession.
Iain Paech also had a great performance keeping his opponents quiet whilst adding himself as an option when moving the ball forward.
Overall, both games were a positive start for Collingwood and all squad members are looking forward to what the rest of the season looks like.
Upcoming matches for both teams are:
Collingwood VWFL – Sunday, May 21st against both Richmond and St Kilda starting at 11am at the Boroondara Sports Complex. This is a showcase round.
Collingwood CWFL – Sunday, June 4th against Hawthorn starting at 1pm at the Boroondara Sports Complex.
VWFL TEAM RESULTS – ROUND 1
Collingwood 0.2 4.3 8.5 9.7 (61)
Essendon 0.4 3.5 5.6 10.9 (69)
Goals:
Collingwood: Riley Fitzgerald 7, Ben Jankovski 2.
Essendon: Caleb Logan 4, Sam Maraldo 6.
CWFL TEAM RESULTS – ROUND 1
Collingwood: 2.0 2.4 4.4 5.6 (36)
Essendon: 0.0 0.1 1.1 1.1 (7)
Goals:
Collingwood Community: Jack Elliot 4, Andrew Paddle 1.
Essendon Community: James Gilders 1.
