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This has been a fascinating contest to watch. These two teams play a similar style of game, keen to attack and score from half-back. The Magpies lead by five points, as heavy rain falls.
“It’s going to be an arm-wrestle,” Jeremy Howe told Fox Footy.
“Our defence is holding up at the moment.”
Howe said Nick Daicos was playing a “self-less” role, having had just the two kicks to the main break.
We’re in the shadows of half-time, and Nick Daicos has had just the two kicks – but 14 handballs. He has largely played at half-forward. He may have had an ankle ‘stinger’ early in the game. One to watch.
Darcy Fogarty is causing the Magpies – namely Billy Frampton – all sorts of issues up forward. He marks on the lead and drills a long bomb from just inside 50. That’s his third goal of the term. Jeremy Howe has now gone to Fogarty, but Howe has generally stood Taylor Walker today. Walker is currently on the pine. Trouble for McRae.
The Magpies are finally rewarded when Steele Sidebottom storms forward and converts on the left foot; Jack Crips then following up with another. The Magpies have a 10-point lead. The Pies are going by hand well.
The Magpies have wasted their good work, the Crows responding on the rebound with a lovely piece of coast-to-coast work, resulting in a Darcy Fogarty goal from 50m. The Crows lead by two points.
Scott Pendlebury’s street smarts have never been doubted, and these were on show when, in heavy traffic, he finds Jack Crisp directly to his left using the outside of his boot. Crisp then finds Bobby Hill on the lead, but Hill misses the set shot. That hurts. The Pies’ frustration is growing.
The Magpies have locked the ball inside 50 here for several minutes, but can’t get the goal they are seeking. Scott Pendlebury missed a set shot from just inside the boundary. They continue to press, but now Beau McCreery botches a set shot from the boundary. The Pies are winning the contested ball, but the Crows are forcing their opponents wide.
The Crows have the first goal of the second term, with Josh Rachele marking and converting from about 20 metres out. Rachele’s mark came from a long kick, but the Crows need to be careful attacking in this manner, for Jeremy Howe had three intercept marks in the first term.
The Magpies are dominating overall clearances and moving the ball well by hand, giving the Crows issues at the first break. The Pies lead by seven points.
Wow, that was an exciting dash from Bobby Hill, who runs down a dangerous punch goal-side from Crows’ defender Isaac Cumming and is airborne while kicking through a goal. The Magpies have a seven-point lead. There are some worrying signs for the Crows here, the Pies having lifted in the past five minutes. Josh Daicos has been busy pumping the ball forward.
