COLLINGWOOD won its second game in season 2023, after the Magpies downed the Queensland Firebirds 69-61 in Melbourne yesterday. Queensland dominated early, but a third quarter turnaround from the home side saw Collingwood take the win.

Thanks to a solid defence, Collingwood was able to pinch a goal off the Firebirds’ first centre pass after having scored off its own first, but then the Firebirds did the same thing to them off the third centre pass of the quarter.

A second goal to the Firebirds then tied affairs back up again, but then it was the Firebirds who are the next to establish a lead after a few silly errors from Collingwood. However, again thanks to their defence it was not long before the Magpies drew back level.

The Firebirds then re-established their lead and maintained it after really capitalising on the tips and defensive work their defenders were doing, and keeping their gains to goals percentage high. Thanks to an on the buzzer Super Shot, the Firebirds held a five-goal lead at the first change.

It was a fairly even beginning to the second term, but both sets of shooters seemed to lose a bit of confidence in front of the net. The Magpies worked their way to within two goals and back into the match slightly, eventually within a goal, but that would be as close as they would get in the quarter as the Queensland defence held strong which allowed the Firebirds to maintain their lead and grow it back out to five by the end of the half.

Queensland got the first goal of the second half, but then the Magpies went on a run of seven unanswered goals to get right back in the game. The game went into a holding pattern in the middle of the quarter with a goal for goal tussle, but then as the quarter moved into its final third, that is when Collingwood really put the foot down.

Collingwood went on to score 23 goals for the quarter while Queensland only scored eight. As such, it was a ten goal lead to the Magpies at the final change. The Firebirds made a number of changes at three quarter time, including giving several of their leaders a spell, but it did not make a difference as Collingwood maintained their double digit lead.

The visitors used the Super Shot to their advantage to really eat away at the deficit, but they left their run too late to completely eliminate the deficit, ultimately seeing Collingwood take the win.

It was the defenders who starred for both sides, namely Geva Mentor (nine deflections, five gains, two intercepts) and Jodi-Ann Ward (five intercepts, five gains, four deflections) for the Magpies and Remi Kamo (seven gains, five deflections, four intercepts) and Ruby Bakewell-Doran (three gains, two intercepts, one deflection, one rebound) for the Firebirds.

COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES           13 | 15 | 23 | 18 (69)
QUEENSLAND FIREBIRDS            18 | 15 | 8 | 20 (61)

STARTING SEVENS

Collingwood Magpies

GS: Shimona Nelson
GA: Sophie Garbin
WA: Kelsey Browne
C: Molly Jovic
WD: Ash Brazill
GD: Jodi-Ann Ward
GK: Geva Mentor

Queensland Firebirds

GS: Donnell Wallam
GA: Mia Stower
WA: Lara Dunkley
C: Kim Ravaillion
WD: Gabi Simpson
GD: Ruby Bakewell-Doran
GK: Remi Kamo