Friday Fallout: Pendles on the pine as Lions send warning shot

Collingwood v Brisbane

255 combined points on a Friday night at the MCG will always make for compelling viewing, despite the lopsided nature of the game itself.

What was less compelling was Collingwood superstar Scott Pendlebury’s knee bursa injury that saw him sit out the game after the first quarter. Whether the 38-year-old gets himself right for the Wildcard Final next week will be a major talking point.

The pressure valve may not have been turned all the way up for Collingwood, but the display we witnessed from Brisbane and some of their guns was special.

Logan Morris’ bag of eight goals confirms his credentials of being one of the best key forward in the comp going forward, Lachie Neale (35 disposals) auditioned beautifully for the club courting him and an unlikely bag of four goals (including a goal of the year contender) for Conor McKenna was clearly a popular result with Lions teammates.

In a game that ultimately meant little to the Magpies, Jordan De Goey (two goals, 32 touches) showed his class while Sam Swadling (one goal, 32 disposals) continued to stake his claims as a future inside weapon.

One win, two draws and eight losses against top eight sides does not make for good reading for Collingwood in 2026, and they will have to conjure something special to make it much further than the Wildcard. But who knows what Craig McRae has up his sleeve?

Hawthorn will now need to recover 4.4 per cent in their clash against West Coast to claim the highly coveted third spot and face Sydney at the SCG for a home prelim, but Brisbane could not have done much more to make it theirs.

Ethan Clark

St Kilda v Gold Coast

There wasn’t a great deal on the line for both clubs on Thursday night.

Of course there was a significant milestone with St Kilda’s Brad Hill playing his 300th game and last hurrahs for retiring Saint Dougal Howard and Gold Coast’s Nick Holman.

But both the Saints and the Suns were out of Wildcard contention making this one a legitimate dead-rubber.

It seemed that way too.

End to end footy at the start, huge possession numbers and not quite as much defence as we’d normally see

It was a strong performance from Damien Hardwick’s Suns, who showed a bit of fight in the eventual 23-point win (103-80), but it was too little, too late according to Kane Cornes.

“I had to laugh with the fisticuffs when Gold Coast were throwing their weight around,” Cornes said on SEN’s Fireball.

“You’re 18th for clearance, 15th for tackles, 13th for pressure, 15th for defence, and now you want to start fighting? In the third quarter of a meaningless Round 24 game.

“I had to laugh at that. I thought that was quite hilarious. What is the story?”

David King added: “It was a bit of false bravado if I’ve ever seen it.”

There was some fallout in the form of Ben King’s comments relating to his future with a potential move to Hawthorn on the cards.

It might have been his final outing in Gold Coast colours which will be a key point of focus in the club’s review for what has been a disastrous season.

As for Ross Lyon’s Saints, this was a disappointing end to what has also been a underwhelming campaign.

10 wins after a big trade period probably missed the mark overall.

A long off-season of contemplation and preparation now on the cards for both underperforming clubs.

Andrew Slevison