分类： sports

One of Australian Rules Football’s most iconic annual fixtures delivered a lopsided result this Anzac Day, as Essendon Bombers head coach Brad Scott opened up about his team’s crushing second-half collapse to a inspired Collingwood Magpies side led by veteran champion Scott Pendlebury. Speaking to reporters after the final siren, Scott expressed deep frustration over his side’s failure to rise to the occasion, admitting he struggled to reconcile his honest assessment of the defeat with a more guarded, team-aligned narrative for the post-match press conference.

The match was tightly contested through the first two quarters, with neither side managing to pull away despite Scott acknowledging Essendon never found their rhythm in the opening half. That stalemate shattered dramatically after halftime, when Collingwood slammed through 15 goals in the second half, including nine unanswered goals in a dominant final quarter that left Essendon powerless to stem the tide. At 38 years old, Pendlebury turned in a career-defining performance to anchor the Magpies’ charge, ultimately claiming his fourth Anzac Day Medal for his match-winning impact.

Scott summed up the result bluntly, saying his squad was “absolutely obliterated” by Collingwood, a result he pinned largely to catastrophic performance at centre bounce clearances. While overall clearances for the match finished roughly even, Essendon couldn’t win a foothold in the contest out of the central stoppage, a failure that handed Collingwood repeated attacking opportunities that blew the game open in the final term. “The last quarter margin is almost entirely attributed to centre bounce territory and you lose contest forward,” Scott explained, noting that even when Essendon managed to move the ball into their attacking 50 after halftime, they were able to convert – they simply never got enough chances to mount a comeback.

The Essendon coach added that his young squad looked visibly overawed by the magnitude of the Anzac Day occasion, one of the biggest non-finals matches on the AFL calendar, played in front of a capacity crowd at the MCG. Scott pointed out that Pendlebury alone has more career game time than 75 percent of the entire Essendon list combined, but he refused to pin the loss solely on inexperience, saying a lack of composure under pressure was a problem across the entire team. “Repeatedly we weren’t able to handle those moments, so we weren’t able to handle the occasion, we weren’t able to handle Collingwood’s pressure. Even worse, we weren’t able to stand up under perceived pressure which wasn’t even there,” he said.

Asked about his comment that he was torn between sticking to the “party line” and sharing his true assessment, Scott confirmed he would not shift blame to his inexperienced players, despite the clear gap in big-game experience between the two sides. The collapse of Essendon’s game plan was a chain reaction, he explained: when their initial plan to contain Pendlebury and young Magpies star Nick Daicos failed, adjustments also fell flat, leading to a domino effect of missed assignments and missed opportunities.

The brutal defeat leaves Essendon with no time to lick their wounds, as they prepare to face the reigning premier Brisbane Lions at Marvel Stadium next Saturday in what shapes as another tough test for the rebuilding side.

AFL fans witnessed a slice of history on Anzac Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Collingwood legend Scott Pendlebury delivered one of the finest performances of his 18-year career – a standout display that will likely lead to the 38-year-old being rested for the club’s critical upcoming clash with Hawthorn next Thursday.

Facing off against traditional rival Essendon, Pendlebury put on a clinic that will be remembered in Anzac Day lore: the veteran playmaker finished the match with 43 disposals, 19 direct score involvements, and two crucial goals. This dominant outing earned Pendlebury a record-breaking fourth Anzac Day Medal, pushing him past former Essendon champion James Hird to claim the outright record for most medals awarded to the best on ground in the annual blockbuster fixture.

Despite the career-topping performance, the tight five-day turnaround between the Anzac Day match and Collingwood’s next fixture against Hawthorn means Pendlebury is extremely unlikely to take the field next week. Collingwood head coach Craig McRae opened up about the planned rest in a post-match press conference alongside the star player, noting that the high volume of minutes Pendlebury logged during Saturday’s game puts unnecessary strain on the veteran ahead of the quick turnaround.

“I won’t make that final decision now, but I would probably think you’re unlikely to play next week,” McRae said. “We’ve got a five-day break, we’ll make final decisions early in the week but we’ll see how he pulls up. We already had an initial conversation that it could go either way, but he logged so much time on the ground today, which was perfect for this game but creates challenges for next week. We’ll complete a full fitness assessment during the week before locking in a call.”

McRae made no attempt to hide his admiration for the evergreen veteran, saying he remains constantly amazed by what Pendlebury can produce at an age when most AFL players have long retired.

“He’s played many incredible games throughout his career, and statistically, this is one of the very best,” the coach said. “I told the players on the bench this, and I’ll say it openly: I don’t want to get older and take for granted what this man gives us. What we saw today just reaffirmed he’s a legend of this sport and a legend of this football club. To put in a performance like that at 38, there are no age barriers for him and no ceiling on what he can do. He’s remarkable, every time I watch him play I’m in awe.”

Pendlebury, who has built his 431-game career as a versatile utility capable of slotting into any role the Magpies need, made a last-minute position shift late in the Anzac Day clash that led to his second goal – a change that sparked a raucous “Pendles” chant from the packed crowd of Collingwood supporters. The 38-year-old explained after the match he made the call to move into a deep forward role to grant young teammate Beau McCreery the chance to take over centre bounce duties, and also relished the personal matchup against young Essendon defender Archie Roberts.

“It was actually Beau kept saying he wanted to take centre bounce, so I told him if he wanted it he could have it and I’d move forward,” Pendlebury said. “I actually coached Archie Roberts when I was at Haileybury four years ago, we won a premiership together. When I saw he was matched up on me, I decided I’d take him deep. The old APS school football community has already been talking about that matchup, so I won’t let Arch live that down anytime soon.”

Pendlebury brushed off praise for his individual performance, attributing his stellar day to the team’s solid defensive structure and a bit of good fortune. “The way our team set up today, we defended really well, and I’m happy to just be a small cog in the machine that is this club,” he said. “I was saying to Jordy De Goey late in the game that even when I was trying to stay away from the footy, it still ended up finding me. It was just one of those days where everything bounced my way, and at 38, you definitely take those days.”

The result of the Anzac Day clash sets up a critical round of AFL action, with Collingwood set to take on Hawthorn in a Thursday night fixture that could shape the remainder of the club’s season, as the side waits to confirm Pendlebury’s availability ahead of the match.

The St. George Illawarra Dragons entered the Anzac Day round already mired in crisis, and their latest outing only amplified the club’s struggles, delivering a 62-point thrashing at the hands of the Sydney Roosters that has left interim head coach Dean Young calling for widespread systemic changes. Still, Young found one silver lining amid the chaos: rookie halfback Kade Reed’s encouraging debut performance has earned him a guaranteed starting spot in the team’s next clash against the Newcastle Knights following the upcoming bye.

The defeat capped a chaotic 7-day stretch for the Red V. The week began with the club parting ways with incumbent head coach Shane Flanagan, and ended just hours after the club announced the high-profile signing of fullback Scott Drinkwater, who will join the squad for the 2025 season. For Young, a club legend who stepped into the interim role, long-term roster moves for future seasons are not a priority right now. His sole focus is ending the Dragons’ historic winless drought to open the 2024 NRL campaign.

The full-scale breakdown on Saturday left no doubt about how deep the Dragons’ issues run: two players were sin-binned, the defensive unit missed 36 tackles, and the team committed 13 unforced errors throughout the contest. “The first thing I did after the game was check in on the players, and every one of them is embarrassed by the performance we put out there,” Young told reporters post-match. “We started decently, going up 6-nil early, but when that lead was overturned, we completely folded under pressure. This was a tough week for the whole club, but we expected a far better response than this.”

Against that backdrop of poor play, Reed’s performance stood out as the only bright spot for the Dragons. Making his first NRL start in front of a packed crowd at Allianz Stadium, the young playmaker showed no hesitation in attacking, testing the Roosters’ defensive line with creative passes and tactical kicking. He looked to have set up the opening try of the game with a long-range pass to Mat Feagai, only for an earlier error from a teammate to disallow the score. Later in the match, a late try he scored was also overturned for obstruction, but he consistently took on responsibility in both attack and defence, even as opponents targeted him as an obvious weak point.

“I’m really proud of how he stepped up,” Young said, confirming his decision to retain Reed in the starting lineup. “It’s an enormous ask for a rookie to make his debut on Anzac Day, when we’re already 0-7 and carrying all that pressure. He still has a lot of development ahead of him, but there were enough positive signs to give him another start. Kade will be our starting halfback against the Knights.”

Captain Clint Gutherson is expected to return from injury for the Knights clash, though Young has not yet confirmed what other changes he will make to the lineup. What the interim coach does know is that widespread changes to the club’s training and game operations are non-negotiable, given the 0-8 start to the season. “We have to change the way we run our programs, because what we’re doing right now is obviously not working, as everyone saw on Saturday,” he explained. “I can’t predict how quickly things will turn around. All I can do is focus on getting better one day at a time. We’ll do a full review on Wednesday, make sure we learn every possible lesson from this loss, and move forward from there.”

Young has experience turning around a season on the brink: back in 2021, he was an assistant coach with the North Queensland Cowboys when the club dropped 10 consecutive matches to open the year. The side responded by signing experienced veterans Chad Townsend and Peta Hiku, and climbed into the top four of the ladder the following season. But turning around the Dragons’ current slump will first require rebuilding a playing group that has clearly lost confidence after eight straight losses.

“Of course confidence is low right now — any group would be in this position, so I knew this wouldn’t be an easy fix,” Young said. “But I still expected a better fight than what we gave on Saturday. Right now, we’re not just playing against the opposition — we’re beating ourselves.”

The 2024 NRL Anzac Day clash delivered a brutal reminder of just how wide the gap between title contenders and battlers has become, as the in-form Sydney Roosters crushed a crisis-hit St George Illawarra Dragons side by a stunning 46-point margin to extend the Dragons’ winless start to the season to eight straight losses. The result caps a chaotic week for the Dragons, which began with the club parting ways with head coach Shane Flanagan on Monday and ending with a humiliating defeat that stands as one of their lowest points in recent seasons. Following Flanagan’s departure, club legend Dean Young stepped into the interim head coaching role, and one of his first major decisions was to hand promising young halfback Kade Reed his NRL debut — a call that former coach Flanagan had resisted, opting to wait until Reed gained more experience in lower grades.

Reed’s debut almost got off to a fairy-tale start just minutes into the match, when the 19-year-old threw a perfectly weighted, pinpoint cut-out pass that put winger Mat Feagai over for what looked to be a dream opening try. The crowd’s cheers quickly fell silent, however, when the NRL Bunker overturned the score after spotting a marginal forward knock-on in the lead-up. Despite the disallowed try, Reed put in a fearless performance across his 80 minutes: he tested the Roosters defensive line with early attacking chips, pressed for opportunities to shift the point of attack, and even had a second try denied late in the game by an obstruction call. The rookie was not without growing pains — he finished the match with six missed tackles, and a costly dropped ball under pressure allowed Roosters captain James Tedesco to race away for a try that pushed the home side’s score past 50. Still, his bright glimpses of potential gave Dragons fans one of the few positives to take away from a grim day.

Young’s squad did little to help their new interim coach or their young debutant, however. Two first-half sin-binnings for ill-discipline left the Dragons short on the edge of their own try line repeatedly: Luciano Leilua was sent off the field for a high shot on Roosters halfback Sam Walker, while Daniel Atkinson joined him for a deliberate professional foul. Unforced errors also proved costly, with multiple spilled kicks directly leading to Roosters tries, turning small moments of pressure into converted tries for the red-hot visitors.

For the Dragons, the only other bright spot came off the field, with the club confirming Saturday that they had signed representative fullback Scott Drinkwater from the North Queensland Cowboys, with the move set to take place from the 2027 season onward. Still, it will be a long road back to competitiveness for Young, who now faces the challenge of rebuilding a culture and fixing on-field performance after one of the worst start to a season in the club’s history.

For the Roosters, the performance was far more than just another win: it was a statement of intent that the club is emerging as the biggest threat to reigning premiers Penrith Panthers’ bid for a fourth straight premiership. After scrambling to secure wins with second-half fightbacks in recent weeks, this match was a clinical 80-minute performance from Trent Robinson’s side, with their entire spine firing on all cylinders from the opening whistle. Captain James Tedesco continued his career-best form, notching two try assists and opening up the Dragons’ middle defense repeatedly to set up a first-half double for Sam Walker. Five-eighth Daly Cherry-Evans was equally dominant, laying on three first-half tries, while hooker Reece Robson turned in a dynamic performance out of dummy-half that included his first try in Roosters colours. Walker also put in a strong kicking game that pinned the Dragons deep in their own half for long stretches, forcing multiple line dropouts that kept the pressure consistent.

The Roosters will face their biggest test of the season so far next week, when they take on the red-hot Brisbane Broncos in what is already shaping up to be one of the must-watch matches of the 2024 NRL regular season.

The National Rugby League (NRL) has been rocked by a major offseason roster move, with St George Illawarra Dragons securing the signature of elite Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater on a three-year contract starting in 2027. The deal, confirmed by both clubs in late April 2026, ends weeks of intense transfer speculation and triggers cascading position changes across two teams.

After weeks of widespread rumors linking Drinkwater to a move south to the Dragons, North Queensland Cowboys formally agreed on Saturday to release the 28-year-old from the final year of his existing contract, clearing the way for the official announcement. The timing of the deal comes off a career-defining performance from Drinkwater: just one day before the agreement, the dynamic fullback notched one try and three assists in a dominant home victory over the Cronulla Sharks, underscoring his top form ahead of the move.

In a statement following the signing, Drinkwater expressed his enthusiasm for the next chapter of his career. “I’m really looking forward to joining the Dragons and being part of what the club is building,” he said. “You can see the young talent from the area making its way through the ranks, so it’s an exciting challenge to go on this journey with them. I look forward to finishing strong at the Cowboys this year and then arriving at the Dragons for 2027 to do everything I can to contribute to the team’s success.”

For the Dragons, the signing fills a long-standing gap in the club’s attacking lineup. Drinkwater’s signature creativity and elite ball-handling skills from the fullback position add the attacking spark the franchise has lacked for multiple seasons, and he joins recently signed forward Keaon Koloamatangi as a key foundational recruit for the incoming full-time head coach set to replace interim leader Shane Flanagan. The official Dragons NRL account welcomed Drinkwater to the club with a social media announcement alongside a graphic introducing the new recruit.

Dragons chief executive Tim Watsford emphasized the high value the club places on the new signing. “Scott is a player of genuine class in our competition, and we’re thrilled to have him commit to the Dragons from 2027,” Watsford said. “He brings proven NRL experience, composure, skill and an attacking instinct that will be a major asset for our club. Importantly, we believe Scott will fit strongly with our playing group both on and off the field.”

The blockbuster signing immediately prompts questions about the future of incumbent Dragons fullback Clint Gutherson, who is currently under contract through 2026. To accommodate Drinkwater’s arrival in the fullback role starting 2027, Gutherson will need to transition to a new position, most likely centre or five-eighth, opening up a key position shift for the veteran back.

For the Cowboys, Drinkwater’s departure creates an unexpected opportunity for rising club talent. Young gun fullback Jaxon Purdue is now set to step into the starting fullback role for the 2027 season, giving the dynamic, promising playmaker expanded space to showcase his explosive running game and cement his place in the NRL.

Cowboys chief executive Micheal Luck paid tribute to Drinkwater’s eight-year tenure with the North Queensland franchise, noting that the club could not match the long-term contract offer extended by the Dragons. “Scott has been not just a valued member of our club, but a wonderful member of the North Queensland community since he arrived eight years ago,” Luck said. “Scott received a long-term offer from another club, which we were not in the position to match. He remains an integral member of our squad for the remainder of the 2026 season. We wish Scott and his young family the very best in their next adventure. They will always be welcome at our club.”

The official announcement of the signing was made just hours before the Dragons’ high-stakes clash with the Sydney Roosters, drawing major attention from NRL fans and analysts across the country ahead of the blockbuster match.