51m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:14amCollingwood vs Brisbane live scoreboard
7m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:58am
Jamie Elliott takes the roof off the MCG!
It’s been all Brisbane to start this second quarter, with the Magpies are finding it so hard to chain up possession, either by hand or by foot.
There were some fumbles and errors in that chain, but the rundown tackle from Nick Daicos on Zorko forces the turnover inside attacking 50. Mihocek hands to Elliott over the top and the goal is kicked from the square.
16m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:48amQT: Brisbane 4.3 (27) leads Collingwood 1.1 (7)
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Collingwood was in control of the first five minutes, but everything since then has been all Brisbane.
The Lions are running all over them in the midfield and are owning the footy, which means whenever the Pies do win the ball back they’re forced into rushed disposals into a settled and set-up defence.
Scott Pendlebury is out with what we are told is “calf tightness” and the Collingwood forward line is looking shoddy. If you’re a Lions fan, you love where you are right now.
25m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:40am
Ty Gallop! He snaps another for the Lions!
Everything is coming up Brisbane here! Moments ago the Pies were out with De Goey streaking through half-forward only for Ah Chee to come from nowhere with a brilliant run down tackle.
Ah Chee quickly gets forward to join in the link, and though Pies fans thought he was caught holding the ball, the play on call allowed Gallop to gather and snap. Lions making a big move here.
27m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:37am
Logan Morris snaps truly! Three in a row Brisbane!
Is it a goal? It’s a goal! Logan Morris’s shot just carried the line, and after a pause for thought the goal umpire confirmed the good news!
The Lions moved the ball through the middle and then out wide again that time, opening up the space for Morris to move into. He was always in the box seat, and this young man doesn’t drop many of them in the packs.
32m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:33am
Zac Bailey wins the free and goals! Lions in front!
The MCG is about to erupt here as the Pies fans scream for a series of free kicks. The umpires are letting some holding the ball claims go here, for both sides, but have picked out a couple of hot high and in the back calls against the Pies.
All that adds up to an electric atmosphere, one which has been tipped over the edge as Bailey pins Daicos holding the ball in front of goal.
Bailey makes no mistake and gets stuck into Cox. The Lions fans sing their songs as everyone else catches their breath.
37m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:27am
Josh Dunkley gets the Lions on the board!
Moments after Pendlebury’s exit, the Lions have arrived!
Jeremy Howe’s kick in from full back was a shocker, telegraphed towards Dunkley who cut across Moore to chop it off. He slotted his set shot from 40 out, directly in front and the Lions are away.
38m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:26amScott Pendlebury has been subbed out of the game with injury
Holy moly.
The Collingwood champion limped to the rooms a few minutes ago, has come straight back up and immediately put the jacket on. His day, and maybe his season, is over. Not sure what the injury is yet.
What a huge blow for the Magpies. Roan Steele is the sub, and he has some massive shoes to fill.
41m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:24am
Mason Cox kicks the first goal of the preliminary final!
Dayne Zorko couldn’t sell the bluff. It was an absolutely blatant block on Cox in the marking contest and Zorko’s poker face let him down.
Cox slots the opener from directly in front and goes straight at Zorko, kicking off a mini-brawl. That’s all a bit of fun, but Brisbane’s biggest issue is the time and space being afforded to Nick Daicos.
42m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:22am
The tackles are sticking this afternoon!
Both teams are bringing the requisite physicality to this one and the umpires are letting them play.
Apart from that it’s a bit of a chess match at the moment. Both teams want the ball in the middle of the ground but both defenses are set up too well for any sort of quick ball movement.
In other news, Scott Pendlebury has just gone down to the rooms for reasons unknown. We’ll keep an eye on that.
47m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:17am
Mason Cox drops a chestmark early
Nearly a dream start for Collingwood, with an unmarked Nick Daicos winning a clean centre break and lacing out Mason Cox on the lead, only for the big man to drop a sitter on his chest.
Now Josh Dunkley has gone to Nick Daicos at a subsequent stoppage. Interesting.
48m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:16am
Game on at the MCG
Right, here we go! Players are in positions, and there is Josh Dunkley standing shoulder to shoulder with… Jordan De Goey! A battle to savour.
The crowd is up and the ball is in the air. The second preliminary final is underway.
51m agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:14am
Almost ready for launch at the MCG
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The MCG is near enough packed as we enter the final moments before the bounce. The players stand arm in arm for the Welcome to Country and national anthem.
A mighty roar follows the national anthem, one that will only be topped at this same venue next Saturday. Let’s go.
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1h agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:02am
How will the MCG hold up?
G’day Dean .Ground in good nick after last night’s game ?
– Phillip
The ‘G will certainly be tested in this, its second game inside 24 hours. It poured with rain late in last night’s game and is cold and drizzly out there right now.
It’s the best deck in the country though so I’d be surprised to see any of the players struggling out there.
(Getty Images)1h agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 7:00amWhere the game can be won for Collingwood and Brisbane
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Cody Atkinson and Sean Lawson have gone over the numbers to get a read on this preliminary final, and found potential routes to success for both sides:
Brisbane focuses on holding the ball in solid field position, taking some pace off the game, and chaining together uncontested marks. Brisbane takes the most uncontested marks in the competition, thriving in games with more marks than ground balls.
But that’s not to say they can’t win when the pace battle doesn’t go their way.
The territory battle will be crucial, with both Brisbane and Collingwood wanting to play a high press and dominate territory. Both sides tend to use repeat entries to score and cut off opposition attempts at escape from their own defensive 50.
Get the full lowdown from Cody and Sean below:
1h agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 6:56am
Does Dunkley get the Daicos job?
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The best defensive midfielder in the league did a job on Matt Rowell last week to be near enough to best afield in the Brisbane win. How do the Lions deploy him tonight?
The logical job would be Nick Daicos, but tagging that little dynamo is no easy task. Dunkley and Daicos may end up the most important players on the field tonight.
1h agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 6:50am
ICYMI: Cats knock off Hawks but lose Stewart for GF
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For the seventh time since 2007, Geelong will compete in the last game of the season.
The Cats recovered after a slow start and some potentially telling injuries to overwhelm Hawthorn in an awfully impressive display. Led by the incredible Patrick Dangerfield the Cats lifted their levels just before half-time and never looked back, blowing the Hawks away in the second half.
The downside though was the loss of Tom Stewart, who was concussed in the first quarter. That ruled him out for most of last night’s game, but also next week’s grand final due to the mandatory rest period required of concussed players.
Debate will rage as to whether a pre-grand final bye should be implemented to avoid such situations, but for now Stewart and Geelong are out of luck. The Cats will have to face the big one without their vice captain and best defender.
Get the full story below:
1h agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 6:40am
A giant crowd is expected at the ‘G
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Last night we were a few hundred people short of 100,000 at the MCG, and though I don’t think we’ll quite get that many in today it probably won’t be far off.
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The members have been lining up for hours for gates to open, and thousands will have travelled down from Brisbane for it too.
1h agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 6:34amMabior Chol handed three-game ban for Tom Stewart tackle
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I tell you what, this would have been the story of the week had the Hawks got up last night.
Hawthorn forward Mabior Chol has been handed a three-match rough conduct suspension for the tackle which saw Tom Stewart concussed in the first quarter of last night’s preliminary final. The moment immediately sparked debate, but despite the usual calls of “what else is he supposed to do?” the MRO guidelines always suggested he was likely to cop a ban.
The grading has come back as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact.
Will the tribunal agree though? Chol certainly has a case, not least because Sam Butler had Stewart by the legs in the tackle and absolutely contributed to Stewart’s injury. I’ve got no doubt the Hawks will challenge this ban to avoid Chol missing the first three weeks of 2026, but in some ways we are lucky this isn’t a story which will dominate grand final week.
1h agoSat 20 Sep 2025 at 6:30amHow did the Magpies and Lions get here?
It’s a battle between third and fourth on the home and away ladder today, but all season there has been a sense these two would be here at the pointy end.
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Having opened up a big gap at the top of the ladder midway through the season, Collingwood stumbled its way into fourth place by the end of the year. But those weeks of indifferent form were blown away when September arrived, as the Magpies went to Adelaide Oval and took the Crows apart. Their prize from that victory was a home preliminary final, and a chance to return to the grand final for the first time since that 2023 premiership.
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The Lions were tougher to read throughout the year, but their best was always close to if not the best in the league. They were dismantled a little by Geelong in their qualifying final though, setting up a make or break semifinal against Gold Coast last week. Any nerves about that were quickly settled though, with that game done and dusted by half-time.
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Brisbane, the reigning premier, holds no fear at the MCG. Collingwood knows what it takes to beat Brisbane here in games like this. You could say form goes out the window in a preliminary final, but for teams as good and as experienced as this, all bets really are off.