Key events
Q1. 15 minutes remaining: Collingwood 1.1.7 v GWS 1.0.6.
Good work by Josh Daicos clears for Collingwood but Harry Perryman reefs it straight into the hands of his old team. No harm done as Lachie Schultz gets a shot from the boundary. It falls short but Bobby Hill gets there first and soccers it through for Collingwood’s first!
Q1. 17 minutes remaining: Collingwood 0.1.1 v GWS 1.0.6.
Here come Collingwood. Nick Daiucos won the clearance and Isaac Quaynor took the pass on his bootlaces before finding Darcy Cameron inside 50 who marks on the slide. It’s a gentle angle but he sprays it left.
Q1. 19 minutes remaining: Collingwood 0.0.0 v GWS 1.0.6.
The first centre clearance is won by Collingwood but Harry Perryman gets crash tackled into the turf by his old teammates. A not-so-warm welcome home to the former Giant! Sam Taylor cleans up and has won the free and has a set shot at his second career goal from 30m out…. he’s got it!
Players are running out on an Engie Stadium bathed in Sydney sunshine.
The surface looks anything but green after a recent Green Day concert but Toby Greene doesn’t seem to mind.
Two-time Copeland Trophy winner Jack Crisp leads out the Magpies in his 250th game. It is the popular midfielder’s 238th consecutive match, second behind Jim Stynes’ famous run of 244 straight games.
Here come the Giants to their jaunty club song…
The Giants go into today’s game without three of their stars, with injuries to reigning Coleman Medallist Jesse Hogan (thumb), boom recruit Jake Stringer (hamstring), and midfielder Tom Green (calf) all to miss the season opener.
The good news is that they also have three stars back from injury in the form of the fit and firing skipper Toby Greene, and gun vice-captains Josh Kelly and Stephen Coniglio fit and firing.
The new face in the Giants lineup is Tasmanian-born teenager James Leake, a first-round draft pick from 2023 and under 18 All-Australian. The 188cm midfielder had an injury-interrupted maiden season at GWS but gets his debut game in the orange and charcoal this afternoon.
The 37-year-old Scott Pendlebury enters his 20th season in black and white in 2025. The two-time premiership player, five-time Copeland Trophy winner, and long-serving captain of the Magpies plays his 404th game for the Pies this arvo.
Can he mow down ‘Boomer’ Harvey this season?
Tim Membrey, 30, is the other new face lining up for Collingwood. The 188cm forward has joined the Pies after 179 games for St Kilda and arrives with 293 goals to his credit, making him the most prolific goal-kicker on Collingwood’s list in 2025.
Reef McInnes is set to play his first match in defence after impressing there in the pre-season. Standing 194cm, the 22-year-old performed strongly in Collingwood’s practice match victory over Richmond, collecting 14 disposals, five spoils and four intercepts.
Unfortunately dual All-Australian Dan Houston will have to wait another week to make his Collingwood debut as he serves a five-match suspension from Round 23, 2024.
Of course the Magpies will also be missing star midfielder Jordan De Goey against the Giants, with the 28-year-old ruled out on Tuesday with bone bruising.
The eyes of both sides’ supporters will be on Harry Perryman today.
The former Giant who played 129 games for GWS since joining them as pick #14 in the 2016 draft, was cut loose in 2024. The 26-year-old free agent promptly signed a very expensive six-year deal with Collingwood worth around $900,000 per season.
Despite finishing third in GWS’s 2020 Best and Fairest, the 187cm Perryman never quite nailed his midfielder role at the Giants. Clearly, Magpies mentor Craig McRae thinks he’s worth another shot.
Perryman was targeted by Collingwood to play as a midfielder, a role that didn’t quite click at the Giants.
Will it work under Craig McRae? 🤔https://t.co/KPPQa77buA
— AFL (@AFL) March 8, 2025
If your scarf is still in the sheds and you haven’t got Dubbin on the Sherrin just yet, Jonathan Horn’s preview of the season in From the Pocket will get you up to snuff. Don’t forget to signup!
The Swans-Hawks game at the SCG was a ripper. If you missed it here’s how our own Joey Lynch called the action…
Preamble
Angus Fontaine
G’day footy fans. Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of today’s AFL blockbuster between Collingwood and Greater Western Sydney at Engie Stadium in Sydney on the land of the Wangal.
It’s been a tumultuous start to the season, with ex-Cyclone Alfred playing havoc with communities in Queensland and northern NSW and throwing Round One scheduling into turmoil. So far we have just one completed game, the showdown between the Sydney Swans and the ‘Hollywood’ Hawks, won by Hawthorn 14.12 (96) to 11.10 (76).
Of course, reigning premiers Brisbane and Geelong were due to open the season at the Gabba on Friday night but that game has now been postponed until round three. Also postponed was the Gold Coast v Essendon fixture, now rescheduled until round 24.
In Sydney the sun is shining for the Magpies and Giants, a fascinating matchup given the way both sides finished their seasons in 2024.
In the quest for their first premiership, the Giants fell agonisingly short again, pipped in the prelim by the Swans. Did their unique post-season “review” exorcise those demons or will the scars remain in 2025?
Collingwood’s 2024 was also a heartbreaker. The Pies started their title defence slowly, dropping three straight games from the get-go, but stormed home in the second half, only to finish ninth.
Interestingly, these sides met in Round One last year too and the result was a 32-point boilover victory to GWS by 18.6 (114) – 11.16 (82).
Can the Giants spring another ambush? Or will the Pies get their revenge?
We’ll find out with first bounce at 3.20pm.
