Collingwood defender Jeremy Howe says the midfield battle at the coalface, and nullifying Greater Western Sydney’s forward half stoppages, are the keys to victory for the Magpies tomorrow night.
LISTEN to tomorrow night’s Collingwood v GWS Semi-Final LIVE on 1116 SEN from 6:00pm AEST with Gerard Whateley, Anthony Hudson, Daisy Pearce and Nick Dal Santo
“Clearly a fair influence will be in the engine room,” Howe told SEN Afternoons.
“You only got to look at the class they’ve got, Josh Kelly is not playing, but they’ve got guys behind him like Callan Ward, Stephen Coniglio, Dylan Shiel.
“They’re quite great in there and Lachie Whitfield does a lot of damage.
“The contested ball and clearances will be huge.
“They’re pretty crafty up forward as well.
“I think they’re the best scoring team from front half stoppages, so they like to get the ball in, create a stoppage and do their thing from there.
“We will hopefully be able to win the ball back, get it out of there as quick as we can and avoid that situation.”
The Magpies will be aiming to avoid not winning a final, after finishing in the top four, for the first time since 1992, while GWS is looking to win consecutive finals games for the first time in their history.
Listen to Jeremy Howe’s chat with Andy Maher on SEN Afternoons in the player below