- Collingwood kept their championship defence alive
- But fans were concerned about the welfare of a seagull
- The bird appeared to fall dead onto the grass
Collingwood kept their AFL premiership defence alive with a six-point win over Richmond on Sunday.
But all football fans could talk about was the welfare of a limping seagull at the MCG.
Towards the end of the second quarter in Melbourne, as Richmond resumed play from the goal area, a bird appeared to fall from the sky and land with a thud on the grass.
Footage of the incident was uploaded to social media. The poster shows the bird zooming in on the photo. The bird appeared lifeless, which resulted in disturbing footage.
But fans couldn’t help but see the funny side of the bizarre incident.
“It probably froze to death,” one fan joked on X.
“Even worse is when the referee tells the seagull to stand,” joked another fan.
A third fan tried to make it satirical: ‘If Dan Andrews had still been alive there would have been a state funeral and a bay named after the seagull.’
A seagull appeared to drop dead during a soccer match on Sunday afternoon
Nick Daicos was outstanding in helping the Magpies break a four-match losing streak with a vital 14.9 (93) to 9.13 (67) victory at the MCG on Sunday.
The Brownlow Medal contender had an equal number of passes, namely 42 disposals, 18 contested possessions, 12 score involvements and 12 clearances, making him the best player on the ground.
Collingwood’s win takes their record to 9-8-2 and keeps them close to the top eight, as they face tough home games against Carlton, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Daicos led a strong midfield featuring Scott Pendlebury (22 disposals), Josh Daicos (32), John Noble (21) and Jack Bytel (25).
Pendlebury was tactically replaced in the first three quarters of the match, ahead of his 400th AFL game against the Blues next week. He was replaced by Lachie Sullivan.
Dan McStay scored three goals in his second game back from injury, while Lachie Schultz, Will Hoskin-Elliott and Bobby Hill (two each) also collected multiple major trophies.
Hill and Jamie Elliott both surprised the 58,342 fans in attendance with their trademark high goals.
Darcy Cameron and Mason Cox won their duel convincingly against an inexperienced Richmond ruck division led by Samson Ryan.
Collingwood beat Richmond but fans were concerned about the bird’s welfare
The last-place Tigers lost Tim Taranto in the third period to a back injury and suffered a crushing defeat in their sixth straight season.
Jayden Short (25 disposals), Nick Vlastuin (23), Daniel Rioli (25) and Nathan Broad (26) kept trying.
There was a lack of star power on both sides after good friends Jordan De Goey (groin) and Dustin Martin (back) were absent in the run-up to the match.
Daicos stepped into the breach with a personal best of 18 disposals, 10 contested possessions, seven scoring involvements and five clearances in a dominant opening period.
Collingwood’s superior possession and efficiency in attack saw them lead 6.2 to 2.2 after one quarter.
That grew slightly in the second quarter, until the Magpies took complete control after the break, scoring the first three goals of the third quarter.
Richmond briefly deployed Liam Baker and young striker Seth Campbell for Daicos, slowing the prolific midfielder down somewhat.
But the Pies playmaker still had an impact and Collingwood completed a strong performance.