AFL 2022: All the scores, news and reaction out of the Adelaide v Collingwood match
Nick Daicos was so good against Adelaide on Saturday that he smashed another record, his coach was in awe and a teammate labelled him scary. Here’s why.
Collingwood
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Collingwood coach Craig McRae was left in awe of young star Nick Daicos after his sublime performance propelled the Pies to a stunning win against Adelaide in Scott Pendlebury’s 350th game.
The 19-year-old was moved forward late in Saturday’s pulsating encounter at Adelaide Oval and responded with three goals to go with his 40 possessions in a jaw-dropping display that took an already impressive debut season to new heights.
“It just seems to be going to another level,” McRae said of the Daicos’ campaign.
“He’s had 40 today and kicked three … he’s a first-year player, it’s unbelievable.
“Nick’s having an outstanding season and it just seems to be getting better and better every week.
“I haven’t seen (a first year like it) and he’s just doing it in different ways too.”
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Youngest players to have 40+ disp & 3+ goals in a V/@AFL game
— Swamp (@sirswampthing) July 16, 2022
19y 194d - NICK DAICOS - 2022 R18 COLL v ADEL
19y 278d - Wayne Campbell
20y 255d - Brian Wilson
21y 53d - Leigh Matthews
21y 159d - John Greening
@CollingwoodFC#AFLCrowsPies
It was a fitting result for Pendlebury, who was given a guard of honour by both teams as he left the ground after his milestone game.
The decorated veteran had 28 disposals and kicked his first goal of the season in a typically polished performance.
“Today we talked about honouring Pendles … the message was ‘Honour Pendles’, the guy who has worn the jumper more than any other person in the history of our club,” the coach said.
“He’s so important to us, he leads from the front, he takes others with him … his honour roll is unbelievable.
“The players wanted to play for him.
“We mentioned it at three-quarter time ‘We’ve talked about honouring Pendles and this is the time to do it, right now’.”
The Pies’ eighth win in a row keeps them in the hunt for a top-four finish and enhances their reputation as close game specialists, with five of their past eight victories coming by margins of seven points or less.
“There’s a genuine belief in this group, particularly when it’s close, that we can get the job done,” McRae said.
“It’s the story of our season that close games are going our way.
“We’ve needed a little bit of luck but there are a lot of good decisions being made at critical times.”
Jack Ginnivan was held to one goal and appeared to be stiff to not be rewarded with a free kick for high contact on a few occasions.
The polarising second-year forward has been maligned in some quarters for appearing to milk high contact free kicks, but McRae was reluctant to fuel the debate when asked if the media commentary around him had prompted an overcorrection from umpires.
“My message to Jack just after the game is that I just want him to keep attacking the footy hard and what comes of it, whether it’s a high tackle or a holding the ball, keep attacking the ball,” he said.
“We don’t make excuses, we don’t look for blame, umpires make mistakes and get some right and some wrong.
“I don’t really want to play the blame game or excuse game.
“He’s got a lot of talent and he’s played a role for us … every week there’s a story about this and I don’t want it to be a story.”
Nick Daicos has such Pendlebury vibes in his smoothness and composure.
— Matt Turner (@mattturner1986) July 16, 2022
Unreal game from a 1st-year player.#AFL#AFLCrowsPies
Nick Daicos is scary 🔥
— Brodie Grundy (@brodiegrundy) July 16, 2022
Nick Daicos... we are truly blessed ðŸ˜
— Collingwood FC (@CollingwoodFC) July 16, 2022
‘Scary’ Daicos ensures Crow’s record effort in vain
Collingwood has celebrated Scott Pendlebury’s 350th AFL match with a stunning win against Adelaide, Nick Daicos starring in a heart-stopping five-point victory on Saturday afternoon.
After an engrossing contest of wild momentum swings at Adelaide Oval, it was the Magpies who finished on top in a 14.7 (91) to 13.8 (86) instant classic.
The top-four hopefuls were pushed all the way by the brave Crows, who were looking for just their sixth win of a disappointing campaign.
The visitors edged to a 16-point lead in the final term only to concede goals to Lachlan Murphy and Taylor Walker, who finished with three and five respectively.
Adelaide went the length of the field in the frantic final minute, but couldn’t find a way through the Pies’ resolute defence.
The result stretched Collingwood’s winning run to eight, with five of those victories coming by margins of seven points or less.
“Ideally, we don’t want to be in that position to dig deep but we’re finding ways (to win),” Craig McRae said.
“This group’s got a real will to win and a belief in it too.
“It’s the story of our season that close games are going our way.”
Pendlebury was influential in his milestone game, but Nick Daicos was the standout player on the ground with a breathtaking 40-possession, three-goal performance.
Walker nearly dragged his side over the line, with Rory Laird also outstanding, the midfielder setting a new AFL record for tackles laid in a game with 20.
PENDLES’ PARTY STARTER
The milestone man started in the middle, duly won the clearance and got away the first kick of the day.
The skipper had 10 touches in a top-shelf first term, but it was the home side that enjoyed the better start.
Darcy Fogarty and Walker were in the thick of the action with early goals as the Crows slammed through the first three majors of the entertaining contest.
Pendlebury was important as the visitors counter-punched with a four-goal blast to lead by five points at the first break.
Debutant Ash Johnson, who had earlier missed a sitter from point-blank range, was mobbed by teammates after he gave his side the lead with his first AFL goal.
TACKLE-FEST
Both sides were intent on exerting tackling pressure on the opposition, which led to some big numbers on the stats sheet.
Collingwood averages 59.3 tackles per game this season, but the visitors surpassed that mark with 63 in the first half.
The Crows average 63.8 tackles in 2022 and had 59 in the book by the main break.
For context, Gold Coast leads the competition in average tackles per game with 74.4, but Collingwood finished with 127 to Adelaide’s 108.
Sam Berry, who averages a league-high 8.4 tackles a game, laid seven in a bruising first quarter played with heavy rain sweeping across the ground.
The record for tackles laid in a VFL/AFL game of 19 - shared by Jack Ziebell, Tom Liberatore and Jude Bolton – was under threat early as Berry rumbled his way to 12 at half-time, with Laird on 11.
While Berry slowed to finish with 17, Laird kept going to set the new mark.
FRANTIC FINALE
The Crows fought back from 10 points down in the second quarter to lead by nine points at half-time and they had their tails up and the fans on their feet when they led by 16 points after Mitch Hinge converted his set shot following a questionable 50m penalty.
With the contest delicately balanced, second-gamer Josh Carmichael and Pendlebury steadied the ship.
Carmichael, who finished with 24 kicks and zero handballs, booted his first AFL goal and Pendlebury kicked his first major of the season soon after, the skipper stroking the ball home on the run from 50m with trademark grace.
The Magpies looked to have seen off the home side’s brave challenge when they turned a three-point three-quarter time lead into a 16-point advantage, with Nick Daicos adding two goals.
But the epic contest had another twist in the tail, Adelaide’s challenge finally over when Berry’s rushed kick with 20 seconds left went out of bounds on the full.
“I was really proud of us,” Matthew Nicks said.
“I thought we played a brand of footy that entertained everyone in the stadium.
“We’re disappointed but we did so much right.”
CROWS 3.2 7.6 10.8 13.8 86
MAGPIES 4.1 6.3 10.5 14.7 91
PHELAN’S BEST CROWS: Walker, Laird, Dawson, Berry, Murphy, O’Brien. MAGPIES: N Daicos, Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Carmichael, Lipinski, J Daicos.
GOALS CROWS: Walker 5, Murphy 3, Fogarty 2, Hinge, McAdam, Thilthorpe. MAGPIES: N Daicos 3, Mihocek 2, Johnson 2, Cameron, McCreery, Carmichael, Ginnivan, Pendlebury, Elliott, Sidebottom.
INJURIES CROWS: Nil. MAGPIES: Nil.
UMPIRES Dore, O’Gorman, Wallace.
ADELAIDE OVAL
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
JASON PHELAN’S VOTES
3 N Daicos (Coll)
2 T Walker (Adel)
1 S Pendlebury (Coll)
350 NOT OUT — MILESTONE MAN PENDLES’ FUTURE PLANNING
Jay Clark
Scott Pendlebury was half expecting a bake last week.
Collingwood had played poorly for three quarters to trail North Melbourne by 26 points at the last change, and Pendlebury thought McRae might finally unleash on the group.
But the cook never came.
Instead, McRae brimmed with positivity in his final address, urging the Magpies to “attack the game”, and “get after them”, helping spark a five-goal final term to notch their seventh-straight win of the season.
Collingwood’s resurgence has been one of the stories of the season, and on Saturday against Adelaide the club’s games record holder and arguably greatest player will step out for his 350th game, becoming only the 20th man in the game’s history to reach the magical mark.
Over his glittering career, Pendlebury has not only been a brilliant ballwinner, but also the calming influence and constant driving force for the club through all manner of highs and lows.
But there is something special about the run Collingwood is currently on.
And not only because so few saw it coming.
Remarkably, the man who has racked up the most disposals and second-most tackles since he stepped foot in the league in 2006, still has the fourth-best kick rating in the league.
Stepping through traffic with that little ball fake that always seems to tempt the first tackler into a misstep, or reading the play out of a stoppage, Pendlebury has always been the sharpest switch blade when it comes to lacing out targets on his lethal left foot.
And nothing has changed in season 17.
But the individual accolades and adulation is not what sustains the man who has already claimed six All-Australians, five best-and-fairest awards, three Anzac Day Medals, one Norm Smith and recognition from his peers as the game’s best captain in 2020.
The motivation in season 2022 is the feeling he and his teammates have about what they can achieve against all expectation this year.
Only one week ago, Pendlebury experienced it once again when McRae marched to the three quarter time huddle and surprised even the skipper a little with the kind of uplifting address that is making football so enjoyable for the Collingwood champion.
“You almost become a bit programmed to it in this industry in the sense that you would be standing there thinking ‘We are going to get a spray here’,” Pendlebury said.
“But every time I’ve have thought that this year, it has been the complete opposite from ‘Fly’.
“He has just got this great confidence in all of his players and against North at three quarter time he was like, ‘Don’t be afraid, guys. We can win this from here’.
“Let’s do the things we know and play with energy, because we were pretty flat last week. But he said ‘Let’s attack. Let’s get after them.’
“We want to be really fearless.
“With what I want to do (coaching) after my playing career, it has been a real eye-opener because in this industry you get conditioned, and conform to the norm.
“So in certain situations you just expect a bake (from the coach).
“But he is a different coach to what I have experienced with Mick (Malthouse) and ‘Bucks’ (Nathan Buckley).
“It has really been a breath of fresh air. The coaches really have never-say-die attitude, they are really glass half-full all the time and I think that is really bleeding into the playing group.
“I’m seeing the guys really believe.”
Pendlebury, 34, is no fool, either. Winning definitely helps.
And as the captain of a team more known for its defence under Buckley, this high-pressure game style – which is laced with a freed-up attacking flair – has been just the tonic for a club which crashed to second last last season.
It’s chaos over control now, under McRae.
And the meticulous Pendlebury remains as committed as ever, trimming down over summer to start a new leaf on the half back flank, before moving back into middle for the big win over Fremantle on the road in Round 10.
Back in the centre square, the champion midfielder provides great balance, helping pinpoint the ball forward when he is not keeping the opposition out of the corridor.
“We’ve good a great group in there and my job is to help put guys in spots that is going to help them flourish,” Pendlebury said.
“I need to do my thing as well, and get on the end of it and help kick it inside 50m, and support the defence as well.”
More than 30 of his closest family and friends will join him in Adelaide to celebrate the 350, including wife Alex and children Jax and Darcy, after breaking Tony Shaw’s 313-game record in front of largely empty stands at the Gabba two years ago.
But these remarkable milestones are unlikely to be his last, as the contracted Pendlebury has no doubt about his plans to play on next season. 400? It’s within striking distance.
“I’m contracted so, yeah, I am 100 per cent keen to play on next season,” Pendlebury said.
“Fundamentally, I still love what I do. I love getting about of bed in the morning and going to work. I love the training, I love keeping fit.
“Early on I could probably do it by myself or on my own- the gruelling running sessions and the gym work. Now I’m enjoying more and more doing all that with everyone, whether it’s Tommy Wilson, Nick Daicos or whoever. The banter.
“So, I’m still loving my time here and ultimately, of course, I’m chasing another premiership.
“But I also think I am playing an important role for the team. I’m not thinking I’m hanging on for dear life.
“I feel like I add to the group and the same guys I help with my experiences – and I don’t think they realise this – but they help me with my energy and my motivation and enjoyment, too.
“’Daics’ and ‘Ginni’, when they come to me for advice, I go to them for energy and enthusiasm and this is just what I love about our group at the moment.”
“It is a great blend of guys and their personalities.”
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