Collingwood sets up dream preliminary final showdown with Richmond after beating GWS
FORGET about rule changes, forget about where Tom Lynch and Steven May are going and forget about French au pairs because Collingwood has saved the AFL’s bacon again.
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FORGET about rule changes, forget about where Tom Lynch and Steven May are going, forget about French au pairs because Collingwood has saved the AFL’s bacon again.
While they may have taken longer than most expected to get it done, the Magpies gutsy 10-point win over Greater Western Sydney means league boss Gillon McLachlan gets his dream preliminary final.
Richmond v Collingwood next Friday night at the MCG is the AFL’s nirvana.
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The two biggest teams in town going at each other is a PR gold mine and Gill has a few thank-you emails (we know he likes sending them, think Peter Dutton) to type out on Monday.
Ironically someone who may have given him some heartache in the past when it comes to PR is at the top of the list.
Jordan De Goey is a unique footballer, a midfielder who now plays as a leading forward out of the goalsquare.
His class and influence isn’t measured in statistics, its all about moments.
He finished with 3.2 but each of those goals came at crucial times for his team — on the halftime siren, halting a Giants run in the third quarter and then igniting the Pies in the last.
Steele Sidebottom should be next on the list as he dominated the semi-final with 31 possessions while ruckman Brodie Grundy also deserves a lot of love.
A few others who deserve a mention in the congrats memo include Will Hoskin-Elliott who kicked two goals against his former side, Brayden Maynard for blanketing Giants gun Toby Greene while the recovery powers of Adam Treloar and Tyson Goldsack deserve a pump-up.
And Travis Varcoe who provided the most poignant moment of the evening when he kicked a brilliant goal on the run in the opening minute of the final quarter.
There were plenty of times in the second half where the fairytale wasn’t going to happen as the Giants came to life after a horror start.
After not kicking a goal in the first quarter, the men in orange hit the front five minutes into the third quarter when spearhead Jeremy Cameron finally introduced himself to the contest.
The Pies responded to at least hold a three-point advantage going into the final quarter which quickly went to 21 points after they kicked three goals in the opening four minutes.
When it mattered the most, it was the Giants big names who went missing.
Captain Calln Ward and Dylan Shiel couldn’t get it done and with Cameron and Greene providing little up forward, the task was too hard.
All-Australian Lachie Whitfield (31 disposals) and Stephen Coniglio (30 touches and two goals) were clearly the Giants best.
So can Collingwood beat Richmond?
They’ll need to improve on last night’s evidence but they’ve got close a couple of times during the year and as much as Melbourne is riding a fairytale at the moment, so is Nathan Buckley and his team.
This time last year Bucks had just avoided getting sacked. Incredible.
Collingwood fans are used to riding a rollercoaster of emotions and they got a lot of practice in the first half
The opening quarter was a domination but the scoreboard didn’t reflect it although it did sum up the Giants who’d only managed two behinds.
But the Pies butchered plenty of chances and were lucky to get a gift goal on the siren to Hoskin-Elliott which pushed the lead out to 22 points at the first break.
Whatever Leon Cameron said at quarter-time, he should bottle it because the men in orange were a completely different unit in the second quarter.
Ryan Griffin had their first goal inside 50 seconds and when Rory Lobb took a brilliant pack mark at the 28-minute mark to kick their fourth, they were within a point.
It required some De Goey magic in the final 10 seconds to get Collingwood its only goal.
The Giants didn’t take it well and an all-in brawl erupted as Lobb and former teammate Taylor Adams got in each other’s face.
It was great theatre and that’s exactly what Gill wanted ... and the right result.
COLLINGWOOD 3.6 4.9 6.12 9.15 (69) def GWS 0.2 4.2 7.3 9.5 (59)
GOALS
Collingwood: J de Goey 3 J Thomas 2 W Hoskin-Elliott 2 B Mihocek T Varcoe
GWS: S Coniglio 2 A TomlinsonH Himmelberg J Cameron M De Boer R Griffen R Lobb Z Langdon. Umpires: Shaun Ryan, Robert Findlay, Ray Chamberlain.
BEST
Collingwood:
Sidebottom, De Goey, Grundy, Treloar, Maynard, Howe, Hoskin-Elliott, Phillips.
GWS: Coniglio, Whitfield, Lobb, Deledio, Shiel, Ward.
Official Crowd: 72,504 at MCG.
VOTES
3 - STEELE SIDEBOTTOM
Class. Class. Class. Sidebottom was everywhere for 31 possessions which included five clearances and six inside 50s. Memo Damien Hardwick - find a tagger.
2 - STEPHEN CONIGLIO
Capped off a brilliant season by basically keeping the Giants in the game with 30 possessions and two goals.
1 - JORDAN DE GOEY
Lives for the big moments. Played out of the goalsquare all night, kicking three goals which could easily have been a handful.
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