Nathan Buckley remains wary of Jeremy McGovern and co, but backs in his own intercept trio

The Grand Final rematch will pit the AFL’s best intercept trio against the next batch of stars. Ahead of the massive clash, GLENN McFARLANE breaks down where both clubs are at for now and for the future.

Darcy Moore has had a brilliant start to the season. Picture: AFL Media

The AFL’S best intercept trio opposed to the possible heirs apparent … it’s one of the more intriguing subplots heading into Saturday’s Grand Final rematch between West Coast and Collingwood.

At one end of the MCG, you will have the AFL’s No. 1 intercept group on last year’s measurements — Jeremy McGovern, Tom Barass and Shannon Hurn — who played pivotal roles in the Eagles’ premiership 2018 success, including on the last Saturday in September.

At the other, Collingwood defenders Darcy Moore, Jeremy Howe and Tom Langdon will look to continue their ascent as one of the AFL’s rising intercept trios after a strong start to the 2019 season.

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Moore, who is back and firing after an injury-interrupted 2018, is the point of difference for Collingwood heading into this game, along with boom recruit Dayne Beams and a fit Jamie Elliott.

He has started the year in a blaze of form, already taking six intercept marks in two games — the same figure as Howe and Langdon. That gives the Magpies’ trio a total of 18 intercept marks so far this year, one more than the Eagles’ flag trio.

McGovern has secured seven intercept marks already and is looking to again assert his presence against the Magpies — as he famously did in the Grand Final last year — while Barass has six and Hurn four.

Jeremy McGovern is an intercept marking machine. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Buckley admitted on Thursday the Magpies had to be mindful of McGovern’s presence in the air as they move the ball forward in Saturday night’s clash.

“McGovern is a very good player,” Buckley said. “He is probably the most outstanding intercept marking player in the competition … Barrass would be No. 2, and Hurn wouldn’t be far away.

“We know what we are up against. If we keep kicking it high without getting a contest, he will keep marking it coming back the other way.

“I am pretty sure he will take some marks on Saturday night, so we won’t be tearing our hair out. But on the balance of it, we need to get the flow of play and be looking after our inside 50 entries.”

The addition of Moore to the Magpies’ defence — injuries restricted him to only seven games last year — has been an early season bonus, with Buckley saying he was looking forward to “getting more exposure to Darcy behind the ball.”

“Our personal shifts are not insignificant, and we’re still discovering how that’s going to settle for us (to play) our best footy, not necessarily against any particular opposition,” he said.

Buckley said his players were eager for the challenge against the Eagles, but won’t be stirred by the emotions of what happened on Grand Final day last year.

“We’re not robots,” he said “The team, the club, are made of very human strengths and frailties and realities, but we can’t dwell on anything that we’re not in control of, and I think we’ve got really good at that.

“We’re an in-the-moment club, we’re an in-the-moment team, and we want to bring all that positive emotion that we carry day-to-day for each other … that really drives us.”