Collingwood runner Alex Woodward on fallout behind 2018 Grand Final incident

A moment from a truly historic AFL Grand Final had fans incensed, but it left one man in a dark hole as the backlash mounted.

Collingwood runner Alex Woodward’s iconic incident from the 2018 Grand Final.

The 2018 AFL Grand Final will long be remembered as an all-time classic. A genuine arm-wrestle of a contest between two giant clubs of the AFL.

A game that went right down to the wire and produced arguably one of the most clutch goals you’re ever likely to see.

West Coast’s end to end passage of play which resulted in Dom Sheed etching his name into AFL folklore by slotting a goal hard up against the boundary in the dying stages of the game to seal the victory was as iconic a moment as there has been in Grand Finals.

Sheed’s goal sits clear atop the highlights from that iconic contest, but not far behind is a moment from the third quarter and it involved one unlucky runner.

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As Collingwood looked to work their way out of the backline, a kick from Taylor Adams looked to find Jaidyn Stephenson on the 50m arc. Only problem was Stephenson’s path to the kick was blocked by his own club’s runner.

The ball ended up in the hands of West Coast’s Elliot Yeo who thumped home the goal to put the Eagles back in front for the first time since the opening quarter.

The man who found himself the centre of attention was Collingwood’s runner, Alex Woodward, who was a former Hawthorn player.

YEO GOES BANG!

Collingwood runner Alex Woodward got in Jaidyn Stephenson's way.#AFLGF pic.twitter.com/qCAL67QDpd

— AFL (@AFL) September 29, 2018

His unfortunate cameo in the biggest game of the year came as he was attempting to deliver a message for Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley.

A little under two years on from the famous moment Woodward spoke about the incident and the ugly fallout he endured along with the class shown by Buckley and one Eagles star helped him overcome the dark hole he entered.

“I was just doing my job,” Woodward said on Fox Footy’s Open Mike.

“Personally, I thought I was in a pretty good position to be away from where I thought the ball was going to go. So I was head down trying to deliver a message — and I unfortunately crossed paths with Jaidyn.

“I never made contact with Jaidyn, but nonetheless I really should have had a bit more awareness than that and I put my hand up, definitely.”

Umpire Shaun Ryan talks with Woodward after the incident.

As he walked off the ground he admitted to “feeling very guilty” about what had unfolded, but even that didn’t prepare him for what was to come.

“I knew the impact that potentially had on the game and I couldn’t help but show that emotion post-game,” he said.

“I probably wasn’t ready for the spotlight to be on me post-game. I usually think I’ve got fairly thick skin when it comes to that stuff, I’ve faced a lot of adversity in my time in the AFL system. But when it came to direct messages and comments on social media, that stuff’s quite accessible and there’s no real filtering.

“The worst of it was enough to bother me and put me in a bit of a hole. From death threats to suggestions of suicide to wishes of illness and further injury. I couldn’t help but let that get to me a little bit.

“I know it’s easy to say ‘don’t pay that no mind’, but when there’s an influx of it on such a big stage, I couldn’t help but feel even more guilty. No one else was going to make me feel as bad as I did in my mind about the situation.”

Bucks consoles Woodward after the game

The emotion of the moment overtook Woodward in the rooms after the loss, but it was coach Nathan Buckley who was there with words of advice.

“I was pretty emotional post-game. A lot of guilt, a lot of self-doubt, feeling embarrassed,” he said. “I just felt I let a lot of people down.

“But it is what it is. I’ve learnt to accept the moment for what it was. Hopefully it’s made me a better person having gone through that experience and faced another challenge.

“(Buckley said) that I didn’t really need to feel that way. I couldn’t help but feel that way, but he just wrapped his arms around me and said that I was a big part of why the club got (into a strong position) initially,” Woodward said.

“I, as a runner, really embraced that role. I absolutely loved it. I just felt like I let him down, (but) he just gave me a few words of comfort.”

And it wasn’t just Buckley who lifted the spirits of the deflated Woodward with Eagles superstar Nic Naitanui reaching out to his via private message.

“It speaks volumes about his character as well,” he said.

“That meant a lot to me. He said he was thinking – and a lot of the Eagles boys were thinking – about me and felt fairly sorry for me, which was nice as well.”