AFL Finals 2023: Mark Robinson on Jordan De Goey’s spectacular preliminary final game
Jordan De Goey has long been compared to a certain superstar from Tigerland who dominated finals, and the Magpie once again showed why the comparisons are valid, writes Mark Robinson.
We don’t know if Jordan De Goey wanted to be like Dustin Martin, or was it that all of us wanted him to be like Dusty.
But maybe De Goey is just De Goey, and despite sitting on the bench for the last nine minutes at the MCG, the powerhouse midfielder was best afield. By a long way.
He is Dusty but different.
Dusty is power and precision, De Goey is persistent and precise. He finished with 34 disposals and 13 clearances, and it was his third BOG performance in Collingwood’s past five finals matches.
That’s Dusty-esque.
He also has this uncanny ability to get a disposal away when he’s caught with the ball, or gang-tackled, or being dragged to the ground.
Moments before the umpire goes to blow the whistle, De Goey pings the ball out of congestion. It’s a talent that requires brain and brawn.
It wasn’t a classic on Friday night – only 16 goals were kicked, and the skills were sometimes only average – but the tightness of the margin meant the match was never really separated by more than a goal.
What was extraordinary was the last goal kicked by Giant Jesse Hogan, who made the margin one point, which was the margin at the final siren.
Last year Collingwood was punted in the preliminary final by Sydney by a solitary behind. On Friday night, in front of 97,000-plus deliriously happy fans, they punted the Giants by the same margin.
Sport isn’t about inches, as we are led to believe, it’s about seconds and moments. The last 10 minutes was jam-packed with heroics, both desperate and inspiring.
Neither team could score but neither team would yield. And it wasn’t until Josh Daicos found himself in space on the wing with 20 seconds to play did the Pies look the winner.
By Joes, the Pies needed it.
If they lost to the Giants, they would have had two superlative seasons under coach Craig McRae with nothing to show for it, other than admiration for playing a pleasing brand of footy.
Football doesn’t reward preliminary final losers.
In driving Collingwood into the grand final, De Goey notched up his third best-on-ground performance in the past five Collingwood finals matches.
He was best player afield at quarter-time, having had 10 disposals and four clearances.
Brayden Maynard was next best across the first 20 minutes, having had three touches.
The purpose of both players was definable. De Goey was the main man in the midfield, where the Giants’ weapons were languishing, while Maynard had Giants skipper Toby Greene as an opponent.
It was the match-up dreamt up in hell.
Greene, the difference maker, got into the game when the Giants got into the game – or is that vice versa?
So, after a quiet beginning, he finished the quarter with five touches and three of them were score involvements.
At halftime, he had five score involvements in the Giants’ eight scores.
His goal came via typical cunning from Greene. Opposed to Pies skipper Darcy Moore – he mainly had Maynard for the night – Greene allowed Moore to fly for the mark. Greene stayed on the deck; teammate Jesse Hogan took the mark, then handballed to Greene to have the shot at goal.
Maynard was somewhere else, and Moore buggered off deep, allowing Greene to do the Greene thing from 50m.
The Pies settled much later, but it was un-Collingwood-like for a period there.
They took 52 uncontested marks, their second most in a first half this year.
They were either playing rubbish football, were playing slow-ball to protect the defence from the tsunami turnover, or the Giants’ pressure/team defence had them playing a little hesitantly.
There was no denying the Giants were chopping off Collingwood’s kicks.
The Pies had taken a leaf out of Melbourne’s semi-boring long-bomb strategy.
There was no flow and no overlap. And they were picked off. The Giants took 11 intercept marks in the first half, which was the second most for them in a first half this year.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. With the week’s rest. And with St Nick back. And an 11-goal win against the Giants already this year.
The popular opinion was the Pies would start more powerfully.
It was much like the fear that the hate speech from Sam Newman, calling on fans to boo the Welcome to Country ceremony, was supposed to be powerfully popular in the pre-match.
Instead, the crowd didn’t boo and celebrated the ceremony. And on the field, the Giants controlled the game from the 20th minute of the first quarter until halftime.
During that 40 minute-spell from the 20th minute of the first quarter until halftime, the Giants:
• Scored 23 points
• Points from turnovers +24 points
• Contested possessions +14
• Groundball gets +5
• Inside 50s +4
In the third quarter, the Pies launched off half-back, kicking 5.1 to 2.5, and it was apparent they tried to use the corridor and change angles.
Across the match, they were +10 hitouts to advantage, and +18 clearances, with De Goey having 13 clearances.
The Giants will rue missed chances, and so will the Pies.
But deep down McRae will be thrilled with the gritty final 10 minutes. It got them into a grand final.
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