AFL news 2022: All the latest big features and analysis surrounding Collingwood in week one of finals
On paper, they don’t have a chance. But Collingwood keeps finding a way to win with an eclectic forward line of lesser lights who all bring something special.
Brody Mihocek is sure he has the best seat in the house.
As his opponent sidles up to him at the first bounce it doesn’t take long for the anti-Ginnivan invective to spew forth.
“We have already got in their heads,” he thinks with satisfaction
As he looks across the 50m arc he witnesses the spring-heeled Ash Johnson and knows the outrageous training spekkies he hauls in will soon be transferred onto an AFL field.
Jamie Elliott?
Mihocek knows he will take care of business as footy’s new ice man, perfect in the clutch moments and an elite pressure forward.
And if Elliott doesn’t get you, Beau McCreery will as a rampaging tackle-first forward who set up Elliott’s matchwinner against Carlton with a 50m bomb of his own.
The American Pie in Mason Cox and Will Hoskin-Elliott, both of them written off and at times maligned, are somewhere in the mix too.
They are a quirky bunch far from the prototypical finals forward line of two 195cm key forwards and a resting star midfielder.
And Mihocek can’t wait for this ragtag bunch to be battle-tested against the might of Geelong on Saturday afternoon.
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A Collingwood forward line so much greater than the sum of its parts will tackle a front six with three current All-Australians – Tom Hawkins, Jeremy Cameron and Tyson Stengle – and Patrick Dangerfield sidling down to the forward line whenever he sees fit.
Any of them individually could tear the game apart, but Collingwood knows it will take collective brilliance to topple the Cats.
Mihocek might be a reserved, softly-spoken former VFL defender but in keeping with the belief in this Craig McRae-coached side, his message might as well be this: why not us?
“I think we are going to surprise a lot of people in the finals,” says 29-year-old Mihocek, a 192cm key forward in a land of 200cm giants who this weekend celebrates 100 AFL games.
“Teams are nervous when they play us. That is a good thing to put in their minds early.
“If we go out there and play our style, we claw our way back in tight games, we can hold onto leads. We are excited and we all have the belief we can win it.
“It’s a weird mix of players (in attack). Ash Johnson is coming on and he’s fitted in very well.
“Jamie is kicking late goals. ‘Ginny’ (Ginnivan) has been himself and the fans are loving it. It annoys the opposition, which is good. The amount of times I play on someone who tells you how annoyed they are at him and he’s already in their heads. Then Beau is the main pressure guy down there. And for myself, Will and Jamie being the older ones, we love to see it and they lean on us for leadership. The rise of the young kids in the team has just been awesome.”
For Collingwood it has been the magical moments that have elevated each player throughout the season rather than 22 matches of sustained brilliance.
It is what they will face against Geelong in Jeremy Cameron (59 goals), Tom Hawkins (59 goals), Tyson Stengle (46 goals), the hard-running role-playing Brad Close (21) and the enigmatic Gary Rohan.
On paper Collingwood doesn’t stand a chance given it is ninth for points scored with 83.6 (Geelong is third with 97.5), 14th for scores inside 50 (Geelong is first) and 11th for inside-50 differential (Geelong is first with 11.8 more a game).
But give this Pies forward line a sniff and they will work magic.
Elliott’s late matchwinner against Carlton was epic in its execution and its teamsmanship.
Ginnivan’s poise to hold out Adam Saad to give Elliot those valuable extra seconds didn’t go unnoticed and has been pitched as the shepherd of the year.
Says second-year forward McCreery: “The one percenters are something we love. Everyone gets around those guys. Everyone loved that. We highlighted it when we reviewed the game. It was such a team thing to do.
“He is just a different breed, but he loves it. He hates the attention but he also feeds off it. He’s a very smart footballer. Even at training he has been playing through the midfield and it’s just his awareness with how much space he has got. Even I struggle to tackle him most times.”
Castlemaine-born Ginnivan’s capacity to be a lightning rod for controversy has hidden his exquisite football talents in his second season as a rookie after his lethal 36.18 this year.
His three goals to put Carlton to the sword were straight from the crumber’s manual – reading the flight better for a goalsquare crumb and left-foot snap, a dead-eye set shot from 45 on a tight angle, brilliant 45m left-foot snap as Carlton’s Zac Williams closed on him.
“It’s just how much he annoys them,” says Mihocek of his opponent’s regular frustrations.
“I don’t think he should change the way he plays. If he can put his defender off and even a few more of them it falls into our hands. For such a young kid to take on what he has done, he has (endured) more than someone who has played 10 years.
“He is going to be a great player and it’s scary to think what he’s going to be like when the pressure is off him.
“It’s celebrating the little things, the block he did and the way he runs his patterns opens up plenty of space. The smarts to pick the ball up and snap on his left 40m out is something he practises at training. What he does isn’t a fluke. He probably deserves more respect. He is a great part of the team.”
Mid-season recruit Johnson has played six games for 13.4 and his formline is nearly as impressive as his list of former clubs including Halls Creek, Claremont, North Wangaratta, Scotch Old Collegians and the Crows SANFL side.
Says Collingwood‘s jumper number 41 Mihocek of his next-door locker buddy: “He has the biggest hands I have seen. He is the best mark in the forward line. He is someone that is going to light up the finals series. It’s scary to think what he can do”.
Every Pies forward brings an individual gift.
Since his debut Johnson ranks 14th of the top 50 forwards for goals when targeted inside 50.
Hoskin-Elliott has a set shot accuracy of 79 per cent – the best of any player in the comp with 10 or more shots.
Only six small forwards have more goals than Ginnivan’s 36.
McCreery is one of only six forwards to rank elite for tackles and forward-half pressure.
His booming left-foot goal to bring the margin back to five points against Carlton came after he passed up an earlier chance and botched a squared inboards pass.
He says McRae’s reminder to back in his skills meant he had the confidence to nail the next shot running through 50m.
“It’s just the belief in me as a footballer to play to my strengths. The one I tried to pass off to Pat (Lipinski), he was low-key filthy that I passed it. He just said, ‘I want you to drive your legs. No one is going to catch you’.
South Adelaide’s McCreery spent a year playing local footy with mates after falling out of love with the game, but when he witnessed players around his standard thriving he returned to the SANFL and turned himself into a tackling dynamo.
When South Adelaide coach Jarrod Wright constantly replayed a clip of McCreery coming from nowhere to sprint past his opponents, trip and fall and still tackle his rival, his ethos was set.
“I wasn’t kicking many goals so I had to do something else, so I fell into that role as a pressure forward,” he says.
“And the coaches loved it there, so I came here and transitioned into doing the same thing here.”
Daicos hails ‘sensational spirit’ at inclusive Pies
– Lauren Wood
Peter Daicos knows he has to keep the footy chat in check this week.
A Collingwood champion, a 1990 premiership player, a self-confessed “footy nutter”.
But it’s Dad for now, as the next generation of Daicos take centre stage from here.
Josh and Nick – the latter having claimed Rising Star glory last week – are vital cogs to the current Magpies crop that are riding the September wave, and Peter admits he has “gotten better” with recognising how much is too much when it comes to football talk on the home front.
“I just want to talk footy all the time and I’ve probably come to the realisation – I let them come to me now,” the five-time Collingwood leading goalkicker told the Herald Sun.
“Their job is just every day it revolves around football, being talked about, physically them going about their training.It’s important now that they get their time.
“When they do get their day off, I do like them to try and get the footy out of their head and just reset a little bit.”
The pair spend plenty of time at Peter and Colleen’s place which the Hall of Fame member said has given a different view of the nailbiting road the Pies have taken to the top four.
“The boys still spend a lot of time at home and the general public get to see a finished product in any given week,” Peter said.
“We see the ups and downs of their build-up to a week, are they injured, are they feeling up and down? We ride the bumps a little bit.
“So when it all comes off for them in any given game, we ride the emotion. It’s nice, because we get to see all the work they put in and all the toiling they do, so it’s nice for them.”
Daicos said Collingwood’s conditioning was what could set them apart in coming weeks, with a “sensational” spirit to match.
But he highlighted what he viewed as a significant shift in the club under senior coach Craig McRae that had reinvigorated the spark for him and other former players.
“Collingwood under Craig McRae has been so inclusive,” he said.
“Over the last 20 years or since I’ve been retired, I’ve been in the club maybe six times.
“But I’ve been there in the last 12 months, probably 20 times. The feeling that’s being created, all the past players are welcome, we go back every second or third week with the players. It’s just been fantastic.
“We don’t expect any special treatment, but with having two boys there, the boys are really enjoying me floating around the place.
“The environment clearly has changed and it’s been absolutely stunning. I love it.”
‘I love this game too much’: Why concussion Pie won’t quit
- Jon Ralph
AS former Geelong ‘tragic’ Nathan Murphy prepares to take on boyhood hero Tom Hawkins on Saturday, he needs little reminder football could be taken away from him in a flash.
The 22-year-old entered the season aware his career could well be over if the barrage of injuries that had curtailed his potential didn’t finally abate.
Finally after a rib injury that ruined his summer and a pre-season ankle dislocation he put together a three-month run of football so solid the courageous key back earned a two-year contract extension.
On Saturday the Pies will trust him against the same All Australian captain Murphy has admired as a Geelong fan so ardent that he cried in the stands in 2008 when the Cats lost the unlosable grand final.
Those serious considerations about life after football would be on the backburner if not for one added complication.
Murphy, who is crazy brave to his own detriment, has a concussion history he admits could be one more severe head knock away from a forced decision to end his footballing career.
“It has always been part of my game, off the back of fight and spirit and it’s cost me,” Murphy told the Herald Sun on Monday.
“I have had about six or seven concussions, fractured my face because of it.
“It has cost me a few times and I spoke to the docs about it but sometimes I just can’t help it. It does play on your mind, every one you get. I have had a few now where I have had to be in hospital overnight.
“And it gets mum emotional. She is nearly off coming to watch me play football but I think I just love this game too much. We will address it when it’s serious but I love this game too much to even think about giving it up at the moment.”
So for Murphy, this weekend will be one to savour after all that has befallen him and what might eventuate in the future.
“I have seen this (finals hype) happen but I have never been part of it,” he said.
“I haven’t stopped smiling. In 2018 I got dropped for the finals, in 2019 and 2020 I was injured. Going into this year I didn’t really know where I sat in the team and then the injury came and those thoughts go through your head about whether you will get a contract.
“I didn’t want it but I was prepared for it. It is amazing how much it can change in a year.”
Murphy admits the symptoms from his head clashes are alarming, but a battery of tests have cleared him to keep playing for now.
“I just can’t remember much, I sleep a lot, get headaches. Black out, vomiting. There was one with my girlfriend last year where she had to put up with me vomiting eight or nine times so it’s not fun for the people around me. I have done a lot of tests and seen a lot of people for it.”
“I have seen the bad side with Will Pucovski, we are good mates. He has really struggled with it and I have seen the bad side so if it is time to call it, there would be a time. Some are bigger than others. It’s the serious ones that are the worry but we are all sweet now, which is nice.”
That post-football life involves a physical education degree and expansion plans for the Hawthorn cafe Whiplash he shares with business partners Jordan Russell, Brody Mihocek and Callum Brown.
In the 13-match run since round 10 a player so talented the Pies nearly selected him instead over Jaidyn Stephenson in the 2018 national draft has found his niche as a lockdown defender allowing Jeremy Howe and Darcy Moore to shine.
He has come on so quickly Hawkins is the natural opponent on Saturday to allow one of Howe or Moore the intercepting role while the other guards Jeremy Cameron.
“There is a bit of a weight swing on us (79kg to 103kg) but I am used to playing deep 100m away from anyone else. I am just excited by the challenge,“ he said.
“In 2007 I went (to the grand final), in 2008 I took my jumper off at the Hawthorn win because I couldn’t put up with it. Crying in the stands … In 2009 I went, 2011 I saw them beat us (Collingwood).
“It will be weird to be out there. Dad is still mad Geelong so I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s rocking a half-Geelong, half-Collingwood scarf. Hawkins’ calves are probably bigger than my biceps. He’s a serious player …. I can’t wipe the smile off my face.”
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