AFL qualifying final: Collingwood defeats Melbourne, Brayden Maynard to face MRO scrutiny
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has given an insight into a “shattered” Angus Brayshaw’s mindset and hinted at whether he expects Brayden Maynard to be suspended.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin says concussed midfielder Angus Brayshaw is “pretty shattered” and set to miss “a few weeks” after his first quarter collision with Brayden Maynard on Thursday night.
Goodwin suggested the Collingwood defender should face consequences for the hit, which knocked Brayshaw out cold in a continuation of his troubling history of head knocks.
Brayshaw sat out half of his second season in 2016 and the majority of 2017 as he suffered four concussions over the course of 12 months.
“I guess that will be sorted out during the week, but we’ve got a pretty shattered player in there ... you can only go by the facts,” Goodwin said.
“You (Maynard) jumped off the ground and knocked a guy out, so I guess time will tell.
“He’s upset, he’s obviously had a history with concussion a long time ago, so he’s dealing with some emotion there, but he wants to play finals footy — he’s going to be missing for a few weeks, and that’s disappointing.”
Goodwin said a poor first quarter had let the Demons down more than their terrible conversion, managing only seven goals from 69 inside 50s to Collingwood’s 37.
“There’s a lot of optimism, we played the right way for a big part of that game ... to dominate territory, to dominate inside 50, to win the (contested possessions) by 15 by the end of the game, that’s a pretty big turnaround in the game of footy, and that gives us a lot of heart, because that is what stands up in finals footy,” he said.
“But you’ve got to do it for the whole time, and in the first quarter we weren’t able to do that.”
Goodwin said Brayshaw’s withdrawal from the game in the first quarter had left Melbourne unable to deploy Christian Petracca forward as much as planned, contributing to the poor offensive performance.
“We just didn’t execute as well as we would have liked once we had our opportunities, and that shows up on the scoreboard — we didn’t kick a big enough score to win, so we’ve still got a little bit of work to do in that space,” he said.
The coach said he had not seen much of the incident involving Jacob van Rooyen, who appeared to collect Dan McStay in the chin with a bump during the first term.
He said van Rooyen was unlikely to be in trouble with the MRO because McStay remained on the ground, although the key forward spent 20 minutes on the bench as he received a concussion test.
ANALYSIS: TWO MALIGNED PIES SHINE ON PATH TO THE PRELIM
Jay Clark
Daniel McStay would have heard all the jibes.
Too much money. Not worth it.
He’s not a big banana.
When the trade innuendo swept the competition linking McStay to Collingwood last year there wasn’t not the usual fanfare of a gun goal kicker joining a powerhouse club, but rather doubts and conjecture about whether Collingwood had misread it.
Yet as Melbourne mounted a challenge of Collingwood midway through the third term in the qualifying final on Thursday night, McStay answered the call for his club in the scariest of places.
The former Lion was running backwards with the flight under a high ball with no regard for his safety after Tom Mitchell slapped the Sherrin skyward.
And after a quiet first half, this was McStay’s moment.
Huge crowd. Game there for the taking.
And, in one of the biggest moments of his new life in black and white, McStay swallowed it and sinked his second-straight goal of the third term to fend-off Melbourne.
Collingwood’s forward line is built different.
There is no shiny spearhead. No real superstar.
Instead, and different to many other clubs, Collingwood’s attacking setup is made up of competitors, and workhorses.
The bulk of the class is in the midfield and behind the ball.
The grunt is forward, and it can win the club a flag.
Under that high footy, McStay took the kind of courageous mark Collingwood pictured when it made the move for him last year to partner a man who plays footy in the same way, Brody Mihocek.
Livewire Bobby Hill set the game alight early with his lightning run and deft touch, standing up in a big final on a wet night after overcoming his own cancer battle a year ago.
He had his doubters, too, Bobby after a patchy start at GWS Giants.
But together those two additions from other clubs through the exchange period capitalised in key moments to win a game which stamps Collingwood as the 2023 premiership favourite.
They came to the Pies using money the club saved on trading Brodie Grundy to Melbourne, along with Tom Mitchell who also had another big night in greasy conditions.
It is so harsh for Grundy, but two years after the Magpies sunk to the bottom of the ladder they are now in the box seat for the premiership after booking a preliminary final berth.
The Brayden Maynard hit on Angus Brayshaw will be one of the biggest match review incidents in years and Maynard would have had a sleepless night.
But there is a glimmer of hope for the hard nut who was made captain only weeks ago in the absence of Darcy Moore.
But he is not the only man who spent last night tossing and turning.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin and his troops now face the horrendous possibility of being booted from the finals in straight sets in consecutive years.
Christian Petracca had a quiet start on Thursday night, Mason Cox and Darcy Cameron overshadowed Max Gawn in the ruck early, and the Collingwood defence clicked back into gear to win the qualifying final.
The Demons couldn’t penetrate deep into attack and missed crucial long set shots in the third term, frustrating them.
Melbourne has been considered a Ferrari for the sublime midfield talent it has, but the September record since its smashed Western Bulldogs in the 2021 Grand Final will be a debate all week.
The Demons had been humming coming into this one.
Ranked third for points scored since Round 18, No. 1 for time spent in forward half and No. 4 for points from turnovers, they entered the game in great shape.
But they couldn’t connect forward, or gain any real ascendancy in the middle around the two bulls.
Clayton Oliver missed a lot of footy with his hamstring and Tom McDonald looked like a man playing his first game in four months.
Now they face Carlton or Sydney Swans next week, trying to win the cup the hard way.
COLLINGWOOD HOLDS OFF WASTEFUL DEES TO BOOK PRELIM SPOT
Ed Bourke
Collingwood has sealed a dream MCG preliminary final after holding off a late Melbourne charge to claim a seven-point win in a bruising Thursday night qualifying final.
But the Magpies could be without Brayden Maynard and the Demons will certainly lose Angus Brayshaw for their semi-final after a brutal opening quarter collision which will be closely examined by the MRO.
Brayshaw was knocked out cold and stretchered off after colliding with Maynard as he kicked into Melbourne’s forward 50, with the Collingwood defender’s feet leaving the ground before they clashed.
Whether Maynard’s action is classified as a bump or an attempted smother will be the difference between him escaping suspension or potentially receiving a lengthy ban.
Melbourne will also have to take on Carlton or Sydney next week without Jacob van Rooyen after he collected Dan McStay high in a moment of ill-discipline shortly after the incident.
Woefully inaccurate as they converted 20 second-quarter inside 50s into just a solitary goal, the Demons came back with a vengeance to hold Collingwood goalless in the final quarter and cut the margin to seven points with three minutes to play.
But Isaac Quaynor was the hero for Collingwood as he went back with the flight for a pair of stunning overhead marks in the dying moments.
Melbourne skipper Max Gawn was colossal and Clayton Oliver combined with him for 21 clearances, but the Demons couldn’t find any inspiration ahead of the ball until too late in the piece, with Fritsch dangerous but deprived of supply to finish with only seven possessions and 2.2.
WASTEFUL DEES
Melbourne got away with kicking 8.18 on the King’s Birthday, but Collingwood took advantage this time with far greater efficiency when they went forward.
Kysaiah Pickett, Bayley Fritsch and Christian Petracca were repeat offenders as they butchered nine shots at goal for 2.5 in the third quarter.
Fritsch had a chance to cut the margin back to seven points with less than 10 minutes remaining but shanked his set shot almost at right angles in a moment which summed up the Demons’ dirty night in front of goal.
INSPIRED MOVE
It would have been a gut-wrenching decision for Craig McRae to end John Noble’s 83-game streak, but swinging Will Hoskin-Elliott into the backline at his expense paid off in spades for the Magpies.
The versatile 30-year-old, who mostly played on Alex Neal-Bullen or Kade Chandler, peeled off them at just the right moments to cut off three Melbourne forward entries.
Hoskin-Elliott’s clean hands and calm decision-making was crucial for Collingwood’s besieged defence as he amassed 10 kicks in the first half.
FINALS VAN RUINED?
Gun forward Jacob van Rooyen is almost certain to miss a week and could go for longer after the crude bump on Dan McStay 15 minutes after the Maynard-Brayshaw collision.
The way he adjusted to make the contact with McStay’s chin will make it difficult to receive a “careless” grading at the tribunal, and the impact was high enough that McStay was tested for concussion and sat out the mandatory 20-minute period.
With Ben Brown battling a knee issue, a suspension would mean Tom McDonald will almost certainly hold his spot for the semi-final despite having no impact on the contest.
SCOREBOARD
MAGPIES 4.2, 5.3, 9.4, 9.6 (60)
DEMONS 1.0, 2.4, 4.9, 7.11 (53)
BOURKE’S BEST Magpies: Crisp, Sidebottom, Hoskin-Elliott, Quaynor, Hill, Murphy. Demons: Gawn, Oliver, Pickett, Hunter, Petracca, Neal-Bullen.
GOALS Magpies: Hill 3, McStay 2, Crisp, Cameron, Mihocek, De Goey. Demons: Fritsch 2, Pickett, Sparrow, Neal-Bullen, McDonald, Smith.
UMPIRES Deboy, Gavine, Stephens, Stevic
INJURIES Magpies: nil. Demons: Brayshaw (concussion).
CROWD 92,636 at the MCG
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