Collingwood’s Josh Daicos seals thriller as debutant Trey Ruscoe fires
Collingwood recovered from a terrible start to beat Sydney in a crucial win at the Gabba.
Collingwood debutant Trey Ruscoe was sledged by his mum upon selection. Rest of the team fall over, did they mate? Little did she know the real Pies were about to stand up in a crucial nine-point win over Sydney that swung to and fro like a, um, tennis match.
Ruscoe, having broken the internet with his straight-shooting mum, shot straight enough himself to land the opening goal of the second term at the Gabba, earning six points and doing half a dozen extravagant handshakes in celebration. The Pies’ 6.14 (50) to 6.5 (41) victory came after a woefully inaccurate opening half threatened to shoot their playoff hopes right between the eyes.
An engrossing aspect of the AFL’s mad mid-season scramble is footage of aggrieved coaches during clutch matches that will determine if their season extends to the playoffs or ends quicker than you can say coronavirus pandemic.
Case in point, Nathan Buckley. He’d been so busy putting out spotfires it was a wonder he could still find his clipboard in Brisbane. He’d been embarrassed. Annoyed. Perplexed. Contrite. Disappointed. Resolute. Steele Sidebottom’s sliding dunny doors moment and Buckley’s protocol-breaching tennis match had been compounded by the Pies plummeting to 10th on the ladder. Like no season we’ve seen before, time is on no one’s side.
Buckley’s chance of returning the Pies to the right road, while on the road, for the foreseeable future, hinged on the result against the 17th-placed Swans, you would have thought.
Jackson Thurlow took a one-handed mark while falling on his backside, and kicked the goal, in a dream Swans’ start helped by their foes butchering possession. The Pies led the inside 50s by 16-2 but instead of leading by a half-century, it was six-all. Will Hoskin-Elliott had gone off with bone bruising, and would not return. Buckley watch: he was stroking the hairs of his chinny, chin, chin, the expression stern. Ruscoe had his heightened, finger-wagging, mum-pleasing moment right before another rookie, the Swans’ first-gamer, Sam Wicks, found the big sticks himself. It was a low-scoring affair, but like Test cricket on a green deck, still riveting.
Collingwood’s Josh Daicos produced such a horrendous shank the ball was lucky to hit his foot. Buckley watch: he nearly fell off his chair.
At halftime, with Collingwood leading the inside 50s by 31 to 11, but trailing by eight points on the overall ledger, he told Fox Sports: “We’re doing a lot right. You’re not going to see a scoreboard like that very often.
“We’ve clearly got to connect better when we go inside 50. And the times they go inside, we’ve got to defend better. We’re doing a lot of what we want to see. We’ve just got to finish our work.”
That they did, kicking three straight goals to hold a nine-point buffer at three-quarter time. Coach watch: the Swans’ John Longmire was blowing a gasket while Buckley looked composed. Momentum-wise, they had all the running and possession and scoring opportunities, but the Swans were still in touching distance. Thurlow hit the post for what you would not want when behind. A behind.
Ruscoe missed a sitter and his mum probably swore her head off, having displayed a fondness for it on the aforementioned video.
Most recent Swans-Pies fixtures have gone down to the wire, and here was another, but two behinds from Tom Papley were telling. Sam Reid’s hooked set shot was on line but short. Never up, never in.
An opportunity was lost and the sense grew it wasn’t to be Sydney’s night – but then Reid slotted one home from outside 50 and it was a two-point ball game with seven minutes to go.
The Pies were three men down because of injuries. The rest of the team could have fallen over then, mate. They hung on. They showed character and grit and grunt. Daicos landed the matchwinner with a booming banana kick, his shank a distant memory.
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