AFL grand final: Collingwood have an invincible air

Collingwood are clear-cut premiership favourites for Saturday’s grand final.

Magpies Jaidyn Stephenson, Jordan de Goey and Travis Varcoe

Despite finishing the home-and-away season below West Coast, and losing to the Eagles twice this season including a qualifying final, Collingwood are clear-cut premiership favourites for Saturday’s grand final.

The Magpies have opened at $1.60 with West Coast at $2.40. Both clubs have momentum but punters are concerned about the vastly different lead-up form lines.

The MCG home-ground advantage should favour the Pies, who have played there 16 times this year, even though they have lost six at the venue in 2018. And in a departure from previous consistent failures at the ground, West Coast are unbeaten in their two MCG games this year, including a 35-point win over Collingwood in round 17.

As convincing as the two preliminary final winners were — both games were as good as over midway through the second quarter — the wins were achieved in contrasting circumstances. The Eagles didn’t get out of a canter when they were gifted theirs by the fragile Demons of old.

And Collingwood played like they were bulletproof. Walking out of the MCG last Friday night you could not believe anything else other than they are the new Richmond.

The winners of their previous 22 games at the MCG were annihilated by a Collingwood who were a combination of the desperate Western Bulldogs of the 2016 finals series and the cohesion of the Tigers last year.

The A F L finals

In the first week of the finals, Collingwood were very good in losing to the Eagles. They were outstanding, but still a little wayward, against GWS, and then simply awesome in their brilliant four-quarter effort against Richmond, and coming off a six-day break.

Before the preliminary final, Tigers legend Kevin Bartlett explained what having an air of invincibility meant. The only catch was that he believed that tag still belonged to Richmond after almost two years.

“They’ve got enormous faith in each other,” Bartlett said. “Over the past 18 months, they’ve created this fantastic bond between the players. The belief in each other, and I would say that like all really good sides who have dominated competitions and won premierships, there’s an air of invincibility about them.

“No matter how a game is going, you never lose your belief that you are going to win the match … invincibility comes from a belief that the players you’ve got won’t let you down, they’ll play for each other, they will fight for each other, they’ll stick up for each other, it’s all about togetherness.

“There’s a feeling that if you do all those things, we will win. Invincibility in sport is a very, very important thing.”

Bartlett recalled playing under his great mate and Hall of Fame coach Tom Hafey during the Tigers’ golden era of four flags. “I can remember when Tommy was coaching and we went through a stage of being the best team in the competition for several years, we had an invincibility about us,” he said.

“Tommy used to say that no team can absorb 100 minutes of pressure from a Richmond team. ‘They might do it for 50 minutes, 60, 70 or 80 or even 95 minutes, but they won’t be able to absorb 100 minutes of pressure,’ Tommy said. ‘And as soon as they can’t absorb it, that’s when we’ll kick the score that will win the game.’

“So there was an invincibility no matter how far we were behind or not playing well, that no side could keep us at bay if we applied 100 minutes of pressure.”

The concept is correct. It just doesn’t apply to Richmond any more. That air of invincibility now belongs to the Pies.

And that could be the difference on Saturday even though West Coast are not the same outfit as the one humbled by Hawthorn on grand final day in 2015. And they will need to be better as the stats of some of their playmakers were appalling. Josh Kennedy — five kicks, zero goals. Jack Darling — six kicks, one goal. Jamie Cripps — six kicks, zero goals. Elliot Yeo — two kicks, one goal.

West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett described the 2015 grand final as a “surprise appearance”. Eagles coach Adam Simpson is sure his players have matured since then and are better prepared this year. “We are different to 2015 … I’m hoping we’re in better shape,” Simpson said. “It was our second year together … whereas this year I feel like we’re a little bit more settled.”

Nisbett told The Australian the injection of youth this year was a bonus. After being near the mark in the bottom half of the top eight for two years with an ageing list, the Eagles introduced eight new faces to the elite level this year, including six teenagers.

Both clubs will have three 2018 debutants playing. West Coast will be represented by Willie Rioli, Liam Ryan and Daniel Venables, while the Magpies will play Jaidyn Stephenson, Brayden Sier and Brody Mihocek.

“Playing the young guys ... creates great enthusiasm because the kids are up and about and very positive about getting a game,” Nisbett said. “The upside for the club is that our successes this year are going to be sustainable. I think our depth is now exceptional.”

Nisbett believes Simpson is a far better coach three years on. “He’s more mature … it is a really tough job and you need to roll with a few of the punches and grow from that.

“We’re in really good shape,” Nisbett said. “It’s a great strength to have when you’re in the finals and you’ve got enough kids underneath that you think are going to make the grade.

“We’ve been very consistent this year and that’s the aim, is to keep that consistency going, not just for 12 months, but for years. If you can do that, then you keep giving yourself a chance.”