AFL round 10 Collingwood v Adelaide: All news, analysis and fallout from MCG thriller

Crows fans may not like it, but the AFL is set to tick off the late free kick that handed Collingwood victory on Saturday, as Adelaide looks ahead to time without Izak Rankine.

Jon Ralph and Ronny Lerner

6 min read

May 19, 2024 - 11:43AM

News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom

Pies hold on after controversial Rankine free kick

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Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks said his young team were “sick of learning” from tough experiences after losing yet another close game on Saturday against Collingwood at the MCG.

The Crows got their noses in front with 7:15 left in the match, only to have their hopes dashed by a late Jordan De Goey goal.

The AFL gave its official stamp of approval to the decision to penalise Izak Rankine for running 24 metres without a bounce despite howls of disapproval from Adelaide fans.

Those fans believed that for the third time in recent memory they were denied by a line-ball umpiring decision as the Crows surged with only seconds on the clock.

But AFL football operations boss Laura Kane will on Monday make clear the umpire made the correct decision.

The league on Sunday said it was happy with the call from the umpire given players are only allowed to run 15 metres without a bounce.

While clearly players take liberties with that rule – and many of those calls go unpaid – it was clear to the umpire that Rankine well exceeded that 15 metre limit.

He had already taken a bounce as he surged down the MCG wing and pumped the ball into the forward 50 with the Crows needing a late goal to snatch an unlikely upset victory.

But with 16 seconds left he was penalised, with coach Matthew Nicks unprepared to weigh in after contentious losses involving Essendon, Sydney and Collingwood in the last year where key decisions late went against the Crows.

“He’s extremely fast. I thought he had a fantastic game of footy. I won’t be making any comment around the (free kick). I thought he had a great game, a huge impact.”

Darcy Fogarty and Brodie Smith after Adelaide’s loss on Saturday. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Rankine also suffered a low-grade hamstring injury in that run so to salt the wound he is likely to miss at least three weeks with his second hamstring injury within 12 months.

Although they headed into the season with both one of the youngest and most inexperienced lists, those facts are starting to wear thin on Nicks.

“The stats will show you, if you go back, average age and so on, it is tough to win games of footy when you have a younger group,” Nicks said post-game.

“And you learn a lot through your experiences across the journey.

“Collingwood now have learned so much through their time when they weren’t at their best and now they’re playing their best, they’re getting some real belief and getting it right.

“We’re still working our way through that and learning from these experiences, but we’re sick of learning. We’re ready to take that next step and unfortunately today we didn’t.”

Adelaide’s record in games decided by six points or less in the last three seasons is now a poor 4-11-1, while, conversely, Collingwood is a sparkling 16-3-1 in such games during the same period.

Nicks believed his team could turn it around in close games this season, but that it had to get a move on with only three wins from its first 10 games and its finals hopes teetering precariously.

“We’re confident we’ve got the game to be able to do it, we’re going to have to prove that sooner or later,” he said.

Adelaide have now lost their last four games against Collingwood by a combined total of 12 points.

“It’s tough, and there’s a belief part to it. I’ve got no doubt,” Nicks said.

“They (Collingwood) have huge confidence in it and that comes from getting it right and winning those moments – just having the belief in yourselves.

“Unfortunately for us we’ve been on the other side of that.”

Skipper Jordan Dawson is tackled by Scott Pendlebury. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

De Goey’s late goal was set up by a huge smother from Isaac Quaynor in defence that led to the Pies running the ball up the ground through the corridor. Nicks wasn’t pleased with how his team set up for the ensuing scramble from Quaynor’s smother.

“We’ve got things we’ve got to be better at unfortunately,” he said.

“It’s easy for us to sit there on the Monday and be Monday’s experts and go through it and say, ‘We should’ve been here and we could’ve been there’, and so on.

“But we didn’t get it perfect. We didn’t get it the way we trained.

“That’ll be one I think we’ll look back on and want to get it right next time.”

The result was compounded for Adelaide with star midfielder/forward Izak Rankine injuring his hamstring in the dying seconds of the game.

Clutch Pies pip Crows in controversial thriller

A Jordan De Goey goal with two minutes left has helped Collingwood once again defy a hefty injury list to pip Adelaide by four points in yet another thriller after blowing a five-goal lead at the MCG on Saturday.

Like last week, Collingwood’s forward line had a completely different look about it with Brody Mihocek (hamstring), Jamie Elliott (back), Beau McCreery (concussion) and Jeremy Howe (groin) all missing, as well as Dan McStay (knee).

And their forward stocks took another hit at half-time when Will Hoskin-Elliott (hamstring) was subbed out, before Reef McInnes exited the game in the third term due to concussion after copping an accidental knee to the head from Adelaide’s Brayden Cook.

But the Magpies looked headed for a huge win when they booted six goals in a row to lead by 30 points early in the second quarter on the back of stoppage domination which saw them win eight of the first 10 centre clearances.

Jordan De Goey after putting the Magpies in front. Picture: Michael Klein

Undeterred, the Crows put their woeful forward efficiency behind them and they were finally rewarded for their territory dominance, booting four of the next five majors to get back within 10 points early in the third term.

Both sides went goal for goal from just before half-time up until early in the final quarter, when Mitch Hinge ended the arm wrestle by unloading a long bomb from 52m out to get Adelaide back within six points.

And when Izak Rankine kicked one of the goals of the season after bursting from the stoppage and dribbling it along the carpet from the boundary, the Crows re-took the lead with 7:15 to go, for the first time since time-on in the first quarter.

The ball lived in Adelaide’s attacking zone as the Crows finished the game with a wet sail and looked liked they were going to overrun the Magpies, but at the 25-minute mark, Isaac Quaynor executed a crucial smother which denied Ben Keays a potential match-winning goal.

From the ensuing scramble, Harvey Harrison, Quaynor, Jack Crisp and Nick Daicos combined through the corridor to get the ball to De Goey who put Collingwood back up by two points with 1:58 to go.

With 16 seconds left, Adelaide had one last chance when Rankine went on a dashing run down the wing, but controversially was penalised for running too far without taking a bounce, and to rub salt into the wound, the star Crow hurt his hamstring in the process of kicking it.

YOU DON'T CALL THAT WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE#AFLPiesCrows pic.twitter.com/r9ausBbpNj
— bear ðŸ§¸ (@beartorius) May 18, 2024

Jake Soligo is tackled by Nick Daicos. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

THE KINGS OF CLOSE ONES

The 12.6 (78) to 11.8 (74) result saw Collingwood’s record in games decided by six points or less under coach Craig McRae improve to an unbelievable 16-3-1. The Magpies’ undefeated streak has now stretched to seven games as the reigning premiers’ gradual climb up the ladder continues.

Meanwhile, Adelaide’s margin for error to make the finals has shrunk as they will now likely have to win nine of their last 13 games to qualify.

DAICOS, PENDLES SUPREME

Daicos was tremendous again for Collingwood with 40 disposals (22 contested), 14 clearances and six tackles, while Scott Pendlebury looked anything but a 36-year-old, racking up 30 touches (12 contested), six clearances and two goals in his 393rd game.

Jordan Dawson (29 disposals) and Rankine (30) did their best in the pulsating final term to get Adelaide over the line, but their efforts were ultimately in vain. The Crows have now lost their last four games to Collingwood by a combined 12 points.

John Noble mobbed by teammates after producing one of the highlights of the day. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

NOBLE NAILS IT

Despite being light on scoring options, the Magpies still managed to produce nine individual goalkickers and one of them was John Noble who, in his 100th game, produced one of the highlights of the day as he accepted the handball from De Goey in the third term, broke the Lachie Sholl tackle and sprinted to 45m out before drilling a magnificent goal to put the Magpies back up by 16 points.