AFL round 12: Collingwood v Western Bulldogs analysis

Luke Beveridge has praised the maturity shown by Sam Darcy to turn matchwinner after two minutes of madness against Brayden Maynard and Collingwood.

It was always going to be him.

Football has a funny way of delivering great theatre and Sam Darcy kicking the final goal to finish off Collingwood was right out of a Hollywood script.

All night the young Bulldogs star was in the gun of Pies fans because he’d become their No.1 villain courtesy of a late hit on Brayden Maynard inside the opening five minutes of the game.

From that moment he was booed every time he went near the pill - which was quite often - but rather than shy away the 20-year-old fed off it and was instrumental in the Dogs finding a way to keep their season heading in the right direction.

“It wasn’t the start I was after ... just had to move on and get over it,” Darcy said on Fox Footy.

“He (Beveridge) just told me to move on, stick to my game and get back to it.”

Not that long ago the only thing Darcy would have had to worry about was being heckled by outraged Collingwood fans for a couple of hours.

Sam Darcy crashes into Brayden Maynard. Picture: Getty Images

But in 2024 the Dogs forward was probably already doing the metrics in his head about what suspension might await as a bunch of angry Pies came hurtling towards him.

He’d ruffled their feathers with a late bump which in a different era was a free-kick and 50m penalty. There wasn’t a lot of malice in the incident, he was caught behind, thought he needed to make Maynard earn it and got it wrong.

The action was awkward, silly and unnecessary but with a concussion-focussed world we live in he will rightfully be having a rest as any sort of late head-high hit is frowned upon.

Two weeks suspension was the general consensus from the match review panel experts who all excitedly went through their classifications before Maynard had even kicked the goal from the resultant 50m penalty.

On Saturday, those predictions proved correct, with the MRO handed Darcy a two-game ban.

Tensions flared at Marvel Stadium. Picture: Getty Images

The fact the Pies defender passed his concussion test didn’t help Darcy, who for the next few minutes after the incident was rattled, giving away another 50m penalty a few minutes later for being in the protected area.

He was then dragged and greeted with a round of boos from the Pies fans as he sat on the pine. Those increased in volume significantly as Darcy began to thrive on being the pantomime villain, emerging as the Dogs best forward, kicking two goals in the second quarter, both from excellent contested marks.

“He did well to settle himself,” coach Luke Beveridge said.

“I just spoke to him about the fifty (metre penalty) more than anything, about what his thought process was.

“He didn’t really think that he encroached into that sort of protected area, but he clearly did.

“The message was just that the start’s been a bit shaky from everyone and it’s just important that he rekindles or restarts and focuses on what he’s capable of.

“He was really important for us.”

Beveridge said Darcy’s response — amid fierce heckling from Collingwood supporters, highlighted his “maturity” and “character”.

“He had a really influential game in the end,” he said.

While Darcy was commanding much of the attention, the Dogs were doing their best to even up the narrative about who was the most banged up team.

The Pies horror run had been well documented in the lead-up and they were missing seven premiership players (nine if you count Nathan Murphy and Jack Ginnivan) while the Dogs were without three prime movers in Tom Liberatore, Aaron Naughton and Ed Richards.

By late in the second quarter the Dogs had two more added to the list with James Harmes doing his hamstring inside the opening 10 minutes with Laitham Vandermeer joining him before half-time, also courtesy of a hamstring strain.

Darcy stood up when it mattered. Picture: Getty Images

A man down against Collingwood isn’t easy given you need all your soldiers to take on the Daicos brothers who had decided to carry the Pies in the absence of so many stars.

“Under the circumstances, it just feels like more than just a win for us tonight,” Beveridge said post-match.

“We haven’t really won games like this for a little while.

“I think there’s definite signs there that we’re evolving and maybe morphing into a team that can challenge a little bit.

“So some really good signs and a bit of belief will come from tonight.”

Nick put on a clinic in the middle of the ground, completely bamboozling the Dogs with centre clearance after centre clearance on his way to 18 possessions and nine clearances in the first half.

Luke Beveridge had assigned youngster Harvey Gallagher the task of trying to keep up with the Pies superstar and the best way to describe that, it was good education for the young lad.

Meanwhile, older brother Josh had 10 touches for two goals to play his part in the family takeover.

There was a similar theme in the second half but with a twist the Dogs way. In this injury-ravaged match-up it was ironically the sub, Lachie McNeil who kicked the goal which brought the Pies to their knees with five minutes left on the clock.

And then it was left to Darcy to kill them off, just as the script had planned.

Originally published as AFL round 12: Collingwood v Western Bulldogs analysis