It’s ours!: A jubilant Collingwood celebrates its four-point grand final win against Brisbane. Photo: AFL MEDIA
COLLINGWOOD 12.18 (90) defeated BRISBANE 13.8 (86)
In the aftermath of Collingwood’s record-equalling 16th AFL/VFL premiership, Craig McRae immediately shut down suggestions of a new black-and-white dynasty.
“This is today and we’re enjoying today,” he said. “It’s a really special day for the footy club.”
The celebrations will last a while, though McRae won’t allow a 1990-style hangover, and who could begrudge the Magpies their party after one of the greatest grand finals the national competition has ever seen.
Their crowning as AFL premiers, with club great Peter Moore handing the cup to son Darcy, just had to come as the result of a tight finish, didn’t it? It has become this team’s trademark during McRae’s two years at the helm.
This titanic tussle between the season’s two best teams featured 10 lead changes. Brisbane only briefly kicked more than two goals clear while Collingwood, which led at every change, was never more than two kicks in front.
The final score – 12.18 (90) to 13.8 (86) – could not have been much closer.
McRae and Brisbane counterpart Chris Fagan both reflected post-match on an even battle ultimately decided by key moments. Thankfully for Collingwood, its inaccuracy in front of goal did not come back to bite.
The Magpies’ biggest lead came early when Nick Daicos and Bobby Hill converted set shots to give them a perfect start. The Lions, led by some Zac Bailey brilliance, fired back.
Bailey’s first goal on the run came from an Oscar McInerney ruck tap but the second was all him. He smothered Mason Cox’s kick, took a handpass from Joe Daniher and dodged Cox and Nathan Murphy on the boundary before snapping perfectly.
Murphy was soon substituted out of the game, having failed a concussion test after a head knock in a first-quarter collision with Lincoln McCarthy.
Hill kicked a career-best four majors, all before half-time, in a performance that won him the Norm Smith Medal. Jordan De Goey and Jack Crisp booted goals after the quarter-time and half-time sirens respectively.
Charlie Cameron didn’t have a first-quarter touch but had Lions fans belting out John Denver’s Country Roads (the livewire forward’s goal celebration music at the Gabba) twice during the second term.
McCarthy, too, had a pair of superb goals to his name before the main break. His second gave the Lions a game-high lead before the Pies responded with four of the last five majors (two each to Hill and Crisp) before half-time.
The sheer quality of the 18 first-half goals, split evenly between the two sides, made for an excellent highlights reel. Hill’s spectacular mark on Brandon Starcevich’s shoulders was the icing on that cake.
The high-scoring contest gave way to a more typical grinding finals slugfest after the main break. The Magpies kicked 1.6 to Brisbane’s 2.2 in the third term, and the last was tied 2.3 to 2.3.
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Brisbane substituted Callum Ah Chee during the final quarter, seeking to use Jarrod Lyons’ fresh legs. Eagle-eyed fans would have noted the opposition’s No.4 going off might have been a good thing for Collingwood after Dom Sheed’s dagger in 2018.
This time, the big moments went the Magpies’ way. There was Hill’s tackle on Starcevich, Nick Daicos’ handpass to set up De Goey’s go-ahead goal and Sidebottom’s long set shot after a 50m penalty against Jarrod Berry, needlessly given away.
Those goals gave the Magpies’ a 10-point buffer with 4:23 left to play and will live on in club folklore.
Daniher, Keidean Coleman and Eric Hipwood had all missed shots in the final term and Starcevich took a relieving mark against Hill before Cameron put them in front, only for De Goey and Sidebottom to respond. Daniher’s late snap gave the Lions a sniff with 1:41 on the clock.
In the desperate dying stages, Lachie Neale was legged and awarded a free kick at half-forward. Not knowing it had been paid, Bailey hacked the ball forward under pressure. Advantage was called and the Magpies cleared the danger. We’ll never know what would have happened if the dual Brownlow medallist had been allowed a clean delivery into the forward line.
As the Melbourne spring mercury hit 29C, the Lions were expected to relish the warm conditions. But it was two of Collingwood’s oldest players who arguably had the biggest impact when players around them on both sides were fatiguing. Scott Pendlebury (23 disposals, six clearances, one goal) and Steele Sidebottom (20, thee, one) stood tall with the game on the line.
Hill was a unanimous Norm Smith Medal winner, polling the maximum 15 votes, but had plenty of help. Tom Mitchell (24 touches, seven clearances), former Lion Jack Crisp (25 touches, two goals), Jordan De Goey (18, two) and Nick Daicos (29 disposals) were all important. Skipper Darcy Moore grew into the game after half-time.
Daniher and Cameron kicked three goals each for Brisbane. Coleman (26 disposals), Neale, Josh Dunkley (both 21 touches, five clearances) and Hugh McCluggage (21, four, two goals) also fought hard in a losing cause.
Earlier in September, former Lions premiership star McRae had attended his old club’s annual hall of fame function and told the assembled crowd that if Collingwood didn’t win the flag, he hoped they did. In the end, it didn’t matter.
McRae had extra reason to celebrate. Wife Gabrielle gave birth to the couple’s daughter Maggie just hours before the first bounce in the grand final.
“It was already the best day of my life but it just got a little bit better,” McRae said.
And while the 50-year-old wouldn’t buy into talk of more grand final appearances and multiple premierships, it’s not hard to see the Magpies at least contending again in 2024.
At the turn of the century, when Essendon joined Carlton as the only two clubs with 16 AFL/VFL premierships, it seemed highly unlikely Collingwood (then with 14 flags to its name) would be the first to 17.
Now the Magpies are favourites to win that race. Although the Blues, in particular, having re-emerged as a serious contender in the second half of this year, might yet have a say in that.
