ELIMINATION FINAL 2008: COLLINGWOOD VS. ADELAIDE
The Scores
Collingwood: 4.3 / 7.6 / 14.9 / 19.11 [125]
Adelaide: 2.2 / 9.6 / 11.7 / 14.10 [94]
Goals
Collingwood: Anthony 3, Dawes 3, Swan 2, Maxwell 2, Cox, Davis, Fraser, Cloke, R. Shaw, Lockyer, Thomas, Clarke, Medhurst.
Adelaide: Stevens 6, McLeod 2, Mackay, Edwards, Maric, Johncock, Bassett, Gill.
The 10th Letter’s Best: Swan / Medhurst / Clarke / Maxwell / Anthony / Davis
Review
There is nothing that can prepare a supporter for the nerves that come with finals football. Regardless of how we prepare for the worst with thoughts of potential defeat and the small and inadequate compensations that come with an early exit from the finals, once game time nears our stomachs get more knotted than a transient’s hair and our heart rate jumps to a level that could run in sync with a techno track. This year, despite having humble expectations, was no exception.
So it was that on Saturday the 6th of September, the Sherrin was slammed down into the middle of AAMI Stadium and Collingwood’s finals campaign commenced.
Collingwood gained the ascendancy first, with Leon Davis bursting out of the blocks and being the instigator in many of our early sorties forward. It’s always good to be the first on the board in pressure cooker situations, so when Shannon Cox kicked the opening goal with an opportunistic snap, I breathed a little easier. Collingwood maintained their early dominance to add two more goals by way of Dawes and Davis, taking our lead out to 20 points in the middle stages of the first quarter.
Adelaide added their first goal after the early pressure Collingwood applied subsided momentarily, only to have it answered by a freakish Fraser snap from 40 out. Collingwood was looking in the box seat at this point, until an unfortunate Goldsack tackle on Edwards slipped high right before the quarter time siren. Edwards kicked truly, and some of the momentum that Collingwood had gathered was wrestled back, along with the scoreboard deficit.
As the second quarter commenced, Collingwood forgot to pick-up where they left off as Adelaide piled on two quick goals to level the scores. At this point, I was getting a little worried but reminded myself that it was never going to be easy, despite being teased somewhat by our early form. Things only got worse though, as Prestigiacomo sustained a hard knock to his shoulder during the first quarter which left him with one functioning arm. Simon battled on, but the defence was looking vulnerable as Adelaide, led by Scott Stevens, piled on the goals and extended their lead. Nick Maxwell ventured forward and kicked a superb set shot goal from right on the 50, keeping the boys in the game.
Things were still looking dire though, as the Magpies were smashed out of the middle and in general play. We became sloppy and started missing targets, our intensity lapsed and as half-time neared it looked like we’d be in for a long afternoon. Enter Dane Swan. Dane was relatively quiet in the first half and had virtually no impact until less than 5 minutes out from half-time, when his continued work ethic to push himself and keep running paid off. Dane ran into space 30 metres from goal to mark and kick truly, then followed it up not long after with an opportunistic snap after a brilliant effort by Medhurst brought the ball to ground. Collingwood went into the major break trailing by two goals, but we had managed to steal back some of our thunder.
For the first half, Pendlebury did some classy extracting of the ball in stoppages, although his disposal wasn’t quite as sharp as he would have liked. John McCarthy impressed by getting amongst it and winning some valuable contested possessions, he looked unfazed by the occasion. Leon Davis tapered off a little in the second, but it was his silky use of the ball that opened things up for us when we were falling down going forward.
Medhurst began to work his way into the match, being denied a goal which looked to have cleared the post it apparently hit. The back line was still looking a little bit exposed, but Harry O’Brien was solid and did some inspirational bustling work to drive us forward. Marty Clarke showed why he has the best endurance at the club, as he pushed up the field to provide an option as often as possible whilst still being accountable.
The third term began and those pre-game nerves had returned with a vengeance. It wasn’t long however before the boys sedated me with a blistering opening, adding two quick goals to square the ledger and continuing on with it. This quarter was an inspirational one by the young Magpies, as Dawes and Anthony stepped up a gear to give some potency to our forward line and in turn giving the Adelaide defenders something to think about. Cloke, who was well held by Bock for the first half, also managed to work his way into the game. The intensity and tackling returned and we reaped the rewards, emulating Adelaide’s second quarter by adding seven goals to their two.
Special mentions go to our midfield brigade in the third quarter, who absolutely smashed Adelaide out of the centre with some classy clearance work from the likes of Pendlebury, O’Bree and Cox. Cox drove us forward time and time again being the third man up in stoppages, one in particular that resulted in a freakish (albeit fortunate) 50+ metre reflex snap from Daisy which sailed through the big sticks and drove a dagger into Adelaide’s heart right on the siren.
Collingwood went into the final break with a 20 point lead, but the job wasn’t done yet as the Crows were kicking towards what had proven to be the scoring end in the last.
Adelaide came out better at the start of the fourth quarter, narrowing the margin to less than two kicks before John Anthony straightened us up by keeping his feet and running into an open goal. Adelaide hit back with another Stevens goal and with half a quarter remaining and two kicks separating the sides, I had nothing left but cuticles to bite.
A large part of the fourth quarter was an arm wrestle as it became apparent that each team needed a match winner. Scott Stevens shaped as the likely one for the Crows, but Collingwood’s defence sured up as Nathan Brown stood tall and the likes of Marty Clarke mopped up anything at ground level. Dale Thomas worked his way into the game, playing a great final quarter to give us some dash forward whilst Pendlebury corrected his early disposal problems to start making his possessions count.
It was Medhurst who broke the game open though, setting up Cook 15 metres out with a great mark and brilliant spot up. The situation got the better of Cook as he slammed the ball into the woodwork, fortunately for Ryan though Medhurst repeated his earlier efforts to setup Dawes at an identical distance on a slightly more accute angle. Dawes went back and made Adelaide pay for their lack of checking and it appeared to be the straw that broke the Crows back.
Anthony kicked his third from a beautiful set shot from just outside 50, whilst Clarke setup Medhurst for his first of the game and the result was beyond doubt. The siren sung the end of Adelaide’s season as AAMI Stadium cleared out to the haunting slow chant of “Cooooooollingwood.”
Dane Swan was at his gut busting best and was best on ground for mine. John Anthony continued his sniper like accuracy in front of goal, as well as being lively throughout the match. I have to say that Jack showed a bit more agility – particularly in the second half – as he gathered balls that fell short at full tilt and turned his man inside out on more than one occasion. Dawes played a valuable role and this game could be chalked up as his best so far. Pendlebury improved as the match wore on, whilst Thomas worked his way into the game and stood up when we needed him most.
Rhyce Shaw got better in the second half, but had a first half that he would like to forget. At his best Rhyce provides us with some much needed dash, but when he isn’t on song his errors have a tendency to be quite costly. Thankfully, Rhyce settled better in the second half when the game was on the line. Nick Maxwell deserves special praise, as he was pushed into foreign ground in the middle to shut down Thompson and not only succeeded, but also kicked two very important goals from 50 and beyond.
All in all, it was a brilliant effort by the Pies who worked there way back from a four goal deficit to overrun the Crows by 31 points. It was a proud day for the Collingwood faithful, as we fielded the youngest side currently in the finals and came out on top. Regardless of how deep into the finals we go this year, things bode well for the future with the experience our youngsters are getting and the fortitude that they are showing.
For now, it’s on to next week against the Saints, good old Collingwood forever!
