By Jake Niall
Collingwood’s ability to snatch victory from improbable positions has been the theme of their extraordinary season and, in the biggest home-and-away game of 2022, they saved their greatest and most unlikely – and narrowest – escape yet for last.
The Magpies overcame a deficit of worse than four goals in the final quarter – and once again Jamie Elliott was the hero, the small forward booting the game-winner with just under two minutes remaining. Elliott’s running shot put the Pies in front by one point, denying the Blues not only victory, but the finals berth that had seemed certain from the middle of the third quarter.
Collingwood, who booted the last five goals of the match – all in the final term – will meet premiership favourite Geelong in the qualifying final, qualifying in fourth position with 16 victories and a percentage not far above 100 – a testament to their incredible knack for winning games by tiny margins.
Elliott told Channel Seven afterwards: ″To be honest . . . it doesn’t happen without the other boys. I’m just on the end of it. Oh, wow. That’s awesome. I think we’re all stuck for words as well.”
“We’re riding the spirit and the emotion,” he added. “The enjoyment and the excitement. I mean, we’re down by 24 points in the last quarter. Ideally wouldn’t be in that position. We just want to play aggressive and it suits our game style … Obviously, we have an opportunity to create some havoc in finals and who knows where they can take us.″
In an epic with wild momentum swings and surges, the Blues had built their lead on the back of a third-quarter blitz that was redolent of the great Carlton teams of yesteryear, as the Blues piled on eight goals to one, turning a 19-point deficit at half-time into a lead of 24 points at the final break.
But, in a match that pitted teams of different styles – the Blues a stoppage-based and midfield/clearance beast and Collingwood utterly reliant on transition from defence and rebound – the more experienced team booted those final five goals, despite a monstering in contested ball of 177 (Carlton) to 124. That the Pies won, albeit by a point, in the face of such a discrepancy was among this match’s many remarkable features.
Jamie Elliott celebrates with Jack Ginnivan after scoring.Credit:Getty Images
The Blues also owned the inside-50 entries by 21 and had the edge in the midfield for much of the match. Yet Collingwood prevailed, as Collingwood have in 2022, by dint of superior efficiency and composure at the end.
Those five goals were scored by Ash Johnson (set shot), Mason Cox (set shot), Elliott (speccie and set shot straight in front), Beau McCreery and then Elliot for the decider, which fittingly came from a turnover in defence and involved their ever-composed champion skipper Scott Pendlebury, as Elliott burst into space and converted from 35 metres or so on the run.
McCreery’s goal was one of the most spectacular – a shot from the boundary, on the edge of the 50-metre mark, to close the margin to what you might call “the Collingwood winning zone” – under a goal.
Once the Magpies had snatched the lead via Elliott, there was a sense of inevitability pervading the huge crowd, as they went into lead-protection mode, forcing scrimmages and contests and finally getting the footy forward when the siren sounded.
The narrow triumph for the transition style of Craig McRae over his teammate Michael Voss’ stronger contested and clearance method for scoring was underscored by the fact that the Pies scored three of their five final-quarter goals from defensive rebounds.
Scott Pendlebury breaks away from Adam Cerra.Credit:Getty Images
For the Blues, this was the cruellest result. Not only did it knock them out of the finals by 0.6 of a percentage point – securing that berth for the Bulldogs – but it also contained innumerable what-ifs. Carlton had been wasteful in the final quarter, peppering the goal but missing, with a yield of just 0.6 – the worst being a miscue from Charlie Curnow, superb in that eight-goal third term, when he tried a hook kick that went awry.
More broadly, the Blues will rue that Sam Walsh, their midfield boy wonder, failed to come up for this mega-match – played before 88,000, the season’s largest gathering – due to a back ailment.
Patrick Cripps had stood up in the absence of Walsh, accumulating 27 contested balls and a heap of clearances. Adam Cerra, too, was outstanding – booting two goals in that third quarter (as did Curnow and Jesse Motlop) – while Sam Docherty was sharp and constant from half-back.
For the Pies, Josh Daicos continued his rise as a player of substance and ability. Otherwise, their best were behind the ball, in Darcy Moore, who had a great duel with Harry McKay and bull half-back Brayden Maynard, while Pendlebury’s composure was peerless.
At the end, poise and experience bettered youthful verve, the transition game overcame the contested/clearance method, and, above all, the cardiac kids, Collingwood, finished their season on the note that defined them and consigned Carlton – a team of immense promise – to another season sans September footy.
COLLINGWOOD 3.5 5.6 6.8 11.9 (75)
CARLTON 0.3 2.5 10.8 10.14 (74)
GOALS
Collingwood: Ginnivan 3, Elliott 2, Johnson 2, Sidebottom, Cox, Crisp, McCreery
Carlton: McKay 2, Curnow 2, Cerra 2, Motlop 2, Docherty, Owies
BEST
Collingwood: Moore, Daicos, Pendlebury, Maynard
Carlton: Cerra, Docherty, Cripps, Young
UMPIRES Gavine, Meredith, Fleer
VENUE MCG
CROWD 88287
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