The first Anzac Day game ended in a draw, drew an astonishing crowd of nearly 95,000 and established the game as the property of Collingwood and Essendon, not to mention the Australian Defence Force.
This match eclipsed the 1995 attendance, topping 95,000, and it delivered a spectacle that was certainly a rival to the first game, in terms of drama, unexpected turns and for the confirmation of a generational, second-generation superstar in Nick Daicos, who was instrumental in the final Collingwood surge and was the winner of the Anzac Medal – one of many medals the second son of mercurial Peter Daicos will claim over the next decade, potentially including a Brownlow in his second season.
Nick Daicos celebrates. Credit: Michael Willson, AFL Photos
Essendon served notice that they are coming under Brad Scott. The Bombers rival Ross Lyon’s Saints as the most improved team of the season to date, having beaten Melbourne and then taken Collingwood to the absolute limit.
But if the Bombers were superb for three quarters and defended stoutly and with purpose, they could not withstand the Collingwood tsunami in the final quarter – a comeback that would be improbable, except that the Magpies have managed these feats too often under the guidance of Craig McRae.
Collingwood captain Darcy Moore and coach Craig McRae with the Anzac Day trophy. Credit: Getty Images
At three-quarter time, the margin of 28 points in a low-scoring game ought to have sufficed, following the Bomber burst in the third quarter, when they showed impressive composure and finishing to take a grasp on the match. Or so we thought.
But the outcome swung dramatically from the first minutes of the final term, Collingwood’s momentum created out of the midfield, where their more experienced hands, such as Steele Sidebottom (runner-up in the Anzac Medal), Tom Mitchell and Jordan De Goey took over, triggering an avalanche of seven goals to nil.
For Collingwood, the match posed two major questions in a season in which they are serious contenders for the flag.
The first was whether the Pies could cover the absence of a recognised ruckman and the lack of a secondary tall defender to support their captain Darcy Moore, who was among the best afield, but at the end not even the best father-son from his side.
Will Kelly in action during round six.Credit: Michael Willson, AFL Photos
The second poser was one of depth of talent. The Pies had been forced to pick an underdone Nathan Kreuger, who has not established himself as a senior player and struggled accordingly with his touch before he was subbed out.
They had selected Oleg Markov, a depth-chart running half-back brought in during pre-season, brought in Trey Ruscoe to an undersized defence and had taken the punt on promoting Will Kelly, yet another father-son, to play as the sub once Kreuger was spent.
Kelly, who played against his brother Jake, had come from the clouds in terms of selection. But the cupboard was sparse for tall options and so the younger Kelly was called up. He did not falter.
The advantage Collingwood held over Essendon lay in the ranks of elite players – Moore, De Goey, Brayden Maynard, the still classy Sidebottom and, not least, the astonishing younger Daicos, who finished with 40 disposals and booted two goals in the final quarter when shifted into the midfield, showing that the Daicos goal gene had been transferred from his father; the first was an opportunistic major in a goal-line scramble, the second a right-footer that was never missing after a Jamie Elliott handball.
The Bombers did not have a Daicos, nor someone of Scott Pendlebury’s (who left the ground in the final quarter after an eye poke) or De Goey’s ilk. While Mason Redman and Andy McGrath defended stoutly, and Kyle Langford booted three timely goals, they had fewer standout players.
They missed the class and surgical foot skills of Zach Merrett, whose suspension for a sling tackle was far more costly to the Dons than the suspension for the same offence of Collingwood’s Taylor Adams.
Essendon’s edge over the Pies lay in the more even spread of talent and contributions. They were carrying fewer players who made negligible impressions.
But if the presence of Sam Draper in the ruck also should have delivered a clearance advantage and potentially a territorial one, Collingwood managed to hold sway overall – certainly by game’s end, when the Dons were leg-tired and wilted – in the midfield.
Essendon’s Sam Draper is tackled by Collingwood’s John Noble. Credit: Getty Images
Billy Frampton is no one’s idea of Simon Madden or Len Thompson. McRae had faced a choice, given the scarcity of talls without Mason Cox, Darcy Cameron and Nathan Murphy, of placing Frampton either in the ruck against Draper and Andrew Phillips, or playing him in defence and helping Moore and Maynard.
That McRae choose the ruck for Frampton was ultimately vindicated, since he created enough contests and won enough taps to smother the potential domination of Draper.
Essendon had the chance to rule the skies. But the game would be won, as battles usually are, on the ground, where a 20-year-old kid called Nick Daicos found space and the football with more effect than anyone else. Not since Chris Judd’s first two seasons at West Coast has a player of that age impacted so profoundly.
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