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Collingwood vs Greater Western Sydney

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

1PF   Venue: M.C.G.   Date: Sat, 21-09-2019 4:35 pm   Crowd: 77,828  
Collingwood 2.0.123.2.203.5.237.10.52 C:  Nathan Buckley
Greater Western Sydney 1.3.92.5.177.7.498.8.56 C:  Leon Cameron
  COLL by 3COLL by 3GWS by 26GWS by 4  
Weather
min temp  14.5°C      max temp  22.3°C
rainfall  3.0mm    humidity  80%    air pressure  1014.0mb
wind speed 6km/h      wind direction  WSW

Match Report

The GWS Giants have made it through to their first AFL Grand Final, defeating favourites Collingwood in the most dramatic of fashions at the MCG on Saturday.

Few gave the Giants a chance in this match, with two of their stars missing, Toby Greene through suspension and Lachie Whitfield, who suffered the wretched misfortune of having to have his appendix removed earlier in the week. But in a low-scoring, dour struggle, the Giants made a break in the third quarter, and Jeremy Cameron booted his third goal early in the final term, GWS was 32 points clear and had one foot in the Grand Final.

From there, though, the game went through a sudden and dramatic momentum shift. The Magpies found a gear they had not been able to capture for the first 90 minutes, and they set about reeling in the deficit over the remainder of the match. They fell agonisingly short, the last score of the match a Taylor Adams shot that would have given Collingwood the lead had it been a goal. It hit the post.

In the final three minutes of the match, the ball lived almost exclusively in the Pies' forward line, but they could not find a way to goal, as the Giants defended the ball as if their very lives depended on it. Their Grand Final hopes certainly depended on it, and they prevailed in the end by four points, the ball still deep in attack for Collingwood when the final siren sounded.

The first half of the match very much embodied the essence of modern finals footy — tough, uncompromising and very low-scoring. It is the sort of football that many followers of the game from the game from the 1970s, '80s and '90s lament, with goals coming at a premium, but what the half lacked in goals, it made up for in intensity and endeavour, highlighting the current skills of tackling, smothering and defending space.

Such intensity (along with rain at times) produced just three goals in the first quarter — two to Collingwood and one to GWS — and only two in the second term, one to each side. At the long break the Magpies led 3.2.20 to 2.5.17, no player having kicked more than one goal. A look at the match's 'score worm' shows a virtual flat line throughout the first half. The Giants' effort in restricting Collingwood's score was particularly meritorious given that captain Phil Davis had injured his back, forcing him to move to the forward line where he had limited effect.

Most expected that if one side was to make a break in the third quarter, it would be the Magpies. The Giants had other ideas. The ball lived in their forward line in the early stages of the term, with little reward at first, but when Brett Daniels swooped on the ball and snapped his first goal at the four-minute mark, it opened up the floodgates — at least by the standards of this match — with Zac Williams and Tim Taranto following up with majors over the next seven minutes.

Suddenly GWS was 16 points clear, a significant margin in the context of the match. Collingwood needed to respond but they could not. Jeremy Finlayson's second goal took the Giants' lead out to 23 points midway through the quarter, and Cameron's second extended that lead further. The Pies did not score until just before the term ticked into time on. Even then, that was only a rushed behind, and their two further scores for the quarter were only behinds Jack Crisp and John Noble.

With Cameron marking and scoring a lovely long goal early in the final quarter, Collingwood looked all but gone. Cameron had another shot at goal soon after and, had he kicked accurately, it surely would have closed the door on the Pies. But Cameron missed, leaving the door ever so slightly ajar, and the Magpies swooped.

Raising the pressure to a new level, Collingwood started to win the ball all over the ground, generating multiple attacks. The first of those resulted in only a behind to Jamie Elliott, but goals in quick succession to Jaidyn Stephenson and Josh Thomas, the margin was back to 20 points with plenty of time remaining.

With perhaps 70,000 of the 77,828 fans at the MCG behind them, the Magpies raised their intensity even further. Chris Mayne scrambled a goal at the 13-minute mark, and the deficit was just 13 points. A behind to Ben Reid made it an even two goals and Thomas drilled his second major on he run early in time on it was a six-point ball game. (Replays later showed that Thomas's kick had been touched, generating much debate about the score review system.)

Still Collingwood attacked. The Giants appeared to be out on their feet. The injured Davis through himself into the backline to shore up the Giants defence. A rushed behind brought the margin down to five points. One straight kick and Collingwood would be in front. The moment came. Taylor Adams received a handball and swung the ball onto his left boot from 45 metres out. It hit the left behind post, leaving the Magpies four points adrift.

That proved to be Collingwood's last chance. The Giants fell — almost literally — into their first Grand Final.

The desperately unlucky Magpies found a way to add another chapter to their book of finals heartbreak, not even a year after the previous one was written in the 2018 Grand Final. Magpie coach Nathan Buckley later referred to 2019 as a wasted season. It seems a very unfair assessment of a year which produced 15 home-and-away wins and an impressive Qualifying Final victory over top side Geelong. But the hard, cold reality is that the game is about winning premierships, and the Magpies will not be winning one this year.

Despite the fact that they will regain Toby Greene and probably Lachie Whitfield this week, GWS will start the Grand Final as firm underdogs. But they started as firm underdogs in the Preliminary Final against Collingwood and won. If the Giants can avoid being overawed by their first Grand Final appearance and bring the same sort of pressure they brought in the Preliminary Final into next Saturday, Richmond will have to fight every inch of the way to beat them.

GOALS
Collingwood: Stephenson, Thomas 2; Reid, Elliott, Mayne
Greater Western Sydney: Cameron 3; Finlayson 2; Taranto, Williams, Daniels

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Collingwood: Crisp, Grundy, Pendlebury, Maynard, Wills, Howe, Treloar
Greater Western Sydney: Williams, Taranto, Haynes, Perryman, Cameron, Kelly, Finlayson

BEST - HERALD SUN
Collingwood: Grundy, Crisp, Howe, Maynard, Moore, Thomas, Wills, Treloar
Greater Western Sydney: Haynes, Williams, Kelly, Taranto, Taylor, Perryrman, Finlayson, de Boer, Cameron, Shaw

INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
Greater Western Sydney: Davis (calf)

UMPIRES: Stevic, Stephens, Meredith 

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network

COMMENTATORS: Luke Darcy, James Brayshaw, Cameron Ling, Matthew Richardson

Source

Match report by Andrew Gigacz

Match stats

Collingwood Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
13 Adams, Taylor 20 1 0 20 0 2 0 4 1 6 26y 1d 132 50
14 Aish, James 5 2 3 8 0 0 0 6 0 1 23y 317d 82 23
17 Brown, Callum 8 2 2 10 0 0 0 3 1 0 21y 147d 35 13
25 Crisp, Jack 16 7 10 26 0 1 0 9 0 0 25y 354d 134 47
5 Elliott, Jamie 9 6 4 13 1 1 0 4 2 0 27y 31d 105 164
4 Grundy, Brodie 11 3 14 25 0 0 73 4 5 0 25y 159d 132 43
32 Hoskin-Elliott, Will 7 5 1 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 26y 19d 119 121
38 Howe, Jeremy 20 7 8 28 0 0 0 2 2 0 29y 84d 183 89
37 Maynard, Brayden 14 3 9 23 0 0 0 8 2 0 23y 1d 97 15
16 Mayne, Chris 4 3 5 9 1 0 0 4 0 0 30y 323d 217 207
41 Mihocek, Brody 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 26y 229d 40 65
30 Moore, Darcy 10 4 7 17 0 0 0 2 2 0 23y 239d 71 61
49 Noble, John 11 5 5 16 0 1 0 1 0 1 22y 180d 5 0
10 Pendlebury, Scott 12 2 6 18 0 1 0 9 3 0 31y 257d 301 178
21 Phillips, Tom 12 4 6 18 0 0 0 3 2 0 23y 137d 74 39
20 Reid, Ben 3 2 1 4 1 1 5 0 2 2 30y 145d 150 70
23 Roughead, Jordan 7 1 1 8 0 0 0 1 1 1 28y 322d 162 35
22 Sidebottom, Steele 9 4 7 16 0 0 0 5 0 2 28y 262d 234 161
1 Stephenson, Jaidyn 10 5 6 16 2 0 0 2 0 0 20y 249d 40 62
24 Thomas, Josh 9 4 5 14 2 0 0 4 0 0 27y 355d 89 85
7 Treloar, Adam 7 0 15 22 0 0 0 8 0 3 26y 196d 163 96
33 Wills, Rupert 3 1 13 16 0 0 0 12 1 1 26y 124d 15 1
  Rushed   3  
  Totals 209 71 128 337 7 10 78 95 24 17 26y 71d 2580 1625
Greater Western Sydney Match Stats Career
# Player K M H D G B HO T FF FA Age Games G
18 Cameron, Jeremy 10 6 2 12 3 1 0 1 0 3 26y 173d 153 402
35 Corr, Aidan 12 5 7 19 0 0 0 2 0 3 25y 127d 82 2
16 Daniels, Brent 6 1 8 14 1 0 0 3 1 0 20y 196d 32 15
1 Davis, Phil 3 1 1 4 0 0 0 3 1 1 29y 22d 165 7
24 de Boer, Matt 4 1 5 9 0 0 0 8 1 1 29y 195d 186 74
31 Finlayson, Jeremy 10 2 2 12 2 1 0 1 0 2 23y 224d 37 48
19 Haynes, Nick 21 9 9 30 0 0 0 3 1 1 27y 126d 127 9
37 Hill, Bobby 5 3 2 7 0 1 0 2 0 0 19y 224d 8 7
27 Himmelberg, Harry 4 2 4 8 0 0 1 4 0 0 23y 136d 64 75
2 Hopper, Jacob 13 1 9 22 0 1 0 3 1 0 22y 227d 66 28
25 Keeffe, Lachie 6 3 1 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 29y 160d 58 14
22 Kelly, Josh 20 2 7 27 0 0 0 8 2 1 24y 221d 117 77
40 Kennedy, Adam 10 3 3 13 0 0 0 3 1 1 27y 71d 114 12
38 Lloyd, Daniel 12 3 7 19 0 2 0 2 1 0 27y 215d 38 31
41 Mumford, Shane 5 0 3 8 0 0 14 8 1 6 33y 78d 191 52
36 Perryman, Harry 14 6 9 23 0 0 0 8 1 0 20y 276d 35 4
50 Reid, Sam 5 3 3 8 0 0 0 6 0 0 29y 318d 89 29
23 Shaw, Heath 12 5 4 16 0 0 0 5 0 1 33y 298d 307 39
14 Taranto, Tim 23 5 3 26 1 0 0 6 2 0 21y 236d 62 24
15 Taylor, Sam 8 6 6 14 0 0 0 3 0 0 20y 139d 29 1
20 Tomlinson, Adam 13 7 2 15 0 1 1 3 1 2 26y 42d 139 35
29 Williams, Zac 22 6 3 25 1 0 0 6 2 2 25y 1d 101 25
  Rushed   1  
  Totals 238 80 100 338 8 8 16 88 17 24 25y 284d 2200 1010

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.