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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Sport
Scott Heinrich

AFL 2021 round 13: Collingwood Magpies beat Melbourne Demons – as it happened

Steele Sidebottom celebrates
Steele Sidebottom celebrates with teammates during the round 13 Queen’s Birthday clash between Collingwood and Melbourne at the SCG. Photograph: Jason McCawley/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Summary

Sixteenth on the ladder beating the top team is always a surprise, but in the context of this game we should not be shocked. There was no way Collingwood would let their coach down and in the end the Pies were rewarded for a four-quarter effort that was built around intensity, defensive endeavour and brave ball movement. They are characteristics that have been missing for most of the season but they brought it today.

Nathan Buckley, who started at the club as a player in 1994, has now coached his last game and the record books will remember it as a winning one. His star players banded together to show the way - Scott Pendlebury, Steele Sidebottom and Jordan De Goey were brilliant - and their energy was infectious. Although mounting a comeback in the third quarter, the Demons could not match the workrate or purpose of their opponents.

This was a classic case of sport going to script. Of sport favouring romance over logic. Collingwood fans will wonder why their men can’t produce a performance like this week in, week out. But they will take this. The Magpies did Buckley proud. They ensured an epic era at the club would close on a high note, not a low. It was no less than he deserved.

Updated

There are scenes of much joy and backslapping among Collingwood players and staff at the SCG. A fairytale triumph in a season of woe. Nathan Buckley goes out a winner.

Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury on Buckley: “He’s been such a staple at our club. He is a champion on and off the field.”

Buckley on winning his last game in charge: “Its’s better than the alternative. The boys were amazing. In the moment it’s awesome. It had the air of a big-game occasion. This is going to be a pretty good footy team. They’re on their way.”

FT: Collingwood 11-14 (80) beat Melbourne 9-9 (63)

Who says footy doesn’t have a sense of occasion? Sidebottom boots a goal after the siren to put the cherry on top as Collingwood make Nathan Buckley’s last game as coach a winning one. Huge win from the Pies against the ladder leaders. There won’t be a dry eye in the house.

Q4: 1 min remaining: Melbourne 9-9 (63) vs Collingwood 10-14 (74) Big mark over the pack from May sends Melbourne forward but Maynard takes a beauty of his own in heavy traffic to nullify the threat. They look home, the Pies.

Q4: 1 min remaining: Melbourne 9-9 (63) vs Collingwood 10-14 (74) Sparrow wins a free for high contact at centre half-forward and sends the ball in deep, only for Pendlebury to drift across the pack and punch the ball through for a behind. Timely intervention from the skipper. Ninety seconds left.

Q4: 3 mins remaining: Melbourne 9-8 (62) vs Collingwood 10-14 (74) Melbourne goal! Langdon lurks behind the pack and crumbs beautifully off a chaos ball before dribbling one through and making it a two-goal ball game.

Q4: 4 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-8 (56) vs Collingwood 10-14 (74) The Demons rebound from deep in defence and Pickett looks half a chance with his dribble from the left pocket only for Hoskin-Elliott to fill the hole and save the day for Collingwood.

Q4: 5 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-7 (55) vs Collingwood 10-14 (74) Nice work from Neale-Bullen to send the ball inside-50 and even nicer work from Pickett to work Noble under the ball and mark strongly. That’s where the nice work ends, however, with his shot missing to the left. Time running out for the Dees.

Q4: 7 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 10-14 (74) Big grab from Lever on centre wing and Melbourne go forward again only for Cameron to drift back and take a nice intercept mark of his own.

Q4: 8 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 10-14 (74) Desperate tackling by the Pies deep in defence but the ball spills to Langdon, who drive the ball inside-50 only for Harmes to concede a free kick and then a 50m penalty for dissent. Not what they need right now. Flag favourites? Now’s the time to show it.

Q4: 10 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 10-14 (74) Elliott shakes off his opponent but he does little with his chance to put Collingwood further in front. Still, it’s only the Pies with their hands on the ball at the minute.

Q4: 12 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 10-13 (73) Collingwood goal! Great hands from De Goey wins the ball for Collingwood in the centre of the ground. The Pies switch and go inside-50, winning a free for holding the ball. Pendlebury’s ball. He shapes up just inside the arc and kicks truly to put the Pies 19 points in front. A captain’s goal for his coach if ever there was one.

Q4: 14 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 9-12 (66) Pendles is active again in the middle of the ground but Collingwood turn the ball over. Pickett spins and weaves close to goal but takes one step too many and is penalised. Collingwood go forward again. Melbourne defend like lions. Breathless footy. Will be like this until the final siren.

Q4: 16 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 9-12 (66) Collingwood goal! Blimey. De Goey runs straight through Oliver and looks to have connected with the head. A case to answer? Regardless, Pendlebury and Noble combine beautifully through the middle of the ground to find Cameron is on his lonesome inside-50. He makes no mistake, bagging a career-high fourth to put Collingwood two goals in front.

Q4: 17 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 8-12 (60) Nice crumb off the pack by McCreery but he pushes his snap to the left. And now Mihocek does the same, though his shot on the run misses the lot. Bright start to the quarter by Collingwood.

Q4: 19 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 8-11 (59) Buckley takes a sip of water as he takes his seat ahead of his last quarter as Collingwood coach. He might be getting into something stronger later on. Noble sends the ball forward but Mihocek has his hands all over Lever and gives away the free kick.

3QT: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 8-11 (59)

A much better quarter from Melbourne and now we have a real game on our hands. Simply, the Dees worked harder in the third term and the rest fell in to place. But Collingwood will not be denied and wrested back the initiative late in the quarter. They remain in front and will now form a huddle to take direction from Nathan Buckley for one last time. One last effort for Bucks. Let’s see if the underdogs can do it.

Q3: 1 min remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 8-11 (59) Collingwood goal! Mihocek again. The Pies forward bags his third for the afternoon after slipping clear from his direct opponent and getting onto the end of a searching Sidebottom pass. Pies back in front. They’re not going away. Not today.

Q3: 1 min remaining: Melbourne 8-6 (54) vs Collingwood 7-11 (53) Another dangerous tackle conceded by Collingwood - this time Crisp slinging and swinging Oliver into the turf - but the Dees hard man can’t punish the Pies, missing with his set shot.

Q3: 3 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-5 (53) vs Collingwood 7-11 (53) Collingwood tackle hard in their forward 50 and win the turnover. The ball spills to Poulter and this really should be another goal - and another lead change! - but his left-foot snap on the run misses to the left. Scores level. Don’t you be going anywhere.

Q3: 5 mins remaining: Melbourne 8-5 (53) vs Collingwood 7-10 (52) Melbourne goal! More urgency deep in defence is needed from Noble, who is chased down and retarded by Jackson. Good work from the Demon, who capitalises on his toil to put his side back in front. Another lead change and you suspect there will be more.

Q3: 7 mins remaining: Melbourne 7-5 (47) vs Collingwood 7-10 (52) Collingwood goal! Big contested grab from Cameron - though May was in front and is filthy with the decision. He did have a fair piece of it! But his protestations amount to nothing as Cameron holds his nerve and converts to put Collingwood back in front.

Q3: 8 mins remaining: Melbourne 7-5 (47) vs Collingwood 6-10 (46) A Poulter behind levels the scores but from the kick-in Collingwood are behind the play, behind their direct opponents and in the end McDonald is handed a holding free 25m out from goal ... only to hit the post in a big let-off for the Pies. They need to channel their endeavour from the first half. The Demons are coming on strong.

Q3: 10 mins remaining: Melbourne 7-4 (46) vs Collingwood 6-9 (45) Melbourne goal! Demons in front! By sheer force of will the Dees thrust the ball forward and it is Fritsch who crumbs off the pack and snaps over his own body to wrest back the lead for the ladder leaders.

Q3: 11 mins remaining: Melbourne 6-4 (40) vs Collingwood 6-9 (45) Good forward pressure from Thomas, who nails Neale-Bullen with a fine tackle to keep the ball locked inside the Pies 50. But the Demons workrate is on the up and they rebound from a throw-in. Melbourne have awoken, no doubt about it, and it is now game on.

Q3: 13 mins remaining: Melbourne 6-4 (40) vs Collingwood 6-9 (45) Melbourne goal! Melbourne are looking much more energetic this quarter. Gawn, so quiet in the first half, is getting his hands on it more and takes a timely mark before again laying a timely touch as Petracca is released close to goal and finishes the job with a neat banana on the run from close range. A kick in it.

Q3: 14 mins remaining: Melbourne 5-4 (34) vs Collingwood 6-9 (45) Sidebottom is measured out of defence for the Pies and the turnover follows. Melbourne crash the ball forward as Maynard lays what looks a textbook tackle of Hunt but is penalised on account of it being dangerous. Hmmm. Regardless, Melbourne can’t do anything with their good fortune.

Q3: 17 mins remaining: Melbourne 5-4 (34) vs Collingwood 6-9 (45) Melbourne goal! Gawn, as responsible as anyone for not marking Thomas a few moments ago, drifts to the other end of the ground before marking and kicking truly from a tight angle. Margin back to 11 points. Just the start Melbourne wanted.

Q3: 19 mins remaining: Melbourne 4-4 (28) vs Collingwood 6-9 (45) Here we go for Buckley’s last half in the black-and-white. Rare fumble from Pendelbury but Noble mops up and nobody - nobody!!!! - is on Thomas, who mark sinside-50 but sprays his shot to the left. They’ll want to take these chances. Murphy is off for the Pies with a corky, replaced by Rantall.

HT: Melbourne 4-4 (28) vs Collingwood 6-8 (44)

Five goals to two in an impressive second quarter by the Pies, whose workrate and attack on the ball is vastly superior to that of Melbourne’s. Collingwood have come to the SCG with a plan and halfway through the game it is working: their ball movement is brave and direct and their defensive set-up from the centre of the ground and behind is affording Melbourne no easy passage towards goal. But effort and intensity was Collingwood’s greatest takeout from the first half. Keep that up and they will send Nathan Buckley home a winner for the last time. Melbourne will need to address their energy levels if they are to spoil the party - just 16 points behind, there is time for them to do it. Big second half in the offing.

Q2: 1 min remaining: Melbourne 4-4 (28) vs Collingwood 6-8 (44) McCreery competes across half-forward, brings the ball to ground and wins the loose ball before finding De Goey inside-50. You’d back him from there but he shows he’s human after all, pushing his shot to the left.

Q2: 1 min remaining: Melbourne 4-4 (28) vs Collingwood 6-7 (43) Oliver wills his team forward again but Pickett’s attempt at an opportunistic goal from a nice crumb falls flat.

Q2: 2 mins remaining: Melbourne 4-4 (28) vs Collingwood 6-7 (43) De Goey (that man again) spins around from just outside 50 on a sharp angle and has a crack. For a fleeting moment it looks as though he’s kicked a miraculous goal but the ball doesn’t, um, play ball and fades to the left.

Q2: 4 mins remaining: Melbourne 4-4 (28) vs Collingwood 6-6 (42) Collingwood goal! De Goey is huge again, breaking through tackles to release McCreery as Collingwood bang home their fifth of the term.

Q2: 5 mins remaining: Melbourne 4-4 (28) vs Collingwood 5-6 (36) Opponents get jittery when Oliver gets near the ball and that is the case as Noble takes the Demons star very high in the right forward pocket. The only thing missing from this script is a goal from Oliver, who wears a flummoxed look on his face as he watches his shot miss to the right.

Q2: 6 mins remaining: Melbourne 4-3 (27) vs Collingwood 5-6 (36) Melbourne goal! That’s more like it from Melbourne, whose workrate inside-50 translates to pressure which translates to turnover which translates to goal as Jackson finishes the job right in front of goal. The spark the Dees needed? To be fair, they are being outplayed but there is only nine points in it.

Q2: 8 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-3 (27) vs Collingwood 5-6 (36) Nice one-handed mark by Spargo and he really should have done better with his set shot from barely 40m out, missing to the left and hardly making the distance.

Q2: 9 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-2 (20) vs Collingwood 5-6 (36) Collingwood goal! Mihocek again! He’s having a big first half as is De Goey, who wins the hard ball in the centre of the ground and finds his key forward with a delightful pass. Mihocek rocks back from right on 50 and kicks truly. Excellent period for Collingwood, this.

Q2: 10 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-2 (20) vs Collingwood 4-6 (30) Collingwood goal! De Goey crumbs a loose ball just outside 50, spins on a dime and pulls the trigger on a low, hard pass to Mihocek, who makes no mistake with the mark or the shot on goal. Impressive from the Pies. Looks like they want it more at the minute. They are working hard for their coach, without a doubt. Can’t say the same for Melbourne.

Q2: 12 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-2 (20) vs Collingwood 3-6 (24) Collingwood are set up beautifully across the centre of the ground and Melbourne can do no more from half-back than kick to a contest down the line. Collingwood are asking questions here. We await Melbourne’s response.

Q2: 14 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-2 (20) vs Collingwood 3-6 (24) More brave ball movement from the Pies out of the centre of the ground and Mihocek has a chance to put Collingwood nine points in front but he squanders what he might have kicked. Still, it’s all Collingwood at the moment.

Q2: 16 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-2 (20) vs Collingwood 3-5 (23) Collingwood goal! Pies in front! Great contested work from Pendlebury is instrumental as Collingwood work the ball forward to find Hoskin-Elliott in time and space on the left. Set shot duly taken and duly converted.

Q2: 17 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-2 (20) vs Collingwood 2-5 (17) Collingwood goal! The Pies continue to work hard and their long ball forward is a productive one as Mihocek puts on a nice block for Cameron, who marks on the line and converts in a handy goal.

Q2: 18 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-2 (20) vs Collingwood 1-5 (11) Not to be outdone, Collingwood win some key battles in the middle of the park to set their runners free and find Mihocek out the back. His set shot is a kickable one but he fades it to the right.

Q2: 19 mins remaining: Melbourne 3-2 (20) vs Collingwood 1-4 (10) Melbourne goal! We’re back. Early clearance for Melbourne, Oliver busy in the middle of the ground. And after some desperate tackles and loose balls Oliver is busy again, swooping 20m out from goal and snapping truly. Great forward pressure from the Dees.

QT: Melbourne 2-2 (14) vs Collingwood 1-4 (10)

An entertaining and even first quarter with Collingwood’s POA obvious from the first minute: stifle Melbourne’s movement through the centre of the ground, make it hard for them to run and find passing lanes, and hope to catch them on the counter. For the most part it has worked, even if the Dees have looked slightly the more threatening team. The question is: can Collingwood keep it up?

Q1: 1 min remaining: Melbourne 2-2 (14) vs Collingwood 1-4 (10) Langdon takes a mark in the forward pocket right on the siren but his set snap isn’t doing enough and misses everything.

Q1: 1 min remaining: Melbourne 2-2 (14) vs Collingwood 1-4 (10) Cameron finds time and space just outside 50 before unfurling a pinpoint pass that hits Elliott on the chest. It’s a tough shot on the boundary that Elliott gives his all but can do no more than send crashing onto the left upright.

Q1: 2 mins remaining: Melbourne 2-2 (14) vs Collingwood 1-3 (9) Melbourne goal behind! How did he miss that? The Dees do the hard work and break through the Collingwood wall in the centre of the ground, but the blow the easy part with McDonald missing a simple shot on the run ... with a teammate close to goal that he could have used. Hmmm.

Q1: 4 mins remaining: Melbourne 2-1 (13) vs Collingwood 1-2 (8) Melbourne goal! Good contest from McDonald to bring the ball to ground and by sheer weight of numbers Melbourne break the dam wall, Harmes splitting the sticks with a nice shot from an acute angle. Cruel for the Pies but Melbourne are looking sharp on transition.

Q1: 6 mins remaining: Melbourne 1-1 (7) vs Collingwood 1-2 (8) Collingwood force a turnover in the centre of the ground and look all set to make Melbourne pay. Elliott drifts behind the ball and only has to mark to safeguard a certain goal. But he spills what he should have taken, much to the delight of Demons fans. You would back Elliott to take that every day of the week. A coach killer, to be sure. Nathan Buckley take note.

Q1: 8 mins remaining: Melbourne 1-1 (7) vs Collingwood 1-1 (7) Bad Collingwood turnover on centre wing hands the ball to Brayshaw and Melbourne again penetrate the forward arc. But Collingwood have had the answers so far and this time Moore stands tall the deny the Dees.

Christian Salem of the Demons takes a mark.
Christian Salem of the Demons takes a mark. Photograph: Matt King/Getty Images

Updated

Q1: 10 mins remaining: Melbourne 1-1 (7) vs Collingwood 1-1 (7) Collingwood go forward, fast and direct again, but Murphy butchers his set shot from just inside-50. Elliott does his best to make something from nothing an dthen so does Madgen, but he pushes his attempt on goal to the right.

Q1: 12 mins remaining: Melbourne 1-1 (7) vs Collingwood 1-0 (6) The Dees get their overlap run going and it’s chaos time inside-50 after an attempted clearance from defence ends up flushing Daicos right on the dial. The ball spills to Neal-Bullen, who looks to have kicked his second but the score review reveals an intervening fingertip from a teammate.

Q1: 15 mins remaining: Melbourne 1-0 (6) vs Collingwood 1-0 (6) Collingwood goal! Cameron is held in a marking contest right in front of goal and he makes no mistake. Good, sharp ball movement from defence from the Piers to set up that response. They’ll need to be brave like that all day.

Q1: 16 mins remaining: Melbourne 1-0 (6) vs Collingwood 0-0 (0) Melbourne go forward again but De Goey drifts back to take a nice intercept mark and save the day. The ball slingshots to the other end of the ground...

Q1: 17 mins remaining: Melbourne 1-0 (6) vs Collingwood 0-0 (0) Melbourne goal! Collingwood turn the ball over in dangerous territory. Fancy footwork from Fritch hard on the boundary paves the way for Neal-Bullen to work his way into space and he drills the subsequent set shot. Classy footy from the Dees.

Alex Neal-Bullen celebrates.
Alex Neal-Bullen celebrates. Photograph: Jason McCawley/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Updated

Q1: 18 mins remaining: Melbourne 0-0 (0) vs Collingwood 0-0 (0) Gawn takes the first couple of points in the Battle Of The Maxes, nudging Lynch aside at a throw-in to give his runners first use of the footy.

Q1: 19 mins remaining: Melbourne 0-0 (0) vs Collingwood 0-0 (0) And we are away. Will the Pies do it for Bucks? The Dees go inside-50 first and Fritsch has a set shot from the boundary but it’s a shallow kick and Collingwood rebound with ease.

Not long now. Pendles wins the toss. Pies kicking to the right of screen.

The Demons run out at the SCG.
The Demons run out at the SCG. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP

Updated

Nathan Buckley the coach is a different beast to Nathan Buckley the player. Yes, the fierce competitiveness is still there. But love him or hate him - and in his playing days there were plenty who leaned towards the latter - Buckley softened once he swapped the guernsey for the whiteboard. To his credit, he was at the vanguard of the modern coaching movement that valued players as people as well as commodities and realised that conversations could be more powerful than sprays.

As a player, what happened before the 2018 grand final would’ve likely tipped him over the edge. As a coach, all he wanted to do was hand out hugs.

Updated

The Dees are very good. We know that. So are the Bulldogs. But what of Geelong? I could bang on about how they’re looking the goods, but I’ve already done that.

Off topic alert. Hot diggity dog.

The nickname “FIGJAM” followed Nathan Buckley wherever he went upon entering the AFL system. Folklore insists he gave it to himself. Others say it was bestowed upon him.

In a Fairfax column published in 2008, this is what Buckley had to say:

I’d never considered how others perceived me until halfway through the 1993 season, when I learned I’d been lumbered with the uncomplimentary nickname FIGJAM. For the uninitiated, it stands for “F--- I’m Good, Just Ask Me”.

I was ropeable. Horrified. All my anger was directed at one person, Herald Sun journalist Jon Anderson, who wrote the offending tidbit. I thought: “This bloke doesn’t even know me. I’ve been playing AFL footy for three months. Why would I be strutting around so arrogantly when I’ve proved nothing? It defies logic.”

Yes, I was confident in my abilities and I enjoyed testing them at every opportunity, but I’d just graduated from a Port Adelaide culture that was all about understanding your place in the scheme of things. No one person was any more important than the next and I believed that, and felt like I lived it as well. I’ve never been one to spruik my own qualities. I prefer my actions to do the talking.

The FIGJAM tag hurt me because I just didn’t see myself like that. But obviously someone did. Regardless of their motivations or agendas, that was the indisputable truth. I hadn’t heard a whisper of it in Brisbane. No one had even jokingly called me FIGJAM. If people had been saying it, they never said it to my face. I don’t have the slightest idea where it came from; to this day I still don’t. The only guy who knows is the reporter and even now he won’t say.

I could imagine a journalist being informed about this so-called nickname and thinking: “Oh, that’s a good one, there’s a high-profile name, I’ll whack that in,” without stopping to consider the consequences. I certainly didn’t see the humour in it at the time and, sure enough, after it appeared in print it exploded. Everyone thought it was funny. Worst of all, they believed it was true.

Even though there’d been a lot of focus on me leading up to that, it was a harsh thing to happen to a kid who’d been in the AFL for less than a season. There weren’t many people in the AFL system who knew me at that stage. How well can you get to know someone and the way they go about their life in just a few months? When you’re a public figure, a lot of people think they know you because they read a lot about you, but that raises the question how much of what is reported as fact in the media is actually true?

Some time later, when I was in Melbourne, I fronted Jon Anderson about the story.

I was angry with him, but I didn’t show it. I know some blokes who would’ve expressed their anger in a physical way, but I thought I was fair and reasonable. I asked him: “Why did you write that?” “Well, someone told me about it,” he said.

“Look, I don’t hold a grudge against you,” I said. “You’re just trying to do your job and it makes for a good story. I just don’t think that you needed to write it, and I don’t think it was appropriate. It actually has a pretty big impact on the way people view me.”

While on The Big Freeze, a big shout out to the man behind the battle against the beast.

Of course today isn’t just about Buckley’s Last Stand. MND can FRO.

Updated

No late team changes

Melbourne

B: Michael Hibberd, Steven May, Jake Lever
HB: Jayden Hunt, Harrison Petty, Christian Salem
C: Angus Brayshaw, Christian Petracca, James Jordon
HF: James Harmes, Tom McDonald, Alex Neal-Bullen
F: Charlie Spargo, Sam Weideman, Bayley Fritsch
FOLL: Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver, Kysaiah Pickett
I/C: Luke Jackson, Ed Langdon, Trent Rivers, Tom Sparrow
Sub: Kade Chandler

Collingwood

B: John Noble, Jordan Roughead, Brayden Maynard
HB: Isaac Quaynor, Darcy Moore, Chris Mayne
C: Will Hoskin-Elliott, Steele Sidebottom, Caleb Poulter
HF: Nathan Murphy, Darcy Cameron, Trent Bianco
F: Jordan De Goey, Brody Mihocek, Jamie Elliott
FOLL: Max Lynch, Scott Pendlebury, Jack Crisp
I/C: Josh Daicos, Jack Madgen, Beau McCreery, Josh Thomas
Sub: Jay Rantall

Updated

As a player, Nathan Buckley was an absolute tour de force. South Australian footy had seen very few like him when he stormed onto the scene. He had an aura of invincibility about him, a level of self-belief that transcended arrogance, and he backed it up on the field of play.

In 1992, he was unstoppable. It was the last year his abundant talents would be restricted to his home state, with Buckley playing for Brisbane in 1993 and then Collingwood from 1994 onwards.

Do yourself a favour and check out the video below. The man was a freak.

Preamble

Move along. Nothing to see here. Just your standard Queen’s Birthday at the footy. Okay, this year Melbourne and Collingwood will not be playing to a packed MCG but a slightly-less-packed SCG. But otherwise there’s little to get excited about: 1st v 16th. Not exactly a blockbuster. Move along, indeed.

Normally that would be the sum of it but today is a day like no other: today is the last day Nathan Buckley can call himself coach of Collingwood. Is that a big deal? Yes, it most certainly is. Having taken over from Mick Malthouse in 2012, Buckley’s departure is the latest phase in a resounding end of an era at the Magpies. Much has happened at the club in recent times, very little of it any good, and not even one of the club’s favourite sons can escape the broom sweeping through the Holden Centre.

But while Collingwood have made a dog’s ear of their dealings and missteps, this one they’ve handled with dignity and poise. This is not a messy divorce. Collingwood emerge looking fine and even moreso Buckley, who will today hold his head high and be allowed to absorb something very few coaches are afforded: a farewell game.

Buckley is by any measure a great of the sport. A fiercely talented player, Buckley took the AFL by the scruff of the neck in the mid-90s and early-00s. Most individual achievements came his way: a Brownlow, a Norm Smith, a Magarey, a Jack Oatey, a Rising Star, best-and-fairests galore and seven All-Australian appearances. But one thing eluded him as both a player and a coach: an AFL premiership. Though he won an SANFL flag with Port Adelaide in 1992, he failed to win one with Collingwood - twice losing grand finals to Brisbane, the club he couldn’t get away from fast enough after being drafted as a young man - and then falling short by a kick as coach in 2018.

It’s a record he won’t be allowed to set straight. Whether he likes it or not, he cannot escape his connection to the culture that was exposed in the “Do Better” report and as coach he cannot be exempted from the fact Collingwood are now a very ordinary football team. It is time for him to go. But, today, he has one more shot in the locker, poignantly against the team he supported as a boy.

It’ll be an emotional occasion, but there are also four premiership points on the line. The Pies look outclassed but you wouldn’t put it past them pulling one out of the hat. For old time’s sake. Looking forward to your company today. You know the drill.

Updated

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