Adelaide entered the arena on Thursday night to flamethrowers and a saxophonist. Collingwood entered to a cacophony of boos and exited with a ticket to a preliminary final at the MCG. It was hostile territory, but the Magpies have a long history of excelling in that type of scenario. It is something they lean into and embrace. It’s their natural fighting stance. You just knew that the team, its leaders, its management and its supporter base would have been totally undaunted by what confronted them.
Collingwood won this qualifying final by 24 points with extreme pressure through the middle and with a fortification down back. They are such a diligent and competent team at patrolling the middle of the ground. Their forwards close in on defenders trying to exit. They have the special awareness and the collective buy-in to execute the plan, and it creates anxiety and forces errors. All night, the Crows were hurried and second guessing themselves.
The Pies won it with one of the best games Darcy Moore has played in a long time. The captain was outstanding all night, reading the ball off Adelaide boots and picking them off repeatedly. Moore had deft footwork, perfect timing, sticky hands and furious fists. A number of teams have worked his locks this year, dragging him deep and isolating him one-on-one.
But Adelaide couldn’t get a proper handle on him. His one blemish came when he inexplicably forfeited the ball across half-back, gifting the ball to his opposite number Jordan Dawson who converted with a 45m dribbler. Moore had able support from Billy Frampton and particularly Brayden Maynard, whose second efforts and shin shuddering tackles rattled the Crows. Everything about Maynard screams imminent provocation but he never lets the Pies down in games this important.
And Collingwood won it with a blistering patch in the third term, booting four goals in quick succession, three of them from left-foot snaps, and all of them coming after decisive centre clearance wins. Adelaide’s cause looked lost but they have shown that they can adapt and pick themselves up from seemingly hopeless positions. Luke Pedler was thrown a lot deeper than the norm and responded with two goals, and when Riley Thilthorpe marked strongly and converted on the cusp of the last change, the home side was back in it. But Collingwood completely shut the game down in the final term, a goalless quarter that went into neutral until Jamie Elliott, a threat all night, slammed home the winner.
Collingwood’s midfielders and small forwards brought the heat too. The Pies of 2022 and 2023 were content to lose the clearances and attack from half-back. Now they fight like buggery to keep it in their forward 50. They close in, bear down, tighten the noose and test the opposition’s nerve and skill. And they were the smarter and more patient team at key moments.
They would get the precise measure of their kicks – 15.5m just to be sure, ensuring they weren’t called to play on. They straddled the line of what constitutes insufficient intent. They’d buy a few seconds here, a few metres there. In contrast, the Crows were a bit headless, and a bit bomby. Their frustrating night was summed up by the sub Brodie Smith, just when his team was pressing hard in the final term, blazing away and ignoring several teammates in open space while Moore marked unopposed next to the goalsquare.
Of course, the spectre of Izak Rankine hung heavily. There are far more important issues at play here. But the Crows were in a catch 22 of Rankine’s making. They had two home finals. They had Taylor Walker’s 300th game. They had a city and supporter base climbing out of trees to get onboard. But Rankine’s slur and suspension hung over everything. And underpinning everything was the knowledge that the better they played, the worse it was for him. Now his season is still alive, but Adelaide are going to have to play a hell of a lot better than that against GWS Giants or Hawthorn if they are going to progress.
The residual animosity certainly had the crowd wound up. There was very little that they didn’t boo. They booed every decision that didn’t go their way. They booed Dan Houston. They booed the goal umpires. They booed the people manning the Arc. They were particularly vociferous with their boos for Isaac Quaynor. You know things are morally askew when it’s the person on the end of the slur who’s being booed. He played very well indeed, so they had plenty of opportunities to get stuck into him.
To bolster their travelling army, Collingwood chartered four buses at subsidised rates. Anticipation and optimism often ensure a raucous outbound journey. But the win is crucial for the return trip. Those four buses turned around and drove all through the night and are probably lobbing at Southern Cross station as you read this. Collingwood has had four finals in Adelaide and they’ve won them all – a club and a team that relishes being the hunter and the hated.
