The first week of the AFL finals was nothing to remember for long. The second was better, but the one to come? Hoo boy! Football isn’t broke, no matter what you’ve heard.
On Saturday night, Collingwood’s at times patchy 10-point win over Greater Western Sydney set up a preliminary final against Richmond – the most anticipated preliminary final since before Brody Mihocek was born. When the Pies and the Tigers met six weeks ago, Melbourne’s Herald Sun marked the occasion with an eight-page wraparound. This week we should expect the souvenir insert, the 30 for 30 documentary and the Dreamworld theme park ride. Nostalgia is about the only thing the AFL won’t tamper with.
From the outside, the past few years at Collingwood have appeared to be a folie à deux, a French term that means “madness of two” – Eddie McGuire and Nathan Buckley, two people who shared the same delusion. But today the faith that the Collingwood president has shown in his coach, and the trust that Buckley has had in his system is now just two wins away from a remarkable payoff.
“I did say at the box at the end, ‘Can you be dissatisfied with a finals win?’,” said Buckley after the game. “I don’t think you can, but we can play better than that.”
And Collingwood will need to play better than that if they are to beat the reigning premier. On Saturday night the Magpies had the hot start, but were wasteful going into attack, their kicking having a mind of its own, with an IQ of about 60. It allowed the Giants to work their way back into the game and at the last turn were just three points down. But a five-minute burst to open the final quarter saw goals from Travis Varcoe, Will Hoskin-Elliott and Jordan De Goey that effectively ended the Giants’ night, and their season.
While De Goey, who once tried to explain away an injured hand from a St Kilda bar fight by suggesting he injured it while throwing a toy to his dog, may not be in the frame for a MacArthur genius grant, he’s one of the smartest players in football. Playing deep in Collingwood’s forward line after an injury scare in the opening quarter, De Goey’s potential for greatness continues to inch upward. He beat his opponent Matt Buntine six ways from Sunday, taking marks, roving crumbs, kicking three crucial goals and setting Varcoe’s goal that opened the Pies’ game-winning burst.
As good as De Goey was in attack, Brayden Maynard was in defence. Maynard with the prevailing hair style of his peers, a short-back-and-sides worthy of an early Bob Rose, held Greene to just nine possessions, one mark and importantly, no goals.
But the story of the weekend was Melbourne making it through to their first preliminary final in 18 years in front of more than 90,000 people at the MCG on Friday night.
When the Dees are at their best, they play with a desire that verges on recklessness. They seem to be using football more as a means to “Raise Hell”. They fling the football around in a way that is part exciting and part on the verge of self-destruction. They are compelling viewing.
A preliminary final in front of a partisan Perth crowd awaits, and the Dees will need another big game from their forward Tom McDonald if they are to have a chance. McDonald has about been player of the finals so far, and on Friday night never stopped working up and down the ground and was rewarded with 10 marks and four goals.
Every bit as important to Melbourne this Saturday afternoon will be their co-captains, Jack Viney and Nathan Jones. In just his second game back from a lengthy spell with a foot injury, Viney showed typical disregard for his own welfare on the way to collecting 17 contested disposals in a best-on-ground performance.
While Jones was more workmanlike than brilliant, he is emblematic of the “Raise Hell” hashtag ascribed to his team’s journey – something visually represented last week in Melbourne’s Hosier Lane with the most popular piece of football graffiti since Dustin Martin was painted on a wall in Alfred Street Richmond in grand final week.
Six years the senior of his co-captain, Jones is reaching that part of his own football journey where the paths start to disappear and there’s twilight everywhere you turn. But it is in twilight of Perth where Jones has a chance to define his career by leading Melbourne to just their third grand final in more than 50 years.
Bring it on.
