Collingwood players celebrate on the final siren of the AFL 1st Semi Final between the Collingwood Magpies and the Adelaide Crows at the MCG. Slattery Images
Despite the fact that you have a winner with momentum facing a loser who is at risk of going out in straight-sets, the ladder has stayed true to form leaving the top four sides of the year to contest the AFL’s Preliminary Finals.
As good as the Lions were last week, they were ordinary this week; and vice versa for the Western Bulldogs.
The Crows were unlucky and will regret not putting Collingwood away when they had the chance. All in all there was some nice symmetry to the end given how the Round One match between the two ended.
Swallowing the Whistle
The free kick to John Anthony wasn’t unusual in the sense that it was a free kick, but that it was paid. Umpires don’t tend to pay free kicks like that in that stage of the game. People can quote clichés such as it’s a free kick all day every day but that isn’t how reality always works.
Ben Rutten was tired and exhausted and most likely this contributed to his poor decision making. The punch would have been a better option but given that the Pies only needed a point to draw, who knows what would have happened after that?
Judd Makes a Hash of It
Chris Judd should have noted what Matthew Lloyd did with his charge the week before. Lloyd took the early plea and thus killed the story then and there. Judd fought the charge and lost, thus earning an extra week in the process.
He then appealed the judgement and lost that as well. In turn, he gave the story many more days of fuel then it needed. The need to protest his innocence backfired and the longer the ordeal went, the sillier he looked.
Lloyd’s incident may have been far worse and he received a longer suspension than Judd, but he won the PR war.
Western Bulldogs vs St Kilda
Just the third final between these two Melbourne clubs. Bulldogs won in 1961 on the way to their one and only flag. The second encounter was in 1992. This should have been the 1997 Grand Final but the Bulldogs were over-run by the Crows.
Anyway it is impossible to see the Bulldogs winning here. It has already lost twice to St Kilda in 2009 and that combined with its historically poor record in big finals makes it hard to see the Saints being defeated.
As for the Saints, it’s not just all year they have been waiting for this but a number of years. They have lost three Preliminary Finals in the last five years.
They are ready to take the next step and will. Their third Grand Final in the last 50 years awaits.
Geelong vs Collingwood
The winner of this match will join the Lions as the only sides to play in three Grand Finals in the new decade/century/millennium.
Collingwood is the only team to have appeared in more than one Grand Final over that time and not to have won one. These two played an epic Preliminary Final in 2007 which Geelong just won.
The question is how much gas do the Pies have left in the tank after the fantastic win against the Crows?
Collingwood – St Kilda would make a fantastic Grand Final but Geelong – St Kilda is going to make an even better one. Sorry Magpies fans but you are left to be the bridesmaids once again.
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