On a fantastic winter’s night for AFL football, two heavyweight teams met on a Saturday night blockbuster at a venue that isn’t well known for hosting blockbuster AFL matches.
Second-placed Sydney strode out onto the ANZ Stadium at Homebush in front of around 40,000 spectators to host a rampant Collingwood outfit who were fresh off smashing the controversy riddled Bombers by 79 points the Sunday before at the MCG.
Before last year’s preliminary final between the two teams at Homebush, the Pies had liked travelling to Sydney to face the Swans.
But that match was hell for the Pies, who never looked like they could overcome the Swans midfield as they went down by 26 points in Jude Bolton’s 300th game.
It was highlighted by one of three Lewis Jetta’s goals, who ran close to the whole ground to kick one of the great AFL finals goals.
The Sydney outfit broke an 11-game losing streak to the Pies, which started in 2005.
They then beat Collingwood at the MCG but this week emphasised in a telling and ground-breaking win that Collingwood could still be a top-four side.
But you would never have guessed it after Sydney booted the first four goals of the game, with Kurt Tippett bagging two of them to show why Sydney put so much into recruiting the solid forward from Adelaide last year.
The returning Rhyce Shaw and co-captain Kieran Jack helped to slot the other two goals.
But the Pies slowly started to unravel the Swans’ game, with Travis Cloke and Jamie ‘Billy’ Elliot slotting two set-shot goals to bridge the gap to only ten points at the first break.
A timid opening to the second quarter was finally broken when Steele Sidebottom finally managed to kick a beautiful drop punt through the big sticks.
The huge man with the funky hair in the name of Brody Grundy then juggled the ball on his fingertips like a basketballer before sliding it through the goals to cut the margin to under a goal.
The scores were levelled by a few Collingwood points before Scott Pendlebury snapped through a goal he would never miss to put the Pies in front by a goal for the first time.
Harry O’Brien then booted the Pies nine points clear with an emotional set shot goal, with the booming kick of the defender soaring over the goal posts at ANZ Stadium.
But elation soon turned to dismay as the burly forward of Tippet marked and kicked his third goal on the half time siren, trimming the margin to a neat three points at the main break.
Both teams had problems to address during half time, with Collingwood’s being how to stop Tippett, and Sydney’s being how to stop the Pies midfield and their amazing pressure.
Both teams must have worked out resolutions as they both trotted onto the field to resume the second half.
Collingwood had obviously not worked out a successful plan to curb the run of Tippett, as he slammed through two quick goals to resume play.
Lachlan Keeffe was then assigned the harsh task of stopping the former Crow, as his predecessor in Nathan Brown was left to rue his poor performance on the monolith that wears the number eight jumper for Sydney.
The move seemed to work as Collingwood’s midfield re-awoke from its slumber and turned onto power mode, as Ben Reid looped a goal through on his loping left boot.
Josh Thomas, who in his break out match by the Pies was known as Josh Kennedy by Brian Taylor in the Channel 7 commentary box, popped through the drop punt goal that put Collingwood back in front, before Jamie Elliot roved off the back perfectly for his second goal, which gave the Magpies some breathing space.
The old stalwart in Jude Bolton then kicked a pressure goal as the Swans slowly began to methodically work through the pressure they were getting put on them by the black-and-white army.
But Thomas kicked another and Cloke scored his second to push the margin back out to 16 points.
Tippett kicked another late one, but this time it was to no avail as Collingwood got the quick clearance and Ben Reid out-muscled his opponent to mark and convert the goal after the siren.
The Pies had a strong lead of 18 points at the last break, with the underdogs looking like they may upset the lofty talent which is in the Sydney team.
The first nail was driven into the coffin as after nearly eight minutes Steele Sidebottom swerved past a Sydney defender before snapping through a vital goal on his trusty non-preferred left boot.
Elliot then kicked his third goal off a free kick to seal the game as the margin blew out to 31 points.
Josh Kennedy kicked one not long before the siren went, but it didn’t matter as Collingwood recorded a surprise 29-point win to put them in fifth spot with Essendon getting hammered by West Coast the following day.
Sydney were relegated down to third spot, with Geelong joining the top two while Hawthorn still flew at the top of the ladder.
In a tough month ahead to finish the season, Collingwood face Hawthorn in a Friday night thriller, West Coast the Friday night after and then North Melbourne, the league’s perennial chokers, to finish off their home and away season.
Sydney faces St Kilda, Geelong at the Cattery and Hawthorn at ANZ to finish off their season.
If Collingwood are to make it into the top four, Collingwood would have to surprise Hawthorn and beat West Coast and North Melbourne and Sydney would have to lose to Geelong and Hawthorn, which is a possibility, but a challenge.
But you never know in footy, that’s what makes the game so great.
Until next week, go the Pies!
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