Steve Johnson’s patented last-minute magic has seen the Giants take their first ever win over the Collingwood Magpies, victorious by three points.
It was an incredibly tight finish with no shortage of suspense, but Collingwood looked to have it won when Jeremy Cameron – who kicked six for the day – could only manage a behind with 90 seconds left thanks to some great presssure from Henry Schade.
It wasn’t to be however as the Giants went forward again and Johnson, always living for the big moment, gathered loose ball, ran into the goalsquare and made no mistake.
Collingwood put themselves into a winning position in the first quarter, taking a 26-point lead at the first break by dominating the Giants through the midfield and having a bit more luck converting up forward than they have in the rest of the year.
Jarryd Blair kicked two goals for the term and Cameron got his first of the game, but it was Brodie Grundy dominating Shane Mumford who was the hero at the first break.
The Giants switched on after that though and the second quarter was theirs – three goals from Cameron in that term in a six-goals-to-two effort saw them fight back to be only a point down at the main break.
It was then a deadlock in the third, as the two sides went goal for goal throughout the quarter and we saw seven lead changes, with the flipping switch landing on the Giants by a point at the final change. Cameron booted his fifth.
Brayden Maynard was nearly the hero in the final quarter, he kicked two goals both of which put Collingwood ahead at different stages, but the Giants responded every time.
Ben Reid also put one through for the Pies but a soccer from Cameron for his sixth, a long bomb by Jonny Patton and the match-winner from Johnson gave GWS the win.
The Pies should be commended for playing tough, uncompromising footy, and dramatically improving their forward line ability, but it wasn’t to be.
GWS won’t be happy with their slow start, but to pull a win out of their hats when they had three injured players on the bench – Aidan Corr, Sam J Reid and Stephen Coniglio all with concerns – was something to be proud of.
In the end it was a thrilling game of footy with thirteen lead changes along the way that ended in the Giants scraping through for their first ever win against Collingwood.
Final score
GWS Giants 15.12.102
Collingwood Magpies 15.9.99
Cat
Roar Guru
What do you expect when the Pies bandwagon is running on empty?
Cat
Roar Guru
Wow! A whole 55 per cent is a 'major advantage'? A whooping 5 per cent over break even. Let's use some actual numbers to show how 'massaged' this 'major advantage' is. 22 out of 40 free kicks in a game would be 55% and considered a 'major advantage'. Utterly ridiculous. This is a perfect example of carefully selecting statistics to back up an argument rather than objectively looking at the and then deciding the story they tell.
bobburra
Guest
Given that a lot of people have not rated Carlton in 2017 to the tune of even finishing last on the ladder, this make make Collingwood worse than terrible, after all Carlton have, up till now, have won more games than the maggies. It appears (as has been mentioned in other circles) the problems at Collingwood are two fold, both on the field and off. Some players have been brought into the club that clearly should not be there ( read, Richmond of a few years back the "foreign Legion"), and just as obviously the coaching dept. needs to be looked at and serious calls made. For the sake of discussion, lets say that Buckley & his coaching cohorts along with him go,what level of a clean out can Collingwood afford in 2018 to be regarded as competitive? As per usual time will tell in all things, especially within the AFL.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
yeah Mick, I was in attendance of the Black Diamond Cup game on the Central Coast on Friday night between Killarney Vale and my club Terrigal Avoca. I actually really liked the Friday night fixture and I know a lot of players from both Clubs did as well. I hope the League looks at it bit more going forward. The facilities on both the Central Coast & Newcastle are getting better and certainly grounds in positions to hold more of these games.
Mickyo
Guest
Indeed, a Black Diamond cup game in Newcastle was moved so his ex teammates could come down. Pretty good effort, hope they had a good time, pretty sure they did :) Lloyd adds his name to a pretty small club of players to come from Newcastle to play AFL football.
Mickyo
Guest
That is in fact rather incorrect, there was a distinct lack of Collingwood fans compared to other years and we all know why, alternatively the GWS members areas which are in the camera side were more full than ever. They continue to grow year after year, over 19,000 members now and year upon year increase in crowd growth, not sure what else a new team in a area that does not follow Australian football can improve, not only is it an area that does not follow the game, but it is an area that has a small but vocal group of people who have actively and still do campaign against the Australian game.
DingoGray
Roar Guru
Pretty solid debut by Central Coast lad Daniel Lloyd. Had a bit of colt figure type following at the Grand with his local Club Killarney Vale filling up an entire bay supporting him. Hopefully did enough to warrant a few more games.
Lroy
Guest
''Oh, and the Dogs were killed by the umps against the Weagles..'' which means you clearly didnt watch it . Dogs did very nicely on a big day in Sept last year, or have you forgotten that 20-7 free kick count?? . Can't you Victorians come up with something new?? Its the same mantra every season, Eagles only win because of the umpires blah blah blah. Really mate, the Eagles have been in the AFL for 30 years now, and you people are still going on with the conspiracy theories. Its a fact, Victorians for the last 20 years have been getting more free kicks than non Victorian teams. "" In 2016 there were 21 games where a Non-Victorian Away team played a Victorian Home Team (in Melb and Tas) and where there was a major free kick advantage. In 19 of those 21 games the advantage went to the Victorians'' https://davewarner.com.au/huge-pro-vic-bias-in-free-kicks-2016/ Major free kick advantage means, the team got more than 55% of the frees... so in 19 out of 21 games, the Victorian team got more than 55% of the frees against non Victorian opponents. This bias has existed for 30 years, why?? Because the majority of the umpires are Victorian, and they have a natural bias against non Victorian teams, this has been statistically proven over and over again, and the AFL have not shown the slightest interest in redressing it. So spare me your tears, you sound like a member of the KKK complaining about how good the blacks have it in America these days.
I ate pies
Guest
Real concerns there for the AFL - one of the best teams against Collingwood should have seen a half decent crowd. No amount of media manipulation can deny the fact that GWS has no supporters and no soul. On the back of this game GWS can be counted out of premiership contention anyway; they should have pumped the pies, even with 2 men down. They are selfish downhill skiiers that rely on flashes of brilliance. That's not a recipe for finals football.
Roger of Sydney
Guest
I think it would be harsh to take anything away from Collingwood it was a gutsy effort against probably the best team and lost by 45 seconds. I think Buckley may be your problem, you have got the players.
Bell
Guest
Was an enjoyable game of footy to watch at the ground, although it didn't really feel like it had the intensity of other games --- possibly b/c it felt like there was only circa 10,000 people at the ground, which is always strange for a pies supporter. The GWS forwards are going to be really hard to stop this year and in the years to come - stating the obvious, but Cameron is a special player. A loss is a loss unfortunately - 2W:6L does not finals make...
InvisiblePJs
Roar Rookie
I'll pretend to be Mattyb... blah blah blah.... Saints were cruising... blah blah blah... Carlton are rubbish... blah blah blah get rid of the Carlton board... Oh, and the Dogs were killed by the umps against the Weagles..
Kane
Guest
Ask mattyb, he has all the answers on all things Carlton
Macca
Guest
Interesting- the pies beat geelong and ran GWS to 3 points away but in between the blues only beat the because Collingwood are terrible.
pieman
Guest
Great game, GWS deserved the win with 3 injured few rotations and real endeavour. Collingwood will always be the bridesmaids. Im afraid there is nowhere to hide for the powers that be at collingwood. Its round 8 and already they are gone for the season. No finals again, unless of course buckley and eddie go.