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If one thing was going to stop the Collingwood juggernaut in its tracks, a wet night, against a side who built a dynasty around winning games in the clinches, would surely be it.
How would the Magpies’ elite ball users fare with a slippery footy? Would their devil-may-care, electric ball movement lose its lustre in ten millimetres of water? Could their army of marking forward options do enough at ground level to keep their remarkable scoring run going?
As it happened, the Pies’ ball movement against Richmond was nowhere near as precise as it had been in the first two rounds – their disposal efficiency of 66.8 per cent is some margin lower than against Port Adelaide, and hovered around the 60 mark for much of the first half. With it, their ball movement suffered, and thanks to that and some wayward kicking in front of the big sticks – another change from last week’s clinical precision – saw them muster just eight goals.
And it didn’t make a damn bit of difference.
This is a Magpies team that officially has it all. At the coalface, Tom Mitchell has been the recruit of the year (who could have seen that coming?), and his ball-winning abilities in close form a perfect combination with Jordan De Goey’s explosiveness and Steele Sidebottom and Scott Pendlebury’s footy intelligence. Then, on the outside, the Daicos brothers looked a class above with their foot skills, undaunted by a greasy ball or the heightened pressure of a Tigers outfit that came to play.
Up forward, there was none of the utter dominance against the Power – the Pies had to work for every goal – but Jamie Elliott, Brody Mihocek and the ultra-impressive Ash Johnson got enough looks through sheers repeat entries to put on a winning score despite their woeful inaccuracy. At ground level, the pressure of Beau McCreery and Bobby Hill makes it a nightmare for any team to exit their defensive 50, as the Tigers discovered again and again at the MCG.
In defence, the Pies remain a well-oiled machine, and welcomed the Pies’ more cautious approach further afield denying the sort of one-on-one opportunities in open space that leaked through at times even against the Power. Darcy Moore was simply too good for Jack Riewoldt, giving him nothing all night save for one late opportunity, while Isaac Quaynor has snuck almost unnoticed into the very elite as far as mid-sized defenders go.
Josh Daicos celebrates a goal with Scott Pendlebury. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Even Billy Frampton, the weak link last week against Charlie Dixon, looked tremendous opposed to Tom Lynch, reading the flight of the ball exceptionally all evening, getting in with timely fists regularly and not too Lynch-conscious to leave him at times to assist teammates – one such incident in the first quarter saved a certain Tiger goal, and forced a stoppage out of a two on one 30 metres from goal.
Whatever the conditions, whatever the opposition, whatever the stakes, these Pies have the tools to adapt and thrive. Quite honestly, it’s going to take something exceptional to beat them this year, provided they can maintain these incredible levels.
I’m not wholly convinced they can – only two teams since the stat was recorded have been better than the Pies for contested possessions in the first three rounds of a season. Other things will go wrong – a knee injury to sole ruck Darcy Cameron will be a headache to address if it’s even a mid-term injury.
But even if that happens, Fly’s Pies will find a way to evolve and still get the job done. It’s only Round 3, but they’re getting dangerously close to ‘Final Boss’ levels of impressiveness.
Surely what will please Craig McRae most won’t be a dominant first half, in which the Pies smashed the Tigers for territory with 29-21 inside 50s, walloped them for the hard ball with 90-69 contested possessions, and only cost themselves a monster lead by kicking 3.10 and missing an array of gettable snaps that nearly all sailed through last week (when they kicked 21.9).
It won’t even be the form of Johnson, who gave it his all as an undersized second ruck and showed a sticky pair of hands with two monster marks inside 50 within minutes of each other in the second term, when the ground and ball were still damp – if Cameron is out, you could do worse than using him and McStay as alternating rucks and just ceding the hitouts.
It won’t even be the Pies’ continued dominance when the ball is up for grabs: remarkably, the Tigers at half time led clearances 25-16, but the Magpies won contested footy 66 to 44 once the ball had been removed from the stoppage, with an amazing ten knock-ons to the advantage of a teammate. Those 50-50 balls that pop up all over the ground, that invariably end up as the difference between a shot at goal or giving one up? The Pies are winning those to a terrifying degree.
But no, what will surely please Fly the most will be the Magpies’ response to their first challenge since breaking the Cats in the final term of Round 1.
Having been thoroughly dominated but kept alive in the first half, like a mouse being toyed with by a Cat, Richmond burst to life in the premiership quarter.
Suddenly, the Tigers weren’t just winning clearances, but breaking through the front of them to drive the ball forward. Noah Cumberland, subbed on at half time as the Tigers realised Samson Ryan was one tall too many, gave an instant injection of speed and creativity, finding two targets inside 50 within a matter of minutes of coming on to set up the first two Tiger goals of the half.
Liam Baker began to repel everything from the back half – with 12 touches in the third term, finding a target with 11 of them and gaining more than 200 metres, all the while attacking the footy with the same single-minded ferocity that has epitomised his career.
Suddenly, three Tiger goals had them just three points down, 10 minutes of dominance all but eclipsing a half of it. It’s the kind of burst Geelong supporters will remember all too vividly from Richmond, the sort of third-quarter turnaround that turned the 2017 breakthrough premiership into a triple-flag dynasty.
So how did Collingwood respond? Simple. They upped the ante.
For the next ten minutes, the Pies won the contested possession count 16-6, broke away from three centre bounces, and piled on three goals. Order, and margin, restored, and it barely looked like it took anything out of them.
This is when the full majesty of this team became clear. Imagine having the options McRae has in midfield. Oh, Jack Crisp, Adams and Mitchell have been hammered for 10 minutes at centre bounces? Switch it up. Pendlebury to a wing because why not, Josh Daicos into the guts, he’s been hard at the footy all night, and back De Goey to turn things around for us.
The defining goal, a burst out of the centre, quick kick in to a packed 50 and Pendlebury winding back the clock was borne out of this. How on earth do you prepare when suddenly it’s a Daicos brother in there for the first time all match, with the leg speed and polish by foot to burst away when they get the ball and find a target further afield.
Equally, how as a winger – especially when you’re as inexperienced as Hugo Ralphsmith – hope to stop Pendlebury finding the footy, a man who has played 361 of the best games by anyone to don black and white, to get himself in the perfect position to receive near goal, weave through three Tigers almost in slow-motion, and finish coolly on the left?
Josh Daicos, a nominal winger, had a career-high 14 contested possessions and seven clearances, with he and Sidebottom pushing far closer into stoppages than they’d usually do due to the conditions. McRae can now have full confidence that when the going gets tough, he’ll be in the clinches with any of them.
Sidebottom, as it happens, has 12 contested possessions as well – in comparison, Richmond’s two wings, Marlion Pickett and Kamdyn McIntosh, had that many combined. Only Baker – of course – and Shai Bolton had more among the Tigers. Isn’t he supposed to be a 32-year old outside runner?
Even Nick Daicos had eight contested possessions – forget what people say about him playing bruise-free footy, if he needs to he can win his own ball easily. Ditto De Goey, who ended with 35 disposals, nine explosive clearances and 15 contested possessions. He’s officially arrived as a midfield A-grader.
Just as important as any of those were the instances in the last quarter where he marked ahead of the ball, assessed his options, and decided to slow play and kill time. Sensible and Jordan De Goey haven’t always gone together in his career thus far, but that sort of game awareness, so antithetical to Collingwood’s usual modus operandi, can only make them stronger.
Jamie Elliott is another centre bounce option for McRae to consider – he didn’t attend a single one, though his 13 disposals and two goals for the third quarter suggests if he did he’d have had few problems either.
All of that means the Pies can throw numerous ideas at teams to see what and who they can handle: it’s hard to get a handle on, even for a side as high-intensity as Richmond.
For the Pies to then match the clearances in the last quarter despite operating with no ruckman against Toby Nankervis is likewise a tremendous effort, and further proof that this lot can adapt to anything the footy gods throw at them.
The question now is: can anyone adapt to them?
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