The best win in 17 years?

Last night's triumph over the reigning premiers was quite possibly the best Collingwood win since the 1990 grand final. It was certainly the most tense, anyway. The only real contenders are the 2002 Preliminary Final vs. Adelaide, the 02 Qualifying Final against Port, and the 03 Qualifying Final vs. Brisbane. The Adelaide prelim was awesome, but you got the sense the Magpies were going to lose. The Brisbane victory was marred by the fact that we were absolutely thumped by them in the match that counted three weeks later. The 02 QF final was terrific, but was more the product of a Port Adelaide choke-job (Will never forget Burgoyne playing on on the goalline and getting tackled to effectively lose the match). That's why last night was Collingwood's best victory in 17 years. Despite the absence of Judd, Cousins and Kerr, the Eagles were still favourites, due solely to the late change which saw Josh Fraser leave the game. Fraser was the key to this game. If he could hold Cox around the game, the Pies would win the match. Instead, we had the not so mobile Chris Bryan. Cox picked up 27 disposals and was dominant.

There's no doubt about it, the West Coast Eagles were by far the better team for three quarters. They won the ball, ran harder, and had the better forward line entry. Not to mention that they were kicking straight. After an intense first term term, the Magpies dropped off completely. The Pies were in touch at half time due solely to luck. Nothing else. The game looked like it would be over by 3/4 time, with the Eagles leading by 22 points in a low scoring game, coming home with the breeze. But Alan Didak had other ideas.

Didak was injected into the midfield with the hopes of creating a spark, and boy did he deliver.
Didak single-handedly got the Magpies back in the game, winning the clearances and delivering the ball inside 50. His prowess had the Magpies within 4 points at the final break, about 4 goals closer than they deserved to be. The final minutes of the 3rd term decided the match. From there, the rest is history.

The Magpies won the match because they dominated the clearances, had superior fitness, and took their chances in the 2nd half. Here's how I rated everyone's performance:

9/10

Alan Didak - The igniter. Didak turned the tide singlehandedly in the 3rd term, and delivered a crucial goal of brilliance in the last, to give the Pies the lead. His best ever game, as he once again asserted himself as the Magpies most clutch player.

8/10

Dane Swan - 38 disposals says it all. Swan was dominant in the midfield, owning the clearances. His disposal was suspect at times, but his ability to win the ball out of the middle
was magnificent.

Travis Cloke - Last night Travis Cloke had 12 inside 50's. The next best player for either team had 6. That stat is one of the most telling of the night. The Pies had a key forward that could lead out mark from 65-75 and drive the ball inside, the Eagles didn't. Travis was terrific, the best on ground in the 1st half for the Magpies, and kicked the goal in the 3rd term to give the Pies hope.

7/10

Shane O'Bree - O'Bree last night did all that he knows to do - grab the ball and slam it on the boot. And last night he did it pretty damn well. O'Bree's 27 disposals were crucial.

Dale Thomas - An underrated performance by the young gun. Didn't really get his fair due in my eyes. Thomas chased and tackled ferociously. He kicked a clutch goal to put the Magpies ahead with 3 minutes remaining, and went on a game-sealing run in the final minute of the match. An important performance following the letdowns of the past fortnight.

Paul Medhurst - Medhurst did what he does best last night, create a spark. Whenever he got the ball he looked dangerous. He kicked the first goal of the match (albeit tentatively), took arguably the mark of the year, and kicked a crucial goal in the final term.

6/10

Tarkyn Lockeyer - Lockeyer gave a strong solid performance, winning the ball and disposing of it with his usual poise. Nothing magnificent, just a good all-round game.

Martin Clarke - Clarke really is a phenomenon. To play with the confidence and audacity that he has in the past two weeks has been incredible. Another solid game, and played the key role in setting up Pendlebury's game sealing goal.

Leon Davis - Got very little of the ball, but when he did (and even when he didn't) he looked extremely dangerous. Workrate was superb, at one stage giving four legitimate tackling efforts.

Tyson Goldsack - Moneybags gave another solid performance, sure to win over more fans. Puts his body on the line and backs himself every single time.

5/10

Shane Wakelin - Coughed up a handball which lead to an important West Coast goal, but that aside, got the job done. Limited the Big Q superbly.

Heath Shaw - Not his most dominant performance, but provided a solid contribution off the half-back flank.

James Clement - A bizarre performance from the usually reliable Clement. Almost singlehandedly lost the game, gifting West Coast 2 goals. Stepped up in the last quarter and extra time with renewed confidence. Showed some genuine balls to pinpoint Shane O'Bree 3 inches inside the boundary line with 45 seconds left in the 4th term.

Nick Maxwell - Gave a trademark solid knuckled performance, spoiling with his usual conviction and injecting some anger into the proceedings early on.

Harry O-Brien - Rarely seen, but apparently did his job.

Chris Bryan - Looked out of sorts in the ruck, but around the ground was useful. Kicked that vital goal in the first period of extra time to set up the win.

4/10

Scott Pendlebury - Receiving too many accolades for a somewhat mediocre performance. Was magnificent last week, but was restricted by the conditions tonight. Found a fair bit of the ball, but his disposal was poor, consistently lofting the ball over the head of his targets. Almost lost the game with a missed shot on goal late in the last, but kept his composure to nail the game winner in the 2nd period of extra time.

Scott Burns - Disappointing performance from the seasoned veteran. Won a couple of contested possessions, but was obviously hampered by his ankle injury.

Guy Richards - Murdered in the ruck and let Cox run rampant on him. Redeemed himself partially by creating a contest in the late 3rd term ruck contests to give the midfielders a chance.

3/10

Anthony Rocca - Fluked his way to 3 goals. Unintentionally kicked one of them as well. Was beaten in aerial and ground contests comprehensively by Darren Glass. Not only did he not create, but he was burned the other way on a regular basis by the superior Glass. Only bright spot was his clutch goal to bring the Pies to within 4 points at 3/4 time. Only excuse can be an injury, because he did not produce any 2nd efforts tonight.

Nathan Buckley - On a night where champions needed to stand up, the Magpie skipper was disgraced. Disposal was horrible, time and time again favouring around the body snaps to nowhere in particular over drop punts. Gifted Rosa a goal in the dying minutes, and almost gave away a stupid deliberate decision in the final minute. The defining moment of his night was when he missed a regulation shot on the run from 45 metres out in the 1st half. The greatest ever kick of a football has to do better than that.

-1/10

Sean Rusling - Last night Sean Rusling delivered the single worst individual game of football I have ever seen in my entire life. He couldn't hold a mark, dropping numerous sitters, couldn't out-run a man more than ten years his senior with a body breaking down, and most disgustingly, refused to give second efforts. Rusling is so crucial to the structure of this team - next week he needs to stand up.

September

Few would have expected it at the start of the year, but the Magpies are playing in September, for the 4th time in 6 years.

2007 has been a strange year, not quite as bumpy and bizarre as 2006, but exciting all the same. Collingwood had a strong first half to the year, as they did in 2006, before dropping off again in the later months. There seemed to be games where the Pies just didn't show up (Brisbane @ the G, both Melbourne matches, latter Richmond match), and those were the games that cost the Pies a spot in the top four. The fact is that if you want to finish in the top 4 you have to have a record better than 4-3 against teams in the bottom four. The problem with the Pies this year is that they've struggled against teams better (0-4 vs. West Coast, Port and Hawthorn) and worse than they are (only 4-3 against Bulldogs, Carlton, Melbourne and Richmond), and beat teams of around the same overall quality (8-2 vs. Sydney, Adelaide, St. Kilda, Brisbane, Fremantle, Essendon).

If the Black and White want to do better in the future they have to really put away terrible teams like Richmond and Melbourne. Collingwood's other main problem this year was percentage. Many might put the Woods' percentage worries down to the 93 point thumping to Brisbane (ironically Collingwood's biggest win of the season came against, guess who - Brisbane), but that's not true. Collingwood this year were not able to have a single six-goal victory. Collingwood struggled to 4-goal victories vs. Carlton and Richmond, and limped to an 11 point win over Melbourne. I don't recall there being one match where Collingwood had buried their opponent by 3 quarter time.

Ultimately though percentage has become somewhat irrelevant. Had Collingwood won multiple matches by 300+ points they still wouldn't be in the four.

Anyways that's in the past. It might sound as though I'm putting a somewhat negative spin on what has to be called an unbridled success of a season. When pundits place you 10-14 before the season begins, and come September you're looking at a home final, that's a success of a season. But (allowing the eternal cynicism to take hold again) 2007 has been a disappointing season in many ways. Collingwood have only found consistency in their inconsistency. Dropping games to Richmond and Melbourne hurt. And losing games against the Bulldogs and Hawthorn from winning positions didn't feel good either. Despite being in the finals series, I still view this year as purely a development season for the youngsters. This team isn't going to win a premiership. We lack the midfield speed and ferocity and the rounded experience to win a flag... for now.

Collingwood's problem is that they are too old and too young at the same time. By the time the youngsters mature (Cloke, Pendlebury, Thomas, Shaw, etc) the old guard will be gone (Rocca, Buckley, Burns, Clement? How old is Jimmy anyway?). Anyways, that's another thought for another day.

For now, please drop Richards for Fraser, R. Shaw for Didak, and O'Brien for Licuria. And FUCKING GO WOODS!!!!!!!