Collingwood hang on to beat wasteful Melbourne and book preliminary final

The Collingwood players ran out for their qualifying final the way they always do – gambolling about and whooping it up. But the frolics didn’t last long. It was a brutal opening. It saw spotfires, hyperextended knees, errant elbows, concussion tests and a bloodcurdling collision between Brayden Maynard and Angus Brayshaw. “It’s a footy act,” Maynard later said. “He jumped off the ground and knocked a guy out,” Melbourne coach, Simon Goodwin, countered. “It didn’t look like it had much malice,” his opposite number, Craig McRae, offered. Like all things tribunals and finals, we throw our hands in the air, hope the player’s brain hasn’t been damaged, and let the po-faced panellists and the king’s counsels thrash it out.

The Demons, the best contested team all year, were strangely passive in the opening term. It was Collingwood that was the tougher side in front of 92,636 fans at the MCG. Tellingly, it was Collingwood that was the quicker side, and the cleaner side. As good as the Pies were, Melbourne will rue this loss for a long time. They frittered it away. The last time they met, the Dees kicked 8:18 and got away with it. They weren’t so lucky this time. They had so many looks. They had 32 more inside 50s. They shot themselves in the foot time and time again – dinky little nine iron lobs, shanks out on the full, forwards barrelling into one another. If the delivery was sloppy and unimaginative at times, the forward line should shoulder the bulk of the blame. It was dysfunctional.

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They now head into a repechage with all sorts of question marks over their best forward combination. Jacob Van Rooyen will almost certainly sit out next week after he chinned Dan McStay. That leaves the very real prospect of them recalling Brodie Grundy, who’s been playing in mini typhoons out at Casey Fields in front of two men and a dog. He’s been adrift in the system for months, a kind of footballing un-person, but he may well get his chance next Friday.

Collingwood saved a lot of money by trading Grundy, and their acquisitions all paid their way last night. McStay’s two third-quarter goals, after nothing had gone right for him all night, were crucial, while Tom Mitchell and Oleg Markov excelled in the slippery conditions. But it was Bobby Hill who really sparked the Pies. A few years ago, in a documentary about the trade period, he was informed by his manager that his desired trade had fallen through, and that he’d be a GWS player for another year. He was in the tattooist’s chair when he took the call. He wanted to play in front of 90 thousand people at the MCG, not in front of four-digit crowds at Giants Stadium. He finally got his chance this year, and produced the best game of his career last night. While the heavyweights slugged and knocked one another, the flyweight ran amok. He was everywhere early – mopping up in defence, mowing down loping Dees defenders, and slipping out the back to goal. He covered an extraordinary amount of ground. Along with Markov, he’s given the Pies what they were lacking last year – leg speed.

Collingwood had a torrid August, the August they had to have in many ways. They were biding time, treading water, being figured out. Deep down, they were entitled to think– “what’s to gain by going the extra yard here?” This side needs to be all chips in. This side needs to feel the blade on skin. They got that in the first term, when bodies were flying everywhere. They got it in the final minutes, when Melbourne were pressing hard, when Gawn was marking everything, and when Petracca threatened to rip the game away from the Pies. They’ve spent the past two years mowing sides down. But last night they hung on grimly. They managed their moments, to steal the coach’s line. As Quaynor put his head in the hole and Darcy Moore and Nathan Murphy shovelled against the avalanche, Melbourne continued to find new ways to throw it away. But the Pies kept their heads. They had shopped early, and bought themselves a home preliminary final.