Dom Sheed cements status as Collingwood public enemy with three-goal performance against Pies at Optus Stadium

Dom Sheed will forever be associated with misery for Collingwood.

It’s hard to see a way back for the Magpies in 2021 after the West Coast midfielder put them out of their misery with an Optus Stadium hat-trick tonight.

The exclamation point on the Eagles’ win came earlier than we have become used to with these two great rivals.

Sheed’s remarkable injection to the fore came late in the third quarter when the loping assassin took a punch drunk Collingwood and finished them.

His three goals came in the space of 1min 45sec of playing time – the same time remaining on the clock in the 2018 grand final when he delivered his dagger for the ages.

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Spare a thought for Magpies defender Brayden Maynard, who in an alternate reality might have received a free kick for a Willie Rioli block in the grand final. Tonight, Maynard stood on the mark for the second of Sheed’s trifecta.

By the time Sheed kicked his third goal just before the final change, the resurgent Eagles had booted 10 of the last 11 goals.

While Sheed provided the cameo, key forwards Jack Darling and Oscar Allen kicked 10 goals between them to provide the backbone to the 16.7 (103) to 11.10 (76) win.

Midfielder Jack Redden also played a starring role in the absence of key pair Luke Shuey and Elliot Yeo, having a career-high 37 possessions in his 100th game for the Eagles.

It was a scenario that was impossible to imagine at quarter-time, when the Eagles trailed by 15 points — one point shy of the lead they had in their last meeting when Mason Cox’s dynamite start blew open last year’s elimination final.

Cox wasn’t there but a new-look forward division did the damage as the Magpies beat the Eagles at their own game in the early going.

Collingwood took six contested marks to two in the opening term and four marks inside 50 to one as new spearhead Darcy Moore, ruckman Brodie Grundy and usual suspect Brody Mihocek got busy.

As Magpies stars began to drop, the game changed complexion in the second term. With Jordan De Goey ruled out with a facial injury and Jeremy Howe going down with a hamstring injury, West Coast sensed their opportunity and their swarming pressure got them back into the contest.

It was Darling’s quarter, with the key forward kicking four goals after not getting a kick in the opening term, as the Eagles booted six goals to two to turn the game around.

The home side turned around the contested ball battle that coach Adam Simpson had labelled critical before the match and it fuelled 16 forward entries to six for the term and 7-0 edge in marks inside 50.

If Darling emerged the main man, Allen was an able sidekick and had three goals himself by half-time before both finished with five.

The Eagles turned their quarter-time deficit into a two-goal buffer before five goals to none in the third term sealed the deal.

THE RUCK SHOWDOWN

Grundy ceded his All-Australian spot to Nic Naitanui last season and has had his colours lowered in recent meetings, but the big Pie roared back to form to be a match for his adversary tonight.

Grundy went forward to kick two goals in the opening term, one coming from a huge pack mark while Naitanui was on the bench, before the Eagle fought back to be a centre square force.

Naitanui finished with 14 disposals, seven clearances and nine of his 19 hit-outs went to advantage. Grundy had 20 disposals, two goals and seven of his 25 hit-outs went to advantage.

It was hard to separate the pair, with both among their team’s better performers. Grundy played 88 percent of the match compared to Naitanui’s 60 per cent.

THE MOORE MOVE

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley bit the bullet and sent All-Australian defender Darcy Moore into attack where he started in the goal square against Tom Barrass.

Moore kicked a goal in the first quarter, his first since 2018, and finished with three but didn’t touch the ball in the second or third quarters when starved of supply.

It essentially took a significant weapon out of the match at the time it was decided in a scenario that would have delighted Simpson.

Buckley must have been tempted to abandon the experiment with Howe going down and Darling running amok, but Moore remained forward but for a brief stint just before half-time

In the end, Moore showed enough to suggest it may continue.