Raucous Magpie army help Collingwood to flag

Unable to be silenced by the Brisbane Lions on AFL grand final day, Collingwood’s irrepressible fans will rock and roll all night and party every day for months after claiming their first premiership in 13 years.

In stifling heat, the Magpie army helped their team to a dramatic 12.18 (90) to 13.8 (86) win at the MCG.

There was a distinctly pro-Collingwood feeling in the capacity crowd of 100,024 from the moment the gates opened.

West Coast’s Luke Shuey, who won the Norm Smith Medal for engineering Collingwood’s downfall in the 2018 decider, earned a few boos in the retiring players’ motorcade.

Retiring Lion Daniel Rich, still in full club gear as he supported his teammates, completed his lap with former teammate Stefan Martin.

The notable absentee was retired Sydney superstar Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin, who knocked back his invitation.

Early in the day, Geelong speedster Max Holmes won the traditional grand final sprint, one year after he missed the Cats’ premiership victory because of a hamstring injury.

A chant of “Collingwood” rolled through the ground more than an hour before the first bounce, and again as KISS wrapped up their pre-match performance.

That performance was loud, glamorous and eye-catching, especially when hundreds of silver-clad dancers – with plenty of young kids, danced through ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’.

It proved merely the entree.

Magpies skipper Darcy Moore grinned and clapped his way up the race as he soaked up the noise.

Moore smiled through the national anthem while Collingwood great Peter Daicos held up a ‘SIDE BY SIDE’ sign in the crowd as he prepared to watch his sons.

Not everything went the Magpies’ way, with Lachie Neale winning the coin toss.

But after Nick Daicos earned an early free kick and kicked the game’s first goal, the MCG burst to life.

Bobby Hill’s first major and Jordan de Goey’s thumping effort after the quarter-time siren earned a similarly rousing response.

But perhaps the most memorable crowd moment was when Charlie Cameron snapped his first seconds into the second term, prompting a rousing rendition of ‘Take Me Home, Country Roads’ – mere minutes after it had been played at quarter time.

When Hill soared over Brandon Starcevich to take the mark of the day, oxygen rushed out of the MCG as the entire crowd gasped.

The roar when the Pies livewire kicked truly to level the scores was like no other.

As the game ebbed and flowed, with Brisbane at times taking the ascendancy, the echoes of ‘Collingwood’ were met with cheers of ‘Lions’ and ‘Brisbane’.

But when De Goey restored Collingwood’s lead late in the final term and Steele Sidebottom all but iced it, the Magpies went into a delirium that wouldn’t be silenced again.