Pies are piping hot
A GOAL after the siren from Jamie Elliott has catapulted Collingwood into the top four after they edged Essendon by four points at the MCG in a thriller in front of more than 72,000 fans.
The Magpies burst out of the blocks to lead by 37 points at quarter-time, but stopped in the middle two quarters, as the Bombers controlled proceedings, and got out to 20 points in front early in the final quarter.
But the Magpies woke up and started taking the game on through the corridor, rediscovered their overlap game to kick the final four goals and continued their incredible strike rate in games decided by 11 points or fewer this year. Their record is now 8-1 in such games.
With 45 seconds remaining, Essendon youngster Harrison Jones had the chance to win the game when he ran down Jeremy Howe and pinged him holding the ball.
But from 45m out directly in front, Jones hit the post, putting his team up by only two points and giving Collingwood one last roll of the dice from defence, which they maximised as Elliott took a contested mark against Kyle Langford and Jake Kelly, before nailing the set shot from 40m out on the boundary, sending the ’Pies faithful into delirium.
The Magpies continued their fairytale run under rookie coach Craig McRae, notching their ninth straight win for the first time since 2012.
And after finishing 17th last year, they now have their sights on the double chance, although their run home does feature matches against fellow top-four contenders Melbourne, Sydney and Carlton.
However, the win came at a cost for the Magpies, who lost star defender Brayden Maynard to a left shoulder injury at three-quarter time.
Essendon also lost star defender Mason Redman at halftime with internal bruising.
After being ambushed in the first quarter by Collingwood, who kicked the first six goals, including three to Ash Johnson, the Bombers booted 11 of the next 13 goals and looked as though their lateseason giant-killing ways would continue.
The Bombers finished with sizeable advantages in disposals (365-297), contested possessions (133-117), marks (10772), tackles (58-47) and clearances (41-26).
However, the 50 minutes of scintillating play from Collingwood that bookended Essendon’s dominance, and featured 10 of the Magpies’ 11 goals, proved the difference.
GINNIVAN GETS ROUGH TREATMENT
IT didn’t take long for the fresh too-high interpretation to spark controversy.
Its No.1 target, Collingwood goalsneak Jack Ginnivan, was tackled high by Redman at the 21-minute mark of the first term, 40m out from goal, but the umpire waved play on, despite Ginnivan not appearing to raise his arm or drop his legs.
It enraged Pies fans, and early in the second quarter they had more to shout about when Essendon’s Zach Merrett was taken high by Scott Pendlebury as he slipped over, but was awarded the free kick.
DAICOS IMPERSONATES HIS DAD
COLLINGWOOD’S Josh Daicos submitted a goal-of-theyear contender late in the first term with a major that his freakishly talented father Peter would have been proud of.
He handballed to himself along the boundary to evade Sam Durham and tapped the loose ball past Nick Hind before regathering, taking two bounces along the boundary, cutting back inside and snapping truly from 25m out.