2018 Grand Final West Coast 79 Collingwood 74

THE FACTS

WEST COAST         2.2.14   4.3.27   8.7.55   11.13.79
COLLINGWOOD     5.1.31   6.3.39   8.7.55   11.8.74

GOALS - Collingwood: De Goey 3, Cox 2, Stephenson 2, Hoskin-Elliott, Varcoe, Mihocek, Adams

BEST - Collingwood: Adams, Langdon, Crisp, Treloar, De Goey, Mayne

NORM SMITH MEDAL: Luke Shuey, West Coast

INJURIES - Nil

REPORTS - Collingwood: Nil

OFFICIAL CROWD -  100,022 at the MCG

THE MEDIA

SUPERFOOTY AT half-time Jack Darling and Mason Cox had touched the ball just four times between them. For the Eagles star it was a case of a nightmare repeating itself from his horror 2015 Grand Final performance. As for Collingwood’s big American he was staring at being labelled a one-hit wonder after his preliminary final heroics. In the next hour both not only redeemed themselves but they provided auditions for being their respective team’s premiership hero. Eventually the title went to Darling although in keeping with this crazy game he nearly blew it in the final 90 seconds. With the Eagles hitting the front at the 28-minute mark of the final term, courtesy of a brilliant Dom Sheed set shot goal from the boundary line, a chance to ice the game fell Darling’s way. Yet somehow he botched a straight forward mark two metres out from goal with no-one around him. It handed Collingwood one last chance but a Brayden Maynard attempted torpedo from the kick-in didn’t work with the Eagles then able to control the ball and win the premiership. Before that clanger, Darling had exorcised his demons with an extraordinary third quarter. After a horror first quarter, the Eagles had at least neutralised the game and with a couple of late goals in the second quarter the margin was back to 12 points. They call the third term the premiership quarter and that’s when Darling decided to resurrect his standing in the game. The Eagles forward was a different person and in that 30 minutes he had seven kicks, six marks - four of which were contested - and kicked a goal. He had an able assistant in Norm Smith Medallist Luke Shuey who had 11 possessions for the quarter to lead all-comers on the ground with 29. But the Darling explosion saw the Eagles kick four goals to two which meant scores were tied at the final break. Enter Cox. The seven-foot giant had been the story of the preliminary final, taking eight contested marks to destroy Richmond. He’d been one of the biggest stories of Grand Final week with some of the biggest papers in the world back in his homeland wanting a piece of this remarkable story. At half-time he’d had just one kick. A nice mark on the lead early in the third quarter got Cox his first goal but it was in the early stages of the final term where he took over with good things starting to happen every time the ball was in his vicinity. When he took a massive pack mark at the six-minute mark and slotted the goal from 45 metres, the Pies had kicked three of the opening four goals of the final stanza. Cox the premiership hero was starting to have a nice ring about it. However, for the rest of the game the ball effectively lived in the Eagles forward half. The inside 50m count was off the charts - at one stage it was 14-3 for the term - but they couldn’t score. Josh Kennedy kicked his third goal for the day at the eight-minute mark and then it was another 20 minutes before Sheed, who had been prolific all day, put in his nomination for premiership hero with the goal which iced the game. Before that they’d been in serious danger of blowing away the flag but Collingwood simply couldn’t find a way. Cox had a set shot at the 25-minute mark but didn’t make the distance from 50m while a few half-chances just didn’t go the Pies way. The Eagles defence deserves some serious love here with Tom Barrass enormous all day with 10 marks while Jeremy McGovern stood up despite his injury-plagued preparation. In a bizarre way the Pies seemed to control the game for longer periods than the eventual premiers. They kicked the opening five goals of the game with some crucial cameos happening everywhere. Rising Star Jaidyn Stephenson kicked two goals in as many minutes in the first quarter, Jordan De Goey kicked three goals for the game and loomed large all day while Taylor Adams tried his guts out with 31 disposals which included 18 contested possessions and nine clearances. Travis Varcoe kicked the opening goal of the game and seemed inspired by the memory of his late sister with his tackling a highlight. Then there was the unheralded Tom Langdon who looked like being a Brian Lake-like Norm Smith Medallist early doors such was his intercept marking dominance. Unfortunately the Pies ‘Mr September’ Steele Sidebottom was blanketed by Mark Hutchings and had just 14 possessions while Collingwood’s tagger Levi Greenwood was serviceable on Elliot Yeo early but no good when switched to a rampant Shuey in the second half. In the end the Grand Final is probably best summed up by borrowing a line from a Divinyls classic: “It’s a fine line between pleasure and pain.” Just ask Jack Darling and Mason Cox. AFL DOM SHEED has capped off a West Coast comeback that will go down as one of the club's finest moments and one of the classic Grand Finals. After trailing Collingwood for most of Saturday's Grand Final at the MCG, Sheed marked 40m out from goal on a tight angle with less than two minutes to play. The Eagles had dominated general play in the last term but trailed by two points at that point, having missed their previous four shots at goal. However, when his team needed him most, Sheed went back and coolly split the big sticks to put West Coast four points up and send Eagles fans into a frenzy. It looked like the visitors would ice their fourth premiership soon after, but Jack Darling, who had memorably missed a pivotal chest mark in West Coast's 2015 Grand Final capitulation to Hawthorn, somehow botched an unopposed mark on the goalline. It gave the Magpies one final chance, but when Luke Shuey marked a long kick-in in the centre of the ground in the dying seconds West Coast was able to hang on for a thrilling 11.13 (79) to 11.8 (74) victory. Earlier it had looked like the crowd of 100,022 at the MCG would be forced to endure a boilover when the Magpies piled on the game's opening five goals to open up a 29-point lead late in the first term. At that stage West Coast looked as overawed as its class of 2015 had been against Hawthorn three years earlier. However, this year's Eagles team was made of sterner stuff and on the back of a massive third term from one of 2015's biggest villains, Darling, they briefly hit the front before going into the final break on level terms. It set up a thrilling final term and the teams gave the fans at the MCG a finish they will long remember. Again, the Eagles were slow starters as the Pies goaled twice within the opening two minutes, through Brody Mihocek and Jordan De Goey. But, again, the Eagles were far from done. They kicked two of the next three goals, via Nathan Vardy and Josh Kennedy, and then peppered the goals for just four behinds before Sheed stepped up to play the hero. Luke Shuey (34 possessions, nine clearances, eight tackles, eight inside 50s and one goal) was a thoroughly deserved winner of the Norm Smith Medal, while Sheed (32 possessions, eight clearances and six inside 50s) was also outstanding, his contribution extending far beyond his match-winning goal. Josh Kennedy was held goalless in the 2015 Grand Final, but rebounded strongly against the Magpies to finish with 3.2 and 11 marks, while Darling overcame a slow start – and his last-minute brainfade – to get the Eagles back in the game with six marks in the third quarter. West Coast's defence was also superb, especially in the first half when Collingwood was on top. Tom Barrass kept Mason Cox on a tight leash until late in the game, Will Schofield gave little room to De Goey in the first half and Steele Sidebottom in the second half, while a noticeably sore Jeremy McGovern took some telling marks when the game was on the line. Run-with midfielder Mark Hutchings also kept Sidebottom so quiet the Magpie star was thrown deep into attack midway through the third term. In winning their fourth flag, the Eagles moved past Brisbane (three) for the most premierships won by teams that have joined the competition since 1987. They have now also won more flags in that time than any other club bar Hawthorn (seven), while their win broke a streak of five Grand Finals when Victorian teams had defeated interstate opponents. The Magpies were brave in defeat, but missing the chance to equal Carlton and Essendon on a record 16 premierships will sting. Taylor Adams (31 possessions, nine clearances and one goal) starred for the Magpies through the midfield, while Tom Langdon (23 possessions, seven marks, and 11 one-percenters) and Jack Crisp (25 possessions and nine marks) stood up strongly in defence. Adam Treloar (26 possessions, five clearances and 11 tackles) was also a tireless worker through the midfield, Jeremy Howe waged an entertaining battle with Darling and Travis Varcoe was influential with his unrelenting pressure. With Saturday's loss, Collingwood's Grand Final record slumped to 15-27 and two draws. The Magpies had set up their two finals wins leading into the Grand Final with first-quarter blitzes and they stuck to the same formula on Saturday, piling on the game's opening five goals to jump to a 28-point lead after just 22 minutes of play. Varcoe kicked the game's opening major with a clinical finish on the run from 40m at the five-minute mark, and NAB AFL Rising Star winner Jaidyn Stephenson announced his arrival on the game's biggest stage soon after with two goals in two minutes. De Goey then brushed off attempted tackles from Shannon Hurn and Jack Redden and snapped truly from near the boundary line, and when Will Hoskin-Elliott converted from 40m out on the boundary line it seemed the Magpies could do no wrong. On the other hand, the Eagles started as poorly as they had in the 2015 Grand Final. However, they saved some face when with the final two goals of the first term, with Willie Rioli toeing a major on the goalline – confirmed after a video review – and Kennedy converting with an around-the-corner set shot after marking strongly in front of Tyson Goldsack. The second quarter's opening goal did not come until the 20-minute mark when De Goey played on and kicked truly from outside 50m to put the Magpies 23 points up. West Coast quickly hit back when Hutchings gleefully accepted a Mark LeCras handball in the goalsquare and converted, while Shuey ensured his team entered the half-time break with a sniff when he goaled on the run after a boundary throw-in to cut the margin to just 12 points. It turned that sniff proved enough to inspire the Eagles to one of the great Grand Final triumphs. MEDICAL ROOM Collingwood: Brayden Maynard came from the ground after copping a heavy bump to the body from Liam Ryan midway through the second quarter. The defender returned soon after but was off again within minutes after appearing to suffer a left shoulder injury. However, he returned with his shoulder strapped and played out the match. REAL FOOTY When it comes to grand final heartache no club has felt the pain more so than Collingwood and few in the game more than Nathan Buckley. In 2018, they had their hearts broken again in close to the cruellest fashion imaginable as West Coast came from behind to claim a memorable grand final. The Magpies led for close to the entire game, the Eagles for just a few minutes but they were in front when it mattered after Dom Sheed threaded the winner through from the boundary line with only one minute, 45 seconds left on the clock. In a 5-point thriller, the West Coast Eagles beat the Collingwood Magpies in the 2018 AFL Grand Final. A shattered Buckley had his head in his hands in the coaches' box and his players lay stricken on the MCG turf as the ecstatic Eagles celebrated their five-point triumph in a thrilling grand final. It's too early to assess exactly where this sits in the pantheon of September folklore but it belongs up there with some of the best deciders we've seen. There were momentum swings, heroic acts, high skill, bravery and, most importantly, a contest that was still anyone's to claim until the dying seconds. The Eagles had been the second-best team all year, yet when the top seed was knocked out they were still the underdogs. In tennis, you would not bet against Rafael Nadal if Roger Federer was knocked out but here many believed Collingwood would be the last team standing. Many may still believe the best team did not win, as for long periods the 2018 cup seemed headed across the road to Collingwood HQ instead of across the Nullarbor. The Pies kicked the first five goals of the game and, with the scores locked at three-quarter time, started the last quarter with two in 96 seconds. Luke Shuey claimed the Norm Smith Medal, fitting reward after lifting his team back into the game in the second and influential in the third when they charged. Without him and Jeremy McGovern, one of few Eagles to keep his head in the first quarter, it could have been a day to forget. For the Pies, Taylor Adams, with 31 possessions and 18 contested, capped off a sterling finals series with another strong performance. Tom Langdon was almost the equal of McGovern in defence. In the first half, he and Shuey were setting the Norm Smith pace. The start was a case of shock and awe for the Pies, shocked and awful for the Eagles. Memories of their debacle in 2015 were getting harder to repress with every fumble and black-and-white surge. They gave up five goals in the first term that year, and again here. There were bungles at either end of the ground, denying them goals on one hand and giving them away on the other. One team turned in one of the worst quarters seen by a subsequent premier, the other was playing inspired football. From contest to contest, the Pies swarmed on the Eagles, who made errors under pressure – real or imagined. Thirty-one tackles in a quarter does that to you. When Collingwood had the ball, their speed opened up the Eagles defence. They goaled from pockets and from long range. Emboldened by two late goals before quarter-time, the Eagles were well and truly in the game in the second. The Pies, however, were getting a more even contribution while the Eagles were relying on too few – and their forward weapons of Jack Darling and Josh Kennedy could not get into the game. Goals were at a premium. It took until time-on for the first goal to come, through Jordan de Goey, who was being limited to cameo displays, but the Eagles won the quarter. The match clicked into another gear in the so-called premiership term. Darling, hitherto unseen and coming off a poor decider three years ago, was colossal. Whereas he had previously approached contests with caution, now he was attacking them with vigour. Elliott Yeo was also gaining confidence. In a final term in which the Eagles dominated the first half and the Pies the second, neither side could lay the killer blow. The Eagles were wayward in front of goal when they had the running, reducing the gap point by point after repeatedly attacking through the same spot. When the Pies had their turn, they too could not find space in a convocation of Eagles near their goal. Illogically, the goal that sealed the game was the most difficult shot of all.