2020 First Semi-Final: The Team

2020 AFL First Semi-Final COLLINGWOOD V GEELONG Time & Place: Saturday Oct 10, 7:40 PM AEDT The Gabba TV: 7mate / Fox Footy Weather: Temp: 17° - 29°  Rain: 5% <1.0mm Wind: E 25kph Betting: Collingwood $2.25 Geelong $1.65

B: Jack Crisp, Jordan Roughead, Jack Madgen

HB: Brayden Maynard, Darcy Moore, Isaac Quaynor

C: Chris Mayne, Adam Treloar, Josh Daicos

HF: Will Hoskin-Elliott, Brody Mihocek, Josh Thomas

F: Jamie Elliott, Mason Cox, Jordan De Goey

Foll: Brodie Grundy, Taylor Adams, Scott Pendlebury

Int: Jaidyn Stephenson, John Noble, Levi Greenwood, Darcy Cameron

Emerg: Will Kelly, Tyler Brown, Travis Varcoe, Mark Keane

The Age Peter Ryan Collingwood believe they are a realistic chance of winning the premiership from eighth spot with midfielder Taylor Adams saying being the underdog in each match suits the Magpies. Geelong will enter the first semi-final against the Magpies as slight favourites but another tight encounter is expected between the two teams that will play a record 25th final against each other on Saturday night at the Gabba. "We're going into a dogfight where we are again underdogs, which suits us," Adams said. He experienced pure elation when the siren sounded against West Coast last week to keep the Magpies' flag hopes alive as they continue to believe that anything is possible. "We're certainly a team who thought [before the game] we were a genuine flag contender," Adams said. It was Adams' brave decision a week ago that helped the Magpies stay in contention. With Collingwood a point up in the epic elimination final and the Eagles streaming towards goal, he changed tack. Instead of folding back in an effort to defend, he turned his tired body and rushed forward to stop the surging Eagle Tom Cole in his tracks. Adams was like a firefighter running into a burning house as everyone else took cover. The resultant turnover enabled Collingwood hang on for a memorable one-point win. "To be completely honest, it was just another piece of play that was unfolding. If it wasn't me it would have been another Collingwood player," Adams said. "That was just part of my role as a midfielder to get there and protect the corridor." Adams only realised later how momentous his act was for Collingwood supporters anxiously watching the game unfold in locked-down Melbourne. "I didn't think too much of it until I got to my phone after the game and realised there were a thousand messages," Adams said. He would have had a million texts too if his number had been publicly available given his standing among Magpie fans. Adams performs when it matters most having earned coaches' votes in five of the seven finals he has played since his first in 2018. He earned All-Australian selection this season as he became the gaffer tape that held the Magpies' midfield together, challenging the opposition to beat him every time he was in a contest. That makes him an adored Magpie who, despite his Geelong origins, looks at home in the black and white, and, at 181 centimetres, a classic Collingwood "six-footer". With a boxer's flat nose and a 1930s hairstyle he could have been a character in Frank Hardy's Power Without Glory. Instead he's a thoughtful 27-year-old with a burning desire to help the Magpies win the flag. His fixation on that goal has never wavered in 2020 as he relocated with the Magpies who, like their opponents in the semi-final, Geelong, have been one of the few teams forced to play football in five states in this remarkable season. The Magpies shared that vision when they entered the unwinnable match against West Coast with the prize on offer at the end of the month used as a lure. The Magpies spoke about that premiership goal and then zeroed in on the immediate task as they will do again against the Cats. "The motivation is [that] without winning against Geelong we are no chance of going four [wins] in a row," Adams said. Adams' expected battle with Geelong captain Joel Selwood - who had an operation on a dislocated finger last week - is likely to be a short heavyweight bout. Neither will yield as Selwood is a big-game player too but one will prevail and Adams takes confidence into the game knowing he has also delivered in finals. "I'm pretty confident with the block of work I have put in in the last two or three years," Adams said. "Finals are a different game, a more contested game with maybe a little bit more pressure in terms of heat around the ball and that might suit me, to some degree." He sees the challenge against Geelong as similar to the one they overcame against the Eagles, well aware the Cats play football that always makes them tough to beat. Adams thinks effort, clean hands, a good plan and the speed they showed moving the ball forward of centre against West Coast will give them a strong chance. Collingwood supporters know luck will be required, too, as they felt some may have fallen their way when Jack Crisp flicked (some would say threw) the ball to Scott Pendlebury after Adams' famous turnover. Adams, however, is not so sure. Never one to rely on fortune, he suspects such matters favour the brave. "I was alongside Jack. I have asked him and he said he got a hand to it so I will take his word for it that it was a handball," Adams said.