Scott Pendlebury jogged slowly to the bench favouring his leg. It might be the last time he is seen in a Collingwood jumper on the MCG.
It was an utterly nondescript moment in the most storied of careers. Pendlebury felt a strain at the back of his knee that might have been a bursar, might have been a hamstring strain, and might just be the injury that puts a stop on his finals series.
Last year’s preliminary final has to be in Craig McRae’s mind as he ponders the fitness of probably the club’s greatest-ever player. Last year, also against the Brisbane Lions, he tore a calf in the warm-up. A soft tissue injury again for a now 38-year-old, on the eve of the finals, will weigh on McRae. And Pendlebury.
If it is to be his last game for Collingwood, it could not have been a more anticlimactic departure. No garlands, no lines of honour, no chairing off, no kids through the banner, just a night sitting on the bench in his slides, eating chicken wraps and watching his team get belted.
It was the sort of moment that might encourage the idea that we don’t want him to go out this way – and he doesn’t either – so he plays on. As McRae said, those are conversations for another day.
But that moment punctuated what was a very strange game.
The AFL expanded the finals to 10 teams and introduced the wildcard round to engender interest in the last rounds of the home-and-away season.
Ironically, this game would have had more interest were it held under last year’s rules. Collingwood could not drop below 10th, and so were battling to finish either eighth or ninth. In other words, last year they would have had to win to play finals. Instead, this game was played with the passion of a polka.
Collingwood’s game is predicated on furious intensity and defensive fight. None were present in a game where 40 goals were kicked and no one wanted to defend. It was a case for the prosecution who say high scoring and exciting football are two different things.
That is not to diminish the Lions’ effort for they outplayed Collingwood. They beat them by 54 points earlier this year and they are plainly a better team. But we knew that. One team has won the past two flags and sits now in third place, and Collingwood needed a wildcard round to be sure of playing finals.
“It was really hard as a coach because you’re seeing us not do things we’ve been doing,” McRae said.
“I go, ‘Oh, what are we doing? Like, this is a trademark’ … I think there was a period of the game where it looked like both teams wanted to get to next week quickly. It can happen this time of year for teams that aren’t playing for much.”
As it was, the interest was in Logan Morris. It is exciting – or frightening, depending on your perspective – to think that Morris has two flags already and is yet to even get close to being the dominant player he is becoming.
There was a world in which Morris might have been at Collingwood. If the idea of what the club missed out on has haunted them since, the reality of what he has become was a living nightmare on the MCG. Morris kicked eight and could have had 10.
In his draft year – and yes, every other club with a selection would have taken him before pick No.31 had they known what he would become – Collingwood agonised over the decision but were troubled that he was an in-between size and would not be a key forward. They chose Harry De Mattia instead at No.25. He is yet to play a senior game.
Morris was outstanding, and with Oscar Allen and Eric Hipwood they had their way with Collingwood’s depleted backline missing Darcy Moore, Isaac Quaynor and Harry Perryman and with Jeremy Howe on managed minutes.
Liam Puncher was playing SANFL footy only a couple of months ago. He might have preferred West Torrens after the night he had on the MCG with the ball coming in the way it was.
Lachie Neale played the sort of game that would have had the boxes of both coaches asking questions. Chris Fagan will have looked at his 16 clearances, yes 16, and wondered, ‘How can we let him and Zac Bailey potentially leave?’ Craig Mcrae and Collingwood will have said, ‘If we had misgivings about a 32-year-old free agent before, we don’t now’.
For the Lions, this game was about jockeying to try and make sure they played the team everyone now wants to play in the finals, Sydney. They should have safeguarded that.
The draw with Collingwood last week is all the more galling for the Hawks this week, given the Swans are now a shattered club and a team you’d far rather play than any other in these finals (this is obviously an observation through a football lens on the season, and plainly not a comment on what occurred in the Pullman hotel to precipitate this change at Sydney).
The Hawks now need to win by nigh on 100 points over West Coast to boost their percentage enough to jump the Lions and play Sydney in the first final, not Fremantle in WA. Its doable, but the way they played last week you would not think likely unless the Eagles play like they want their holidays to start.
That is the hard bit for interpreting this game. The Lions showed they are exceptional and have as complete a forward set-up, with the best young key forward in the game, as they do defensive set-up. They don’t lack for anything across the ground, other than perhaps some smarts from Ty Gallop, a player just back from an idiotic three-game suspension for slamming Mitch Georgiades’ head into the turf, only to tackle Charlie West into the ground with both arms pinned. But then Dayne Zorko elbowing Jack Crisp in the face with a late smother of a handball is also a contender for unnecessarily risky actions.
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Michael Gleeson is an award-winning senior sports writer specialising in AFL and athletics.Connect via X or email.
