The Eagles survived a Gavin Brown inspired comeback to defeat the Magpies by two points and progress to a home preliminary final.
West Coast weren’t expected to be troubled by the eighth placed Magpies, but scraped over the line when Mick McGuane dropped a chest mark within scoring distance, seconds before the final siren. Trailing by 24 points at the final break, Collingwood surged home with the aid of the Fremantle Doctor, narrowly falling short of a famous finals victory.
The Magpies only booted six goals in the first three quarters, but doubled their tally in the final term with Brown booting three, on his way to a match haul of five.
In a match filled with controversy, umpires twice failed to hear the siren at the ground, allowing play to continue well beyond the signal for the end of the quarter. On both occasions West Coast posted scores with a Don Pyke behind at the end of the second quarter allowed to stand despite the siren blaring for nearly 10 seconds before umpires heard it. Play was also allowed to continue beyond the three-quarter time siren, with Chris Lewis slotting a goal, only for umpires to then correctly annul the score ahead of the fourth quarter.
The errors around the siren almost proved catastrophic in the two point margin.
Despite arriving in Perth off consecutive losses to St Kilda and North Melbourne in the final two rounds of the regular season, the Magpies were confident they could replicate their 37 point victory from when the two sides met earlier in the season.
Surprisingly, the hero of their Round 13 victory, Andrew Tranquilli, was not initially named in the Magpies line-up, with Gary Pert returning to the side after missing the final game with a groin strain. Pert passed a vigorous fitness test to take his place, while Tony Shaw was also included despite concerns over a hamstring strain.
Mark Fraser was included along with Pert, replacing Paul Sharkey and Brett James. However, Tranquilli made his way into the final 21 as one of two late inclusions, with Sharkey reinstated after being dropped. The duo came in on the morning of the game, replacing Tony Woods and Kent Butcher.
The Eagles made two changes to their side named on Thursday night, with Dean Kemp and John Worsfold returning in place of dropped duo Paul Symmons and Drew Banfield. Banfield could consider himself unlucky to lose his spot having played all 22 home and away games, with Mick Malthouse saying team balance was the reason behind his omission.
After releasing their squad, the Eagles were still on tenterhooks until the following afternoon, with five players fronting the tribunal for their roles in the spiteful clash against Footscray the previous weekend. West Coast were able to breathe a sigh of relief when Glen Jakovich, Peter Sumich, Chris Lewis, Tony Evans and Jason Ball were all cleared to play.
Gavin Brown won the toss but gave West Coast first use of the strong afternoon breeze that favoured the end where the WACA’s famous cricket scoreboard sat. The move initially worked with West Coast failing to capitalise early under the pressure of Collingwood’s physical intent.
Even before the opening bounce, the emergency umpire was required on the field to disperse players and Don Pyke sought treatment from the Eagles medical staff after a crunching hit. When the Eagles’ first goal did come, it was via a relayed free kick after Mick McGuane bowled over Chris Mainwaring.
McGuane was doing his best to distract Mainwaring, as one of a number of enterprising moves from Leigh Matthews to stifle the Eagles’ prime movers. Usually playing through the centre, McGuane started on a wing in a defensive role on Mainwaring, while the hard-running Fraser went to the other wing on Matera in an attacking move.
First year forward Trent Hotton was preferred to spearhead Sav Rocca at full-forward, with Jason McCartney lining up at centre half forward on Jakovich. McCartney’s role was purely as a decoy, dragging Jakovich into the deep pockets of the WACA. Nathan Buckley lined up on a half forward flank opposed to McKenna but became the pseudo centre half forward with McCartney pushing wide.
When Tony Francis was released into the Magpies forward 50 to goal on the run, the Magpies had drawn level with West Coast and Brown’s decision at the coin toss was looking a masterstroke. However, the Eagles were able to finish the term with a flurry of goals to take a 12 point lead into quarter time.
Shane Bond ran into an open goal, Peter Sumich kicked his second for the term and after Nathan Buckley launched a long bomb into the wind, Chris Lewis out-bodied Gavin Crosisca to mark and goal to close out the term.
The quarter time break brought further changes for the Magpies. Tony Shaw had lasted less than a minute before the hamstring went, with the former captain resigned to the bench for the rest of the afternoon. Shane Kerrison came onto the ground in his place and was given the task of minding Dean Kemp, while Jon Hassall was sent to Tony Evans, with the Eagles duo running riot in the opening quarter.
The Eagles maintained the status quo for the second term extending their lead by two despite defending against the wind. Jason Ball kicked the opening term after marking a Sumich set shot on the goal line, before Trent Hotton roved a marking contest to keep the Magpies in the game. Brett Heady got out the back to kick the Eagles second for the quarter but the Magpies were able to respond again through Gavin Brown with just 44 seconds remaining in the term.
The first missed siren of the afternoon came at the half-time break, with play allowed to continue deep in the Eagles forward line as the siren wailed in the background. No umpire on the ground heard the siren, with play only coming to a stop when Don Pyke scrounged home a behind. The score stood.
West Coast took complete control in the third term, but it took two magical moments from Peter Matera to get some separation from the Magpies. The Eagles were inaccurate early, kicking four straight behinds with Peter Wilson also sending a shot out on the full. Brett Heady finally found the major opening before Matera put his first stamp on the game.
The Eagles wingman had worked into the game after a slow start opposed to Mark Fraser, picking up nine disposals in the second quarter. After Chris Lewis missed yet another shot on goal, the Magpies clearance from the kick-in only went as far as Jason Ball on the wing. His quick handpass released Matera who sent a long shot on goal from inside the centre square which sailed post high on the wind and lifted the mood of an anxious home crowd.
Tony Francis got an immediate response after receiving a free kick at the next centre bounce and then a 50m penalty paid against Jakovich. Unable to get into the game in the first half, Jakovich was swung forward during the third term but he was forced back to the backline just minutes later when Ashley McIntosh went down with a hamstring injury.
Collingwood grimly hung on in defence for the rest of the term, with Damien Monkhorst providing extra support sitting in the Eagles forward 50. In the final minute, Matera provided his second highlight of the term.
Gathering a loose ball on the wing, Matera went on a jinking run, weaving his way past several Collingwood opponents before finishing from 40m on the run. Umpires again failed to hear the siren when it called for three quarter time, with Chris Lewis kicking truly from the pocket. Originally given a goal, the decision was overturned by the non-officiating umpire in the middle of the ground who had heard the siren ring before Lewis got boot to ball.
West Coast managed 3.7 for the quarter and for all of their dominance, the 24 point three quarter left Collingwood in the game, with the advantage of the Fremantle Doctor in the final term.
And the Magpies wasted no time to get themselves back into the game with three quick goals to start the final quarter. The Collingwood skipper had moved to the goal square, with McKenna as his new opponent, kick-starting his side with the opening goal. Tony Francis booted his third for the game after Mainwaring is captured in the Magpies forward line, with Brown then kicking his second for the term after a relayed free kick was paid against Peter Matera.
After being caught holding the ball in the middle of the ground by Mark Fraser, Matera – incensed by the umpires decision – flatted Tony Francis well after he disposed of the ball, injuring his back in the process. Brown reduced the margin to just seven points, while Matera hobbled off the ground, joining McIntosh in taking no further part in the game.
Chris Lewis provided a settler to take the Eagles lead back out to 13 points, but two errors in as many minutes from the normally unflappable McKenna had Collingwood within a point of the lead. Failing to get the ball over the boundary line on the half back line, McKenna gave up possession of the ball to Brown with a chain of handballs ending with Tranquilli who slotted home on the run from the pocket.
From the Magpies’ next forward entry, McKenna again had the ball and looking to rush through a behind, sent the ball out of bounds alongside the behind post. The defender was pinned for deliberate out of bounds and Brown was able to snap home his fifth goal of the match from the resultant free kick.
The Magpies had cut the Eagles lead to just one point with still eight minutes to play, but the Eagles defence held strong against the wind. David Hynes was standing tall in his battle with Damien Monkhorst and with the clock continuing to count down, released the Eagles with a 30m spike from a ball up on the wing.
Chris Lewis pounced on the loose ball across half forward and after an exchange with Peter Wilson, sent a scrubby ball towards the top of the goal square. Collingwood defender Craig Kelly couldn’t hold onto the mark, allowing Brett Heady to swoop and run into an open goal. With under two minutes remaining, the Eagles lead was eight points, but there was still plenty to play out.
Jason McCartney had the Magpies back within two after being set free through the middle of the ground and with only seconds on the clock, Collingwood had one final thrust forward.
Jon Hassall won a free kick on the wing and released Gary Pert with a handball, with the defenders long kick floating towards half-forward. Mick McGuane found himself best placed, but spilled the mark allowing West Coast to hold on.
After the match, Malthouse praised the spirit of his players in fighting the game to the end. “It was a great win for us. But we knew Collingwood were always going to tough it out. You don’t expect any different from Collingwood.”
Malthouse refused to accept that the distraction of the tribunal in the lead up to the game had had any impact, instead expressing disappointment over a number of ‘easy’ goals that kept Collingwood in the game.
Magpies coach Leigh Matthews was equally full of praise for his side, declaring that the brace of goals from Matera in the third term was the difference in the game. “I would go as far to say that is what beat us.”
“A couple of goals that come from just a pure, sensational one-off. A bloke grabs the ball from midfield and says ‘don’t worry about anyone else, I’m going to finish’, Matthews exclaimed.
“We got beaten by maybe just those two fantastic individual efforts by him at that point… I thought for the rest of it, we hung in there fairly well.”
The thrilling finish capped off an incredible weekend of results in the AFL’s first instalment of the top eight system. The Cats made it through their qualifying final against the Dogs courtesy of a Billy Brownless goal after the siren. Geelong got the blistering start with an eight goal opening quarter, but the Dogs clawed their way back into the game to trail by just two points at the final change.
In a see-sawing last term, Footscray appeared to be home when Simon Atkins put them in front with just 24 seconds remaining, but a Geelong clearance from the next centre bounce landed in the lap of Brownless. Brownless coolly finished to get the Cats over the line.
Earlier that day, North Melbourne and Hawthorn played the first ever final that required extra time, when the two sides were locked at 91 points apiece. The Kangaroos dominated the extra time period, kicking 3.5 to 0.0 in the additional playing time, with Wayne Carey guiding his team to victory.
The narrow defeat was exacerbated 24 hours later for the Hawks when seventh placed Melbourne upset the second placed Blues. After an even first half, the Demons exposed Carlton’s lack of pace to run away with a 27 point win and keep their finals hopes alive, when defeat would have ended their season.
That meant the sixth placed Hawks joined Collingwood on the scrapheap for 1994 and also saw North Melbourne join the Eagles with direct entry to the preliminary final.
Malthouse admitted the week off would be beneficial for the Eagles, with injury concerns over Ashley McIntosh and Peter Matera. West Coast would wait on the winner of the Melbourne/Footscray clash, but doubt remained over where the game would be held, with many Victorian based identities adamant that the MCG should host both preliminary finals to satisfy the AFL’s agreement with the MCC.
sportsphrase.blog 