I don’t think I’ve despised a team as much as I despised the Pies when the final siren sounded. Not even a comforting pat on the shoulder from a rival supporter was going to cushion the blow.
The game took me for a ride on footy’s rocketing emotion rollercoaster. I soared after seeing an unexpected and ultracompetitive effort, had to brace myself through a nerve wracking enemy comeback, before finally free falling down the dark dead end hole of a close defeat.
After a good night’s sleep post match I woke up on Sunday morning with a fresh perspective and a pile of bacon and eggs.
Collingwood are the top ranked side in the competition and flag favourites. In contrast we’ve languished in the bottom eight all year and were once a chance for the wooden spoon.
Yet we gave them a run for their money.
Converse to most Collingwood fans’ opinions I thought that we didn’t just catch the Pies on an ‘off’ night instead, we worked extremely hard to keep them on their back foot for majority of the game.
Our pressure was phenomenal. We all know they like to play along the boundary line and I saw first hand how we stifled their space and forced them into second guessing themselves.
And we were moving the ball with intent and taking risks. Some of those lightening quick passages of play where we weaved the ball precisely in and out a flock of Magpies were exhilarating to watch.
Neil Craig once asked the question of what our side would look like without the likes of Goodwin, Edwards, Burton and McLeod. Collingwood had 489 games more experience than us as none of our veterans made it to the field. We were also without Bock, Vince and Knights. I wonder what Craigy thinks now?
In the absence of our favourite club leaders we were lead by Rutten, Thompson, Johncock and Stevens. Brent Reilly nullified the competition’s Brownlow medal favourite, Dane Swan, and Will Young, playing in just his second game, held damaging Pies’ defender Harry O’Brien to a meagre five disposals.
While Young’s position was potentially a match-winning move in the end our inexperience was probably our biggest breakdown in coming oh so close to the biggest upset of the season, that, and our failure to make the most of our inside 50 entries.
The good news though is that our talented new comers can only gain valuable experience with every match they play and with a significant list turnover looming in October they look set to grow in 2011.
I’m tremendously proud of our boys’ performance on Saturday night. Yes it felt like a cruel punch in the guts going down by less than a goal against Collingwood for the second time in less than a year but given the position we’re in we did a mighty good job.
Bring on the Saints.
