COLLINGWOOD 2.3 3.6 5.8 10.10 (70)
GOALS: Sydney: Jetta 3, Bolton 2, Kennedy 2, Roberts-Thomson 2, Goodes, Bird, O'Keefe, Mumford. Collingwood: Cloke 3, Fasolo, Johnson, Dawes, Tarrant, Beams, Swan, Goldsack.
BEST: Sydney: Kennedy, O'Keefe, McVeigh, Goodes, Hannebery, Jetta. Collingwood: Pendlebury, Beams, O'Brien, Cloke, Reid.
INJURIES: Sydney: Richards (ankle).
UMPIRES: Stevic, Meredith, Rosebury.
CROWD: 57,156 at ANZ Stadium.
Finally - finally!! - it's over. One of the longest continuous streaks in professional sport came to a shuddering end last night. After eleven straight wins for the Collingwood Magpies against the Sydney Swans, the dynasty a definite hoodoo in every single sense of the word, the black-and-whites failed to win the most important contest that these teams have played - if not ever, then certainly in the last two decades.
Preliminary final, big crowd at ANZ Stadium, and it was the Swans who came to play, from the opening siren, and it was the Bloods who haven't beaten the Magpies anywhere since their last premiership year of 2005 - an omen Swans fans everywhere will be hanging onto this week - who broke a confounding stretch of games, more than 2600 calendar days, that both tormented and frustrated their supporter base. For the first time in seven years, at the end of a Collingwood vs. Sydney game, it was "Cheer, Cheer" that rang out around ANZ Stadium rather than the Magpie anthem, those supports in black and white long since having departed for a train home, their season over. The Swans fans, however, stayed and lapped it up.
As well they should, for this was a gusty, determined, intense and, at times, near-demonic performance from the Swans. Their tackling was fierce - indeed, demonic - the Bloods exhibiting an impressive a pack mentality, swarming to the football when they didn't have it, and when they did, their execution was calm and poised. It seemed that there were four red jerseys at every contest, engulfing the Magpies. On too many occasions since that one-point win in 2005, it has been the opposite, with a ratio seemingly of 2:1 Collingwood jerseys at any contest. For the first time in seven years, the Swans took a lead at quarter time against their arch enemies. In fact, they never trailed in the game.
This was the night where the Swans delivered. They've been close previously, losing by eight and six points the last two years, but Friday night was when the damn broke, when the vaunted Collingwood midfield couldn't find speed, couldn't find room to operate and, more often than not, found themselves cut to shreds by an inspired midfield led by Josh Kennedy, Dan Hannebery, Kieran Jack, Jarrad McVeigh and the 300-game legend Jude Bolton. For both Kennedy and Hannebery, sparkling players, this may have been their magnum opus in a Swans jersey. They were in everything, fighting, clawing, battling for every possession.
So, too, for Lewis Jetta, was this his best Swans performance. The live wire broke apart an often-dour struggle, stoppages and tackles, ferocious collisions, with highlight reel goals. The first was a 90-yard run, three bounces in that effort, with Collingwood's Nathan Brown a hapless chaser, left in Jetta's turbo wash. The second was a gorgeous effort, a freakish kick, the Sherrin bending around with a Messi-esque touch. No one is faster; no one is more dangerous in open space. Sixteen glorious touches for Jetta, and three goals that broke the Magpies' back.
For all but a frightening stretch late in the third and early in the fourth quarter the Swans dominated. Collingwood's key forward Travis Cloke rarely impacted on the contest, seemed to be perennially surrounded by three Swans defenders and the rest of the Magpies forward line lacked any attacking pizazz. Once more, Mattner, Grundy, Richards and Shaw were supreme in the back half. The Swans aren't the best defensive unit in the AFL for nothing. This was an example of that. In the midfield, the dangerous names Beams, Pendlebury, Swan and others, were well corralled. All night, they simply had no room in which to operate. That pressure showed, the Pies making many uncharacteristic mistakes, coughing the ball up where they had seldom done this season, and, more often than not, the Swans made them pay.
That period of nervousness for Swans fans happened when Collingwood pulled to within twenty points - there was a palpable tension in the ground then, Swans fans worried, because they had seen their team give up a lead too many times before this season - It was Craig Bird, as unlikely a saviour this night as Andrejs Everitt had been against Geelong earlier in the year, who kicked a wonderful goal and steadied the ship. In fact, the six-pointer with thirteen minutes to play sent the HMS Sydney sailing on into the Grand Final. Shane Mumford marked strongly in the goal square, those long arms plucking the football out of the air. He converted, and then the great man, Jude Bolton added a final exclamation mark late, and it was Party Time at ANZ Stadium.
What a night at ANZ Stadium. There wasn't the drama of some finals - Nick Davis' miracle last quarter against Geelong in 2005 or Plugger's famous point way back in 1996; both in premiership years - but it was a satisfying night. The hoodoo is over, ladies and gentlemen. Collingwood's Fortress ANZ lies in ruins, and now, for the red-and-white Bloods, the Grand Final awaits.
Adelaide or Hawthorn? We'll see. One thing's for sure - the 2012 Sydney Swans are right in with a shot at premiership glory. What a week awaits!
GO BLOODS!!!!!!
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