The grand remaining awaits for Geelong and Sydney after the preliminary finals provided up delight, ache and one final Collingwood comeback.
Welcome to the AFL Spherical-Up, the place we digest the week that was.
Many roads to a grand remaining
What’s the easiest way to win a preliminary remaining?
It is a trick query actually, as a result of there isn’t a dangerous method to win a prelim per se. However what’s it you actually need to get out of your final recreation earlier than a grand remaining?
Would you like a comparatively cruisy win, the place the whole lot you strive comes off and you’re able spend principally the final quarter in self-preservation mode with eyes on a grander prize?
Or would you like the final word take a look at, a recreation that challenges each final sinew of your workforce’s character and high quality and is not determined till the ultimate, determined seconds?
In a method, we’ll discover out subsequent week as a result of Geelong and Sydney’s respective paths to the final Saturday in September might hardly have been extra totally different.
The Cats had largely seen off the Lions by halfway by the second quarter. They have been capable of take pleasure in themselves from that time on, systematically dismantling a Lions facet resigned to their destiny with a few of the most clinically devastating soccer we have seen this yr.
Sydney might have hoped for the same outcome, however have been taking part in a facet who would fairly haven’t turned up in any respect than lay down and settle for defeat.
The Swans noticed each side of themselves on Saturday night — the workforce that burst out to a six purpose lead and the one which shut up store and needed to hold on for pricey life within the face of a black and white avalanche.
On the finish of all of it, we ought to be happy to have the ability to say one of the best two groups within the competitors this yr will compete within the grand remaining.
Each needed to overcome Collingwood within the finals, and each succeeded by one-kick margins. Each needed to adapt to large events on the MCG, and each needed to regulate on the fly as a result of key accidents in a prelim.
And now there are storylines to savour wherever you look. Patrick Dangerfield and Lance Franklin’s chase, Tyson Stengle and Paddy McCartin second likelihood, Jeremy Cameron and Isaac Heeney’s second to personal.
Saturday cannot come quickly sufficient.
Ode to the Pies
So Collingwood’s 2022 story ends with heartbreak. A miss so close to as to really feel merciless, the dream dangled in entrance of their noses and snatched away with an evil chortle.
The ache was visceral within the stands and on the sector. It’s going to damage the membership for some time, it has to.
However none of that Sydney unhappiness can overshadow what Collingwood have achieved this yr. Outdoors of premiership years, seasons don’t get higher for followers than this one.
There isn’t any thrill like watching a workforce emerge earlier than your eyes in actual time. It was mesmerising to look at Collingwood discover that inside perception of their method of taking part in and belief in teammates with each passing week and every miraculous last-gasp win.
Jack Ginnivan kicked 40 targets and implanted himself within the heads of hundreds of thousands, his bleached hair and smiling face serving as a metaphor for Collingwood’s full dedication to embracing individuality.
Nick Daicos was even higher than any draft watcher predicted, a very particular expertise who inside 20 video games has turn out to be a frontrunner of one of many greatest golf equipment within the nation.
Ash Johnson got here from nowhere to turn out to be an important cog, Jeremy Howe and Darcy Moore turned impenetrable, Scott Pendlebury remained Scott Pendlebury, Jamie Elliott proved to be king of the clutch.
Pendlebury’s claims that folks do not hate Collingwood that a lot anymore might be a step too far — that is not how the caper works, I am afraid — however it’s true that we are going to all owe Collingwood a debt of gratitude for this yr.
No workforce has ignited and enlivened this season just like the Pies. Even when Craig McRae takes this workforce to a premiership within the coming years, there’s each likelihood the journey will not be as particular because the 2022 season.
Across the grounds
A bridge too far for Brisbane, then. It is somewhat too simplistic to say they performed their grand remaining final week, however after they wanted the magic once more on Friday evening they discovered the tank was empty.
The Lions ought to be higher in 2023, however there are not any ensures. Including a number-one draft decide in Will Ashcroft is a fairly uncommon luxurious for a preliminary remaining workforce, however Brisbane’s greatest situation is in transitional defence. Possibly you possibly can put it right down to fatigue, however Geelong scorched them on the break.
Chad Warner is an absolute marvel. Poise and energy in somewhat blonde package deal, his emergence has been an enormous consider Sydney reaching the grand remaining. Cannot wait to look at him play subsequent week.
There will likely be a detailed watch on Max Holmes’s hamstring this week, as he can be a reasonably large loss for the Cats. For his sake you hope he finds a method to stand up, as his devastated response on the sidelines was the worst a part of the weekend.
Jack Crisp’s 2 hundredth recreation may need been one of the best of his profession. Crisp has been a titan all season, and proper to the final was driving his Pies ahead with all his may. He’s one in every of many Collingwood gamers whose standing within the recreation has elevated exponentially this yr.
