Nicked it: Daicos breaks Blues hearts in epic
A spectacular Nick Daicos goal with 63 seconds remaining has delivered Collingwood an epic six-point victory over arch rivals Carlton at the MCG on Friday night in front of 88,362 fans which is a record crowd for a home-and-away match between these two famous old clubs.
After falling back behind at three-quarter time of the seesawing contest which featured eight lead changes, the Magpies ramped up their pressure again at the start of the final term as they shot back out to a nine-point advantage, before a pair of Tom De Koning goals against the run of play saw Carlton take back the lead.
A captain’s goal from Collingwood champion Scott Pendlebury put the Magpies back in front at the 16-minute mark, but the Pies again couldn’t capitalise on their territory domination and three more behinds kept the Blues alive, and with less than four minutes on the clock Matt Cottrell converted a set shot from 25m out to level the scores.
Nicked it: Daicos breaks Blues hearts in epic
With just over three minutes to go, Jamie Elliott attempted to side step Adam Cerra rather than have a shot from 50m out and was stopped in his tracks by the former Docker.
With 2:45 to go, Carlton spearhead Harry McKay took a big grab against Frampton, but his centring kick went straight to Collingwood youngster Harvey Harrison instead of spotting up one of three open teammates.
However, just as it looked like Collingwood were headed for a second consecutive draw, Daicos emerged as the match winner as he burst clear from the stoppage in the forward pocket and snapped an absolute ripper from 40m out on an acute angle to put the Magpies back up by six points.
After being spanked in the clearances last week by Essendon (40-23), Collingwood’s midfield had a huge task ahead of them heading into the game without injured duo Jordan De Goey and Tom Mitchell up against the star-studded Carlton engine room.
But the Magpies’ reconfigured midfield unit shone incredibly with the likes of Daicos, Jack Crisp, Scott Pendlebury, debutant Lachie Sullivan, Patrick Lipinski and Harrison all taking it up the vaunted Carlton group and helped Collingwood win the clearances 44-40 and centre clearances 12-11.
Collingwood’s pressure was absolutely ferocious all night, as they finished with a whopping 32 more tackles (86-54).
Halfway through the third quarter, Collingwood had more than tripled Carlton for tackles in the forward half (30-9), further highlighting the Pies’ superior work rate.
Daicos was sensational, finishing with 32 disposals (16 contested), seven tackles, seven clearances and two goals, Pendlebury was inspirational and Darcy Moore had a great battle with Charlie Curnow.
For the Blues, McKay finished with a game-high four goals and Jacob Weitering kept Brody Mihocek scoreless for the first time in 64 games when he failed to trouble the scorers against Adelaide midway through 2021. Sam Walsh (32), Nic Newman (32) and Blake Acres (32) racked up plenty of disposals, too.
But the result came at a cost for the Magpies with Beau McCreery subbed out early in the second quarter with a concussion after copping an accidental knee to the side of the face from Carlton’s Lachie Cowan in a marking contest.
And Lachie Schultz could be headed for a holiday after seeing the red mist in the last quarter when he charged after Acres and appeared to hit him in the back of the head, which led to a free kick.
FRAMPTON, MOORE STAND TALL
With eight minutes to go and Carlton trailing by four points, Billy Frampton stood tall in a huge one-on-one contest against Curnow to win the contested mark and with 5:30 to go, and the margin five points, it was Moore’s turn to come up big, spoiling McKay on the members’ wing and clearing the danger for the Magpies without giving away a free kick.