Let’s hope history repeats itself ahead of Saturday night’s elimination final.
Saturday night’s elimination final will be the 54th time the Eagles and the Magpies will have met since 1987.
This Saturday’s do-or-die final at the Optus Stadium is set to be an absolute ripper.
The Eagles have the home advantage and are the sure-fire favourites coming into this one after going 55-12 in Perth over the last five years.
That will put a worry into the minds of any Collingwood fans out there.
Plus let’s not forget that the Eagles have won 4 out of the last 5 ties against the pies, with the most recent win coming in the Eagles 66 point demolition of Collingwood in round 8 of this year.
Collingwood started well in the opening quarter of the game, taking a 20 point lead, but succumbed to the high Eagles midfield pressure.
The Eagles played on the Collingwood defence and spun ball, after ball forward to marksman Josh Kennedy who kicked the skin off the footy that day, scoring 7 goals for the West Coast.
They will certainly be hoping Josh Kennedy is fully fit to emulate the same form on Saturday night.
“Last time we played was a blowout, which we’ll take if that happens, but we’re anticipating a pretty fierce contest.”
Adam Simpson in a press conference earlier today.
But after taking two great scalps against Hawthorn and Geelong in the week’s prior, Collingwood just couldn’t cope with midfield pairing of Tim Kelly and Andrew Gaff who ran the show that day.
Between them, they racked up an impressive 56 disposals, 17 score involvements and 15 marks.
“They (West Coast) looked like they couldn’t do anything wrong and we looked like we couldn’t do anything right.”
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley speaking on their round 8 loss to the Eagles.
And the teams are no strangers when it comes to finals footy either, facing off 8 times in the space of 30 years, two of those match-ups came in the 2018 finals series, with the West Coast coming back in both matches to score late on, swiping the 2018 premiership flag from Collingwood in the dying breaths of the game.
The 2018 grand final will go down in history as a classic.
Eagles fans will remember the win all too fondly, providing some justice after losing out on the 2015 flag to Hawthorn.
But it’s certainly one to forget for the Collingwood supporters.
The Pies had it all to lose and blew away their three-point lead in the final three minutes of the game. You’d have bet your house on that Pies solid defence of Jack Crisp, Tom Langdon, and Jeremy Howe to close out the rest of the game.
But the Eagles had other ideas, hitting them on the break and it was a bit of magic from the Eagles that tore the Pies flags hopes from their grip during that controversial last quarter, which had it all, score reviews, a questionable 50-metre penalty, world-class defending, and a last-gasp goal from Dom Sheed.
But the Eagles had other ideas, hitting them on the break and it was a bit of magic from the Eagles that tore the Pies flags hopes from their grip during that controversial last quarter, which had it all, score reviews, a questionable 50-metre penalty, world-class defending, and a last-gasp goal from Dom Sheed.
Looking back, it was the superb intercept mark from Jeremy McGovern, plucking an unbelievable grab out of the air to set up the attack. Moments later Flyin’ Liam Ryan goes and does one better, hanging in the air to beat two Pies defenders to the ball.
Unreal.
A lot has to be said for Dom Sheed’s accuracy over the kick, a proper pressure punt, and full credit to young Sheed who stood upon the sport’s biggest stage.
The West Coast have done it before, and they’re sure-fire favourites to do it again in this elimination final.
Saturday night lights.
The Pies have struggled to score all year, ranking 13th in the league for points scored, averaging 53 points per game. And there’s no doubt the pies will run a defence-heavy game plan and will look to quell the flood of Eagles players arriving into the Pies 50.
Their attack this year has left a lot to be desired too, scoring an average of 66 points in their wins this season, which isn’t bad per se, but Collingwood haven’t dominated a team by over 50 points since their win against the Bulldogs in round 1.
I suppose a win’s a win and Collingwood do play some backs to the wall footy, grinding out games, shutting out attackers. Although slightly unattractive, its a system that works and can trouble teams, that’s if they get it right.
Plus their Texas Titan, Mason Cox playing up top in the full forward position will cause problems for Tom Barrass and Jeremy McGovern at the back, who are going to have to get up high to reach the ball, ahead of the 6’11” American man mountain.
And don’t forget they’ve been missing their star forward Jordan De Goey, who’s been in the treatment room for most of the year after undergoing surgery on his finger. De Goey has a boot in him, and after coming back from injury in round 17, he could be Nathan Buckley’s secret weapon, alongside Brody Miocheck, to put a few through against the Eagles.
In terms of the West Coast, we think they’ll take a similar plan they have done in previous encounters, with Adam Simpson stating “We’ve played them so much in the last 3/4 years in big games that they know what we’re going to do and we know what they’re going to do.”
The Eagles have a good track record when it comes to controlling the play and when the Pies start to lump on the pressure in midfield, the Eagles will kick the ball out wide and down the flanks to their wide attackers, Liam Ryan and Jamie Cripps who can quickly capitalise on an imbalance of numbers.
One worry for Eagles fans this year has been their complacency and how clinical they can be when it comes to closing out games when they are the clear favourite.
On a multiple occasions, the Eagles have from behind in the 3rd and 4th quarter to turn on the after burners late in the game. But thye have made these wins pretty tough for themselves, with the game against North Melbourne being a very recent example of that.
With the additional wealth of experience returning through Luke Shuey, Jamie Cripps, Jeremy McGovern, and Josh Kennedy, the Eagles will be full of energy and experience with these to their feet on the gas pedal and stop Collingwood from picking up momentum in the game.
But it won’t be an easy battle.
“(Playing) Collingwood sort of guarantees that it’s going to be tough and it’s going to be close,” Simpson said in a press conference earlier today.
“Collingwood beat us here last year. We’ve had a good couple of wins obviously in the last few years as well, but they’ve all been pretty close.”
“I think it’s going to be on all day.”
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