“What is tackles?” Pep Guardiola asked not long after he had arrived in England. The robust Premier League way of playing held no interest for him. But tackles were everything to Collingwood on Thursday night. They’d barely stuck a decent tackle in the preceding three weeks. All week, they spoke about rectifying it.
By the early part of the second term at the Gabba, they had 32 tackles to Brisbane’s dozen and by game’s end it was 84 to 52. For all the ebbs, flows and momentum shifts of the grand final rematch, it was the Pies’ tackling that was the difference. “We need to get more tackles and we need to get more effective with them,” Chris Fagan said afterwards. Brisbane’s tendency to over-handball, he said, invited Collingwood’s pressure.
Sometimes winning the tackle count merely drums home the fact that you were second to too many contests. But not on this occasion. Collingwood’s tackles came with interest, they came from all angles and they led to so many scoring opportunities. None was more important than Jamie Elliott’s bone rattler on Dayne Zorko in the final term, which sealed the win that kickstarted Collingwood’s season.
This was a strange match. Grand final rematches rarely live up to the hype and offer little in the way of revenge. For the losing grand finalist, a win in the rematch can be hollow. For both clubs however, the stakes in Thursday night’s game were greater than usual. This was Brisbane’s marquee home and away game. Their opponent was on the ropes. The Lions had to win it.
They certainly dominated proceedings in the second term. There were shades of last year’s preliminary final. As is so often the case, it was Lachie Neale who ignited them. His clean hands, his hard head, his fast feet and what boxing fans call his “ring geometry” were all standouts. He was the one who got his hands on the football first, who distributed and who got them moving. They absorbed everything the Pies threw at them and then knuckled down to what they do best – crisp ball movement, with bold, line-breaking, angle-changing forward forays. They switched from dinky little 15 metre spot-ups to 60 metre thumpers. They had 21 inside 50s to Collingwood’s two.
But ultimately, it netted just four goals. Their tall forwards spilt everything that came their way. And they left the door ajar for Collingwood. Every time they were challenged, the Pies responded. They had an even spread of contributors. They were far more efficient in attack. And their defence was far better organised and resolute than in previous weeks, particularly during the second term onslaught.
A special mention to John Noble, who was desperately unlucky to miss out on last year’s premiership. Prior to the finals, he’d played 83 games in a row, and every game of the Craig McRae era. When he was told at training he’d be missing out, his fellow defenders huddled around him and consoled him. He’s a head-down, bum-up type footballer and he provided the dash and dare that’s been conspicuously absent at Collingwood so far this year. “It’s been tough for him,” McRae said. “He’s done all the work and he’s come back bigger and stronger.”
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It’s been a torrid few weeks for Brisbane. The coach has been in Melbourne at the Human Rights Commission. They lost yet another player to an ACL injury. The Gabba has been shafted by a shilly-shallying state government. The team itself finds itself in a similar position to where Collingwood was last Thursday.
It’s not as though they’re in a complete hole. They lost an extraordinary game against Carlton, a game they really should have won, a game where they played almost perfect football for half an hour. They then travelled to the other side of the country and lost to an improved Fremantle. And they’ve often been a bit tardy at this time of year anyway. They were blown away by a red-hot Port in round one last year, and lost to the Bulldogs a fortnight later, which prompted a Joe Daniher smashing from the various footy panels. A couple of years earlier, they were one win from their first four and rallied to secure the double chance.
But on both occasions, it was wins against Collingwood that got them rolling. This time, their fortress has already been breached twice. Their tall forwards have Edward Scissor hands. But the coach’s glass, despite his worry lines, is always half full. “Let’s not catastrophise things,” he said. “There’s still 20 games to go.”
