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It’s that time of the year again, but a week after the last Saturday in September. After last week’s spectacular, unbelievable and fantastic “official” Grand Final ended in a draw these teams will meet again this Saturday October 2nd at 2.30pm at the MCG for the replay, where only one team will come out premiers.
Last week it was a battle of the halves. Collingwood came out of the blocks and had the better first half, but St Kilda came back hard in the second half. The Saints were lucky the Pies could not make the most of their opportunities whereas the Pies were lucky that the Saints couldn’t captilise in the final term to run over the top of them after they lead for 95% of the game.
Everyone is looking forward to the replay this weekend, with a crowd expected to be just as big as the 100,116 last week!
Previous Encounters
Grand Final, 2010
Collingwood – 15.10 (100)
St Kilda – 6.16 (52)
Well St Kilda pulled off a miraculous comeback in the second half, but it wasn’t quite enough as the 2010 Grand Final has finished in a draw. As such we will now be blessed with another Grand Final at the same time next week.
It was a bloody good match of footy and both sides are now left with an empty feeling in their gut. The Saints never lay down and managed to hold the Pies goalless in the third quarter to drag the score line back and were only 8 points down at the final change.
The last quarter was as tense as I have ever seen and when the Saints took the lead after Goddards high flyer and consequent goal it looked like they might just pull away. But the Pies regrouped and managed to press forward and eventually grabbed a one point lead after a rushed behind and a goal to Travis Cloke.
Lenny Hayes had a chance to steal the match with just 90 seconds left but could only manage a behind, and the next minute and a half seemed to take forever and when the final siren went both sides could not believe it.…read more…
How the Collingwood got to the big dance
It’s been an enormous year for the Pies with 17 wins for the season, 4 losses and 1 draw. From Round 11 through to Round 21 they remained undefeated and were able to produce the goods week in and week out. When they defeated the Cats in Round 19 they cemented themselves as premiership favourites and deserved it the way they were going about their footy. They finished the season as minor premiers and defeated the Western Bulldogs in the first Qualifying Final and headed straight into the Preliminaries. Last Friday night they demolished Geelong it what was hyped to be a tight encounter, but they proved they can win the Premiership by dominating the best team in the last four years and last year’s premiers all over the ground
How St Kilda got to the big dance
The Saint’s road to the big dance has been one that when you look at key incidents in their season, makes it a remarkable achievement.
Starting with the Andrew Lovett saga, Riewoldt ripping his hamstring to shreds and the Gilbert non-story that became a story.
With such on and off field turmoil they still managed to get to 3rd place with relative ease in the end.
Ross Lyon said towards the end of the season that they peaked around round 16/17 last year and that this year they were planning to peak on Grand Final day……
Key players for Collingwood
Travis Cloke – Cloke missed two very important goals in the Grand Final last week, and those two goals would have won the Pies the game if they went though the big sticks. Cloke is going to NEED to be the most accurate he has ever been and it’s the big stage and the most important game of his life. If he kicks more goals than behind the Pies will win.
Likely match-up: Zac Dawson
Nick Maxwell – Mr. Reliable was Maxwell last week, where on a few occasions he literally saved the game for the Pies and one of those times was on the goal line. Once he was accounted for by the Saints he did not dominate as much, but he will needs to play a loose man in defence and be as free as possible to provide strong run for the Pies.
Likely match-up: No one and second/third man up against Nick Riewoldt
Nathan Brown – One of the most important jobs of the game limiting the influence of Saints skipper Nick Riewoldt. Last week Brown did a pretty good job, limiting Saint Nick to a quieter first half and only getting 2 goals kicked for him. This week’s job will be much harder in my opinion because Riewoldt will want to step up even more than last week. A good defensive game by Brown this weekend will go a long way to see the Pies get up.
Likely match-up: Nick Riewoldt
Alan Didak – Didak is one of the biggest play makers for the Pies and the bigger his influence on the game the better the Pies play. He ability to have outstanding games in the midfield and up forward make him extremely valuable to the side. He had a good match last week but will need to have a brilliant one this week and provide the fast paced run the Pies need through the middle to get the ball forward to Cloke and Dawes.
Likely match-up: Steven Baker
Dane Swan – Apart from the first half last week Swan was well held by Farren Ray. He wasn’t his normal self in terms of the amount of possessions he received and not as dominate; however he still managed to be important in the match with 8 inside 50s, 7 tackles and 9 clearances. If he can get the same statistics and a heap of possessions, running more freely in the midfield, his deliveries inside 50 will have more impact.
Likely match-up: Farren Ray/Clinton Jones
Changes
In: Goldsack
Out: Davis
Key players for St Kilda
Lenny Hayes – How last weeks Norm Smith Medalist has recovered from the first Grand Final is going to make a big difference to St Kilda. Last week he was the main difference in the second half and when he starts to get going his team mates follow his lead.
Likely match-up: Dane Swan
Nick Riewoldt – Riewoldt didn’t have the game many expected him to last week but that’s not to say he didn’t play well. His work rate was phenomenal and with his fitness he can really test out how well the Collingwood defenders have recovered.
Likely match-up: Nathan Brown
Brendan Goddard – Many think Goddard is one of the unluckiest players in history with regards to winning a Norm Smith after the game he played. Goddard is one of those players who can grab hold of a game and change it and St Kilda will be hoping he can repeat last weeks effort.
Likely match-up: Head to head with Collingwood’s midfield.
Zac Dawson – Dawson had a solid game last week and kept Cloke under control, he needs to do the same again this week. If he also lays a bump like the one he did on Didak last week again all the better.
Likely match-up: Travis Cloke
Clinton Jones – Regardless of who Jones goes to he’ll have a big bearing on the result as he attempts to shut down one of Collingwood’s best players, he’s done his jobs better than most over the last two years and I’ll back him in again here.
Likely match-up: Alan Didak/Dane Swan
Changes
In: McEvoy
Out: Gardiner
Why Collingwood will be Premiers
The Saints cards have been played and the Pies now have it all before them.
The moves by Lyon of Gilbert up forward and Kosi & Blake in the ruck wont be much of a surprise this time.
All the Pies need to do is to continue to stick to their structures, like they did in the first half whilst also finding ways to restrict last weeks exceptional bunch; Hayes, Goddard and Fisher, and also continuing to keep Riewoldt quiet.
On the flip-side, much thanks to the Pies evenness on the day, Thomas is the one that really needs to be restricted going by output.
The likes of Swan, Ball, Pendlebury, Beams and Wellingham who were down, have much more to give this time around.
For all of the praise heaped on the Saints from clawing their deficit back, the lack of recognition for the Collingwood players to fight back to save the game when all the momentum was going the Saints way cannot be understated. With 4 minutes left, it was all St Kilda afterall.
The fact that the Saints have been to 2 Grand Finals for no wins, despite all the talk of redemption in the previous game had to have taken a fair bit out of them.
Last week in their at the end of their final training session, Ross Lyon with nothing said, played the last 5 minutes of the heartbreaking 2009 Grand Final loss against Geelong to provide added motivation…..’No going to that wekk this time around!
Basically, if the Pies stick to the game-plan that has got them to the Grand Final, they will win
Why St Kilda will be Premiers
If the boys from Moorabin needed any more motivation, then they got it this week with another shot at the big-dance after two extremely close games.
The Saints now know that their best is good enough and that they have the players that can make the difference for sure.
Goddard seemed to have found another gear to match his courageous performance from last year and you now you are going to get the exact same performance from Hayes this week as well.
The ace the Saints have up their sleeve is one of the best players in the comp who barely fired a shot last week in Nick Riewoldt. Surely 50 gamer Nathan Brown cant do it again by restricting his influence right?!!?!?
The fact that the St Kilda coaching staff now know that a few surprise moves that paid off last week are more likely to work than not as well.
With the Saints endeavor from last week on display again, it’s theirs for the taking.
ContestedFooty’s predictions
Ben: Pies by two goals and changing my Norm Smith to Goddard
Brent: Saints by 10 points and Lenny Hayes to do it again and win the Norm Smith.
Cladi: My heart and my head are arguing. Collingwood by 20 points, but they need to kick more goals than behind to win it. Brendon Goddard for Norm Smith Medal.
James: Saints by 18 and Nick Riewoldt
Luke: Collingwood by 3 and Swan for Norm Smith.
Vish: Pies by 24 and Shaw for Norm Smith.
Introduction and Collingwood Key Players by Christine
Why each team will be premiers by Vish
St Kilda Key Players by James
Tags: Alan Didak, Brendan Goddard, Clinton Jones, Dane Swan, Lenny Hayes, Nathan Brown, Nick Maxwell, Nick Riewoldt, Travis Cloke, Zac Dawson
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collingwood by 4 goals, nathan brown for norm smith (riewoldt goal-less)
pies will smash em by like 10 goals they cant possofly play as bad as last week side bottem for norm smith