I got brass in pocket
I got bottle, I’m gonna use it
Intention, I feel inventive
Gonna make you, make you, make you notice and
“Brass in pocket” The Pretenders
Finals time. Opportunity knocks
It’s last Friday – and as I wear my stylised Peter Daicos t-shirt beneath a buttoned-up flannelette shirt, I pay a visit to an exhibition of lithographs created by Jim Pavlidis. I love Jim’s eye. His views. And now here I am in a small gallery on a quiet North Carlton street corner, in a room full of Jim’s art – with The Man Himself. And there hangs his lithograph of a Ross Faulkner. And one of Peter Daicos. They are terrific.
“Hi Jim.”
“David, oh David, it’s good to see you, come in, come in.”
“Wow these are spectacular!” I say, and I step hypnotically towards the image of Peter Daicos.
“Oh thank you, thank you. That’s very sweet.”
“I love this of Peter. And check out the t-shirt I happen to be wearing today…”
When I unbutton, Jim sees the image and is full of joy.
“Oh, stand there in front of the picture. Yes, right there. Oh I need a photo. Peter will love this.” And Jim snaps a photo of these two images featuring the great Peter Daicos.
It is a wonderful exhibition.
Seeing that Ross Faulkner on the wall reminds me of the poignant story Jim wrote – published in The Age last month (Here it is).
Today, September winds buffet the city – after a fine, blue-sky morning, a band of rain sweeps in from the west. For the two hours prior to play, rain tumbles from a cold cold sky.
The men from Collingwood flat and the men from the Melbourne club are to meet in a final. It’s been a while. After the VFL Grand Finals of 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960 and 1964, the last meeting between these clubs in a final was in 1989.
Opening bounce. M Cox gets the big knee up and it’s on.
And it’s all Collingwood to the Punt Road end.
B Hill goal.
Again, B Hill goal.
B Fritsch goals and this game is a pot of popping corn on a hot stove.
And then – a moment of footy becomes a moment of injury and a moment to spawn torrents of conjecture and opinion for the next little while at least – when B Maynard and A Brayshaw collide.
Brayshaw is felled. Knocked to the head.
The game stops, the stove cools a tiny amount, then heats a lot, and B Maynard again resembles a farmyard kelpie – sailing into tasks and people and more tasks without apparent regard for another way of doing things.
Footy again breaks out.
D McStay creatively taps a loose bouncing ball to the run of B Hill who hits J Elliott – who misses.
A bubble of joy rises in me to again see N Murphy-the-Laconic turn unflinchingly into the path of danger and reach an ungainly arm out sideways to spoil.
On the backline, D Moore defeats B Fritsch, J Howe takes an intercept mark, and P Lipinski fumbles.
In the forward line, J Elliott channels Darryl Baldock as he paddles the ball by the boundary line.
At the end of a midfield wave, P Lipinski resembles a pony in harness among a field of thoroughbreds, yet still squeezes the pill to B McCreery (who again runs to advantage).
When J Crisp takes an arcing run at his long, long set shot, he connects sweetly for an enormous goal.
When O Markov holds the pill and looks at a defensively set Melbourne, he goes Very Long, and D Cameron ends with a goal. It is good thinking.
1QT
COL 4.2.26
MEL 1.0.6
It has been an impressive start from Collingwood. Melbourne tonight wearing the 1980s strip of royal blue and Robbie Flower.
B Mihocek is held, awarded the free, and misses.
B Mihocek marks, takes the set shot and does not miss.
This slippery pressurised occasion is perfect for the smarts and skills of S Sidebottom, who weaves and darts and feigns and points his way through traffic. How easy it is to imagine this also being a wonderful night for his erstwhile teammate D Swan.
K Pickett attempts an audacious banana and misses, whereupon N Murphy-the-Laconic grins, runs alongside him, pats K Pickett’s chest and says to him (probably) “bad luck.”
Two notable victories in defensive 50:
I Quaynor d B Fritsch
S Sidebottom d E Langdon
Until K Pickett marks by somehow outmanoeuvring J Howe. Goal.
B Fritsch bafflingly continues to emerge in public with that bizarre head on him. It must have been a significant bet that he lost all those years ago.
A notable defeat.
M Gawn d M Cox
And then a notable win, as N Murphy-the-Laconic makes a flying touch of the ball before it crosses the goal line, as nearby B Fritsch shoulders arms.
Collingwood end the half on the defensive. But opportunity knocks.
HT
COL 5.3.33
MEL 2.4.16
For the first time tonight the umpire elects to bounce the ball. Conditions are improving.
And the game now enters a ponderous period of slow movement and kicks-to-contests as moves are nullified, counter-moves are cut-off. Both teams dig in.
Melbourne miss several set shots. And in the grind of general play, moments of individual brilliance shine like diamonds.
I Quaynor rises to the top like cream.
As does a movement of the purest football between S Pendlebury and J Daicos.
The slog continues. And then, half way into the term, the ball is alive and hot at centre half back. Time and time again, handballs are smothered, possession is knocked clear. Collingwood scrap and scrap and scrap.
They fight and butter up for more.
Until finally the fast break spills forward like the Snowy River off the escarpment.
B Hill goals.
Back in defence, N Murphy-the-Laconic takes a desperate defensive mark in the hot spot – and immediately moves the ball. It lands with P Lipinski-the-pony and off to D McStay for a goal.
Moments to celebrate:
J Howe d B Fritsch
S Pendlebury tackles
T Sparrow sharks the tap and snaps a goal.
But T Mitchell hacks it immediately out of the square and D McStay marks – running back with the flight. He kicks a goal.
J Daicos is caught with it. A Neal-Bullen goal.
And within seconds of the restart, T Mitchell hacks it forward, J Crisp handballs and J de Goey snaps a goal.
3QT
COL 9.4.58
MEL 4.9.33
Last term.
T McDonald gets the scrappy first.
D Smith straight away the second.
Melbourne’s inaccurate kicking has contributed to the Collingwood lead. I wonder what might happen if they kick more accurately.
Moments to celebrate:
A goal-saving spoil from D Moore.
Another goal-saving spoil from D Moore
T McDonald misses a set shot.
And still, Collingwood can’t get it past the wing. A sense of desperation prickles through.
B Fritsch takes yet another set shot.
This time, in kicking out-of-bounds-on-the-full, he very nearly misses the ball.
Melbourne is well on top.
And now small acts of heroism break out in the Collingwood backline.
Acts from I Quaynor
From J Ginnivan
From N Murphy-the-Laconic
From D Moore.
And again – oh yes again – from I Quaynor.
FT
COL 9.6.60
MEL 7.11.53
It is a win to celebrate.
From the indecent rush of post-game microphones, I catch something noteworthy. Captain D Moore is prompted to expand on the virtues of I Quaynor and the backline. He says “yeah, that’s right. We always say: ‘If you see something, go and impact it,’ and so he does. We do.”
Next – a preliminary final at the MCG.
Well played Collingwood. Keep going.
“Gonna use my arms
Gonna use my legs
Gonna use my style
Gonna use my sidestep
Gonna use my fingers
Gonna use my, my, my, imagination”
“Brass in pocket“ The Pretenders
==
COLLINGWOOD 4.2 5.3 9.4 9.6 (60)
MELBOURNE 1.0 2.4 4.9 7.11 (53)
GOALS
Collingwood: Hill 3, McStay 2, Mihocek, De Goey, Crisp, Cameron
Melbourne: Fritsch 2, Sparrow, Smith, Pickett, Neal-Bullen, McDonald
INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
Melbourne: Brayshaw (concussion)
SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood: Jack Ginnivan (replaced Darcy Cameron in fourth quarter)
Melbourne: Bailey Laurie (replaced Angus Brayshaw in first quarter)
Crowd: 92,636 at the MCG
==
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About David Wilson
David Wilson is a hydrologist, climate reporter and writer of fiction & observational stories. He writes under the name “E.regnans” at The Footy Almanac and has stories in several books. One of his stories was judged as a finalist in the Tasmanian Writers’ Prize 2021. He shares the care of two daughters and likes to walk around feeling generally amazed. Favourite tree: Eucalyptus regnans.
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Great stuff David. What a game! What a night! I love your report. I did not love the last quarter. My oldest son, sitting next to me, reported that his smart watch alerted him several times that quarter that his heart rate had exceeded normal non-exercising rate. I imagine that was not an uncommon phenomenon.
Grand piece of writing ER. Melbourne in “royal blue & Robbie Flower” with traces of Baldock. For a neutral the game was 6/10. For those with skin in the game – 12/10 as AF’s son’s heart rate testifies.
I kept wondering – imagine Melbourne with Brisbane’s forward line – imagine Collingwood with Port’s midfield.
The prelim finals promise to be a World Series of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Never in doubt.
(Great report ER).
HB.
Great stuff OBP the old bad kicking is bad footy dees certainly had more than enough opportunities to win the game the evenness and pressure of the pies got them home
Excellent ER, you captured the game as if we were listening to an old crystal set.
I loved the game, marveled at player’s speed right up until the final siren. Both teams are the top of the tree this year.
Structures are such an integral part of footy these days but I still gawp at the ridiculous handballs that magically find a running outside player and balls whacked onto boot hit a chest 30 odd metres away. And all this at full pace!
Double tip of the hat for infusing Brass in Pocket in there. Oh, yeah, it worked!
Cheers
Interesting reading. Several things stood out to me. Collingwood’s entry into its forward area was much cleaner than Melbourne’s, whose mids continued to bomb the ball thus making it easier for the Pies’ defenders to clear the ball. When Melbourne forwards did take possession they invariably butchered their scoring opportunity. Also many Melbourne players lost their footing at crucial times. Kicking off the ground was very noticeable from both sides but more often from the Pies. Despite Melbourne coming home strongly in the final quarter, Collingwood always looked likely winners to me. I must admit I was willing the Dee’s to win all night, but was disappointed in much of their play, but couldn’t fault their endevour.
G’day all & thanks for leaving your comments.
A Fithall – close last quarters are nothing new – but don’t they feel a bit different when the opposition are the ones doing the chasing?
Peter B – thanks – it was fun to write. I’m all for the helter skelter style.
Haiku – the slow breath out.
OBP – I remember L Matthews saying plenty of times – after a missed set-shot at goal – “you only get so many scoring opportunities in a final. Make them count.”
R Kane – gonna use my, my, my…
Fisho – yes those rapid entries from half back. the fast-breaks. the Snowy River spills have served the Pies well this year. (and on Thursday night). Same game plan as the Matildas. And Tottenham Hotspur. And fictional Richmond AFC. And so the wheel turns.
Fabulous report Tall Man
Thanks
Frank