You know what would have been handy? If someone had told me, before the game started, that Collingwood had won nine-straight games at the Adelaide Oval. I would’ve really enjoyed having that knowledge.
Sure, I could have researched that, myself, but you don’t become the laziest analyst in the business by putting in effort to find out those types of things, right? Someone called me that last week… and they misspelled “analyst” in doing so. Sometimes, you just have to consider the sourse, y’know?
Anyway, that winning streak stretched, as the Pies stuck to their guns, played the game on their terms, and closed down the Swans to win by 31 points in Gather Round.
You have to take your hat off to Craig McRae. He saw what Sydney wanted, and basically took it away from them. He closed down the corridor, forced the Swans wide, and his team owned the air. In doing so, the Magpies managed to cut supply to the Sydney forward line… or what passed as a forward line, anyway. I’ll get to that ineptitude a little later on.
Nick Daicos got better as the game went on, Ned Long emerged as a possible long-term replacement for the injured Tom Mitchell, and Darcy Cameron engaged in an enthralling battle with former Pie, Brodie Grundy.
A massive amount to get through in this one. Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Loves and Hates from this clash.
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