Collingwood will be sweating in the pursuit of talented forward Jamie Elliott after a season-ending knee injury on the day Collingwood celebrated Scott Pendlebury’s record-breaking 433rd game with a 10-point win over West Coast, 13.14 (92) to 12.10 (12.10).
Elliott landed sharply after a high jump at the end of the final term and, as his knee buckled under him as he landed, momentarily sucked the life out of Pendlebury’s historic milestone.
A scuffle broke out between the two sides as Elliott lay on the ground clutching his knee.
Collingwood players clashed with Eagles defender Tylar Young, but Eagles coach Andrew McQualter was quick to exonerate Young after the game from any suggestion of tunneling.
“First of all, I hope that Jamie is OK. It seemed like a terrible incident. You don’t want anybody to get hurt,” McQualter said.
“But I looked at it again, and I’m pretty sure Tylar Young didn’t do anything wrong in that scoring contest.
“He was competing for the ball, he was in that scoring contest, and unfortunately accidents happen in our game.
“I don’t know what they were up against. It’s unfortunate that Jamie was injured, but nothing more.”
Elliott was taken from the ground on a cart and was seen in the post-game locker room on crutches as he chatted with Magpies coach Craig McRae.
“It’s too early to make any determinations, unless we’re hopeful (of avoiding a serious knee problem),” Collingwood coach Craig McRae said. “We’re hoping for the best. We don’t know until the tests (are taken) that he’s in good shape, and we’re not going to rule anything out.
“Obviously, he’s injured. We don’t know to what extent yet.”
McRae said it was difficult to comment on the merits of the marking contest because he was focusing on Elliott at the time.
“You have a risk when you’re in the air,” McRae said. “I watched the replay, and I was more worried about Jamie, watching his body movements rather than the actual event.
“Talking to Jamie afterwards, he says, ‘Why did I get that mark?’. He felt very vulnerable. He says he felt in the air, ‘Oh, no’.
“But I don’t know, it’s hard to comment on the event itself.”
As well as dealing with the loss of their prolific forward, McRae were left to mourn another injury to captain Darcy Moore, who suffered a concussion after being thrown into the ruck during the second term.
The Premier defender tripped and fell as he tackled Eagles big man Bailey Williams, and then staggered off the ground. He did not participate further in the game.
Despite criticism from pundits for risking the injured Moore in the ruck, McRae said he had no regrets calling on his captain to provide temporary relief to Darcy Cameron.
“I had high hopes that Darcy Moore was going to be our second rookie. I’ve been thinking about that for about a month now,” McRae said.
“We wanted to do that against the Cats, and he’s having a blast. I just saw him being his dad (Brownlow medalist Peter Moore), symbolizing everything behind the game.
“But, unfortunately, he’s got a hamstring injury again – he can’t move.”
Moore, 30, has played just four games so far this year due to nagging injuries. It didn’t help that Collingwood lost Oscar Steene to an ACL injury against Sydney last week.
Will Hayes was also taken off the field in the final quarter after apparently dislocating his shoulder in a tackle. McRae expected him to be out for a week.
Despite the triple injury blow, it was hard to escape Pendlebury’s incredible afternoon.
The coach called it one of the biggest events in Collingwood’s history.
“I will never forget,” he said. “When you get down there, and you see the whole history of the footy club – so many of the living legends and the people who have made the foundations what they are – you feel very grateful to be a part of it,” he said.
McRae said he demanded a last-ditch effort from the playing group as the game entered the final quarter on a knife’s edge. Collingwood led by 11 points at the last change after surrendering a 29-point lead in the third quarter.
“It really wasn’t about fashion marks, it wasn’t really about margins or anything, it was about honoring the ‘Pendles’,” McRae said.
“I told the players during the third quarter, let’s make sure we put our heads in the river tonight, knowing we’ve done everything we can for this guy for what he’s done for all of us.”
While the occasion was a history-breaking one, the match belonged to Nick Daicos – further proof that Pendlebury passed the baton long before passing the games record.
The indefatigable Daicos was instrumental in bringing his side over the line in saw-sawing arm wrestling.
He finished with 34 tackles and three late goals, including a 23rd-minute winner in the final period when he put his back to beat an Eagles opponent and score.
Pendlebury was rewarded for every minute of his record-breaking performance in front of a crowd of 90,028 – dominated by an army of black and whites, who chanted his name at the 10-minute mark of the opening term as a tribute to his number 10.
All players wore gold numbers on their backs joined at the front, an idea first proposed by Pendlebury and later opposed by McRae.
Pendlebury admitted after the game that he had been nursing an ongoing hand injury. It didn’t help that his first taste of action was a brutal clash with young bull Harley Reid.
The 21-year-old former first-team player collected the ball in the middle of the pitch before sending Pendlebury to throw down and say “don’t argue” in his 50th game.
“He’s had a great start to his career,” McQualter said of Reid. “He’s probably had more scrutiny than most, or anybody, in his first 50 games, just the publicity that comes from being Harley, but I think he’s handled it really well.”
McQualter joked that Reid ran to the bench after Pendlebury’s defense, saying, “Did you see me, did you see me?”
“He was really excited about it. It’s what he does. He’s a competitor, and he had a good time there,” the Eagles coach said.
In addition, the veteran hero stepped up two minutes later when he dropped his shoulder and hit Reid, knocking him over the boundary line.
The two-time premiership winner also had to deal with two tackles throughout the match from Willem Duursma and Brady Hough.
“You can’t tell me they’re not here today with a mission,” McRae said. “They’re starting to put in ‘Pendles’. They’ve come here to destroy the party, for lack of a better term.
“We had to fight for everything. It wasn’t something we didn’t get. It was all hard-fought, which will put us in a good position.”
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