North Melbourne great David King has pinpointed a sliding doors contest that proved the difference in the dying moments of the Preliminary Final for Sydney against Collingwood.
With the final margin just one point, it was a game of inches at the death and King has highlighted one moment that he is convinced would’ve won Collingwood the game if not for some Callum Mills heroics.
Mills famously made a spoil on Collingwood’s Brody Mihocek, 35 metres out from the Magpies’ goal as the seconds ran down, but King has found footage that showed that effort from the Swan had to be centimetre perfect.
After reviewing footage, King found that Collingwood defender Darcy Moore had left Sydney’s Lance Franklin at the other end of the ground to try and win the game for his team, with the Magpie streaming towards goal unmanned as that final marking contest ensued.
Speaking on SEN’s Whateley, King explained how Moore’s “heads-up” play evolved in the final minute.
“You all know the Mills spoil, the big play in the last surge forward,” King said on SEN’s Whateley.
“(Before that) the boundary throw-in was actually in the Sydney forward 50 with about a minute to go on the clock.
“One of the bravest, heads-up plays in a long-time was from Darcy Moore to leave Buddy Franklin.
“He runs down the ground as they’re throwing the ball in, he says, ‘I’m going, I’m going to win this game, are you going to come with me or not?’.
“Lance is not sure whether he’s going to go with him or not, so he hovers, Hayward goes with Darcy Moore, so Isaac Quaynor says, ‘I’m going to go with Hayward’, so both of them were going down the field with Hayward.
“Lance gets caught up in the traffic at centre half-forward for the Swans and centre half-back for the Pies.
“But the Pies are rushing numbers onto the ball, so there’s chaos everywhere, but in the chaos, Darcy Moore is still making his way down the ground.”
Check out footage of Mills’ critical contest below.
If you pause the video at the 28-second mark, you can see Moore charging towards goals as the marking contest ensues.
A video on the last minute of Sydney v Collingwood: The choices teams make, how it unfolds, and all the 50-50 moments plus individual efforts in between #AFLSwansPies pic.twitter.com/cbb1n5wcXb
— Ricky Mangidis (@rickm18) September 17, 2022
With Moore streaming down the wing unmanned, Jack Crisp wins the ball in the centre of the ground for Collingwood, putting in a long inside 50 kick towards Mihocek as Mills releases to spoil.
“Crisp and Quaynor do some funky play in the middle and burst free, you all remember Crisp driving that ball to centre half-forward but Mills is the loose man, he’s owning the defensive 50,” King explained.
“He releases and goes and makes the big spoil, but as his fist hits that ball, if you pause it at that point in the vision, - and I have 100 times - Darcy Moore is out the back, walk-in goal if Mills doesn’t make the purest of spoils.
“Even if Mihocek is able to knock it over, he’s not sure Moore’s there, but if that ball clears that pack, it’s a walk-in goal, Collingwood hit the lead and Collingwood wins that game.”
With the four Swans and two Magpies inside 50 all being drawn towards the ball, Moore was the only player heading towards goal and King believes it would’ve been near impossible for him not to goal and win the game if the contest wasn’t made.
“If that ball spiked forward, we are sitting here today, talking about the biggest comeback, the best Preliminary Final win we’ve seen in decades,” King said.
“This would’ve been an Essendon v Carlton type discussion that we’re still talking about from 1999.
“This would have been the smartest play you’ve ever seen from Darcy Moore.
“You just don’t see it, not off Franklin … he’s not going down there to pick up Callum Mills, he’s not going to locate Mills at all, he’s trying to get in behind.”
While the Magpies ended up losing, King thinks Moore’s risk-taking attitude was emblematic of a Collingwood team that learned the right time to take chances under Craig McRae in 2022.
“This is where they’re at Collingwood,” King said.
“They’ve run aground, their season is over.
“But they’re not just playing footy, they’re learning footy and what’s required.
“I just thought for that game to finish in that way was spectacular, but I just think for Collingwood to have done what they did in the second half to make it a game, full credit to him.
“If that ball had gotten to the back, what would we have been saying today?”