Collingwood will sweat on scans for brilliant forward Jamie Elliott after he suffered what appeared to be a devastating season-ending knee injury on a day that Collingwood celebrated Scott Pendlebury’s record-breaking 433rd game with a hard fought 10-point win over West Coast, 13.14 (92) to 12.10 (82).
Elliott landed heavily after leaping high for a mark late in the final term and, as his knee buckled underneath him on landing, it momentarily sucked the life out of Pendlebury’s historic milestone.
A heated melee broke out between both sides as Elliott lay on the ground clutching his knee.
The Collingwood players remonstrated with Eagles defender Tylar Young, but Eagles coach Andrew McQualter was quick to exonerate Young after the game from any suggestion of tunnelling.
“Firstly, I really hope Jamie is okay. It looked like a nasty incident. You don’t want anyone getting injured,” McQualter said.
“But I looked at it again, and I am certain that Tylar Young did nothing wrong in that marking contest.
“He was competing for the ball, he was in that marking contest, and unfortunately accidents happen in our game.
“I don’t know what they were remonstrating for. It’s disappointing that Jamie got injured, but there’s nothing more to it.”
Elliott was taken from the ground on a cart and was seen in the rooms after the game on crutches while having a conversation with Magpies coach Craig McRae.
“It is too early to make any diagnosis, other than we are hopeful [of avoiding a serious knee issue],” Collingwood coach Craig McRae said. “We hope for the best. We don’t know until the scans [are taken]. He is in reasonably good spirits, and we won’t rule anything out.
“Clearly, he is injured. We just don’t know to what extent yet.”
McRae said it was hard to comment on the legality of the marking contest because he was focused on Elliott at the time.
“You are vulnerable when you are in the air,” McRae said. “I watched the replay, and I was more concerned about Jamie, watching his body movement rather than the actual incident.
“Speaking to Jamie afterwards, he goes, ‘Why did I go for that mark?’. He just felt really vulnerable. He is saying that he felt in the air, ‘Oh, no’.
“But I don’t know, it’s hard to comment on the incident itself.”
As well as dealing with the fallout of losing their brilliant forward, McRae was left lamenting another injury to skipper Darcy Moore, who suffered a hamstring strain after being thrown into the ruck during the second term.
The premiership defender stumbled and fell as he competed against Eagles big man Bailey Williams, and then hobbled from the ground. He took no further part in the game.
Despite criticism from commentators for risking the injury-plagued Moore in the ruck, McRae said he did not regret calling upon his skipper to provide temporary relief for Darcy Cameron.
“I had great hopes that Darcy Moore was going to be our second ruck. I’ve been thinking that for about a month now,” McRae said.
“We wanted to do it against the Cats, and he gets concussed. I could just see him being his dad [Brownlow medallist Peter Moore], just marking everything behind the play.
“But, unfortunately, he has got a hamstring injury again – he just can’t get himself moving.”
Moore, 30, has played just four games so far this year due to a horror run of injuries. It didn’t help that Collingwood lost Oscar Steene to an ACL injury against Sydney last week.
Will Hayes was also taken from the ground during the last quarter after he seemingly suffered a dislocated shoulder in a marking contest. McRae expected he would be out for weeks.
Despite the triple injury blow, it was hard to deflect from Pendlebury’s incredible afternoon.
The coach called it one of the biggest occasions in Collingwood’s history.
“I’ll never forget it,” he said. “When you run out onto the ground, and you see the whole history of the footy club – most of the living greats and the people that have made the foundations what they are – you just feel so grateful to be part of it,” he said.
McRae said he demanded a final effort from the playing group as the game entered the last quarter on a knife’s edge. Collingwood led by 11 points at the final change after surrendering a 29-point lead during the third quarter.
“It really wasn’t about style points, it wasn’t really about margins or whatever, it was just about honouring ‘Pendles’,” McRae said.
“I said to the players at three-quarter-time, let’s make sure we put our heads on the pillow tonight, knowing we have done everything we can for this guy for what he has done for all of us.”
While the occasion belonged to a history-breaking legend, the match belonged to Nick Daicos – further proof that Pendlebury passed the baton long before he passed the games record.
The indefatigable Daicos was the key to dragging his side over the line in a see-sawing arm wrestle.
He was phenomenal in the opening half with 21 possessions – including nine score involvements – and a goal.
He finished with 34 disposals and three goals by the game’s end, including the sealer at the 23-minute mark of the final term when he arched his back and beat an Eagles opponent to snap a goal.
Pendlebury was made to earn every minute of his record-breaking game before a crowd of 90,028 people – dominated by the black-and-white army, who chanted his name at the 10-minute mark of the opening term as homage to his No.10.
All players wore gold numbers on their back in a united front, an idea first raised by Pendlebury and later championed by McRae.
Pendlebury admitted after the game that he has been dealing with an ongoing hand injury. It did not help that his first taste of the action was a brutal clash with young bull Harley Reid.
The 21-year-old former No.1 draft pick collected the ball in the centre square and then sent Pendlebury sprawling to the ground with a ruthless “don’t argue” in his 50th game.
”He’s had a great start to his career,” McQualter said of Reid. “He has probably had more scrutiny than most, or anyone, in his first 50 games, just the publicity that comes with being Harley, but I just think he has handled it so well.”
McQualter joked that Reid ran to the bench after fending off Pendlebury, saying, “Did you see me, did you see me?”
“He was pretty happy with that. It’s just what he does. He’s a competitor, and he had a good moment there,” the Eagles coach said.
Not to be outdone, the old warrior squared up two minutes later when he dropped his shoulder and cannoned into Reid, knocking him over the boundary line.
The two-time premiership winner also had to deal with a double tag throughout the match from Willem Duursma and Brady Hough.
“You can’t tell me they haven’t come here today with a mission,” McRae said. “They start tagging ‘Pendles’. They have come here to spoil the party, for want of a better term.
“We had to fight for everything. It was nothing that we didn’t earn. It was all hard fought, which will stand us in good stead.”
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