Their finals exit was an opportunity squandered. Their post season function was appalling. Their scratch matches were lifeless. They were missing their best onballer. And their premier forward was unavailable after he hurt his thumb in a toilet door on a bus.
But the GWS Giants brought the heat yesterday and they left Collingwood limping and reeling. Before the game, their coach Adam Kingsley spoke of “violence and aggression,” of straddling the rules of the game, of bringing an intensity and physicality that had been absent in their final practice match. They certainly did that. They hit the Pies hard, closed in on them at high speed and in great numbers, and generally gave them no room to breathe.
