AFL
ESPN staff and AAP 6y

Eagles stun Magpies to steal thrilling 2018 AFL Grand Final

AFL

West Coast drew on all their heart, head and guts to beat Collingwood by five points in an epic AFL Grand Final.

The Eagles rallied from 29 points down late in the first quarter, and then two goals behind early in the last, to win 11.13 (79) to 11.8 (74) and claim their fourth premiership in front of 100,022 fans at the MCG.

Saturday's belter of a Grand Final was the closest since the 2010 draw between Collingwood and St Kilda.

West Coast led for only nine minutes, but it was enough to exorcise the demons of the 2015 Grand Final shocker against Hawthorn.

With scores level at three-quarter time, Eagles coach Adam Simpson had a simple message for his players.

"We've been having a bit of a theme about head, heart and gut," he said.

"The heart's the love of the game, we all love this game, and the gut is about the last quarter.

"The instructions weren't too much outside of that and I don't know what to feel ... honestly, I'm blown away."

It is Simpson's first flag as a coach and he is the third-straight former Alastair Clarkson assistant from Hawthorn to take his own team to a premiership, following Luke Beveridge (Western Bulldogs) and Damien Hardwick (Richmond).

Luke Shuey won the Norm Smith Medal as best afield, racking up 34 disposals and eight clearances as well as a game-high 19 contested possessions.

With two minutes left and Collingwood leading by two points, Liam Ryan took a big mark on the wing and found Dom Sheed deep in a forward pocket.

Sheed nearly played on, but the Eagles onballer went back and calmly drop punted the match-winning goal.

In the frenetic moments that followed, Eagles forward Jack Darling dropped a sitter of a mark in their goalsquare.

But it did not matter - the ball was rushed through for a behind and Shuey then took the relieving mark that sealed victory.

While it was an echo of Darling's woeful dropped mark in the '15 Grand Final, he was much better this time with six marks in the third term.

The last term was full of high drama, with West Coast missing a string of scoring chances.

West Coast overcame the loss of star players Nic Naitanui (knee reconstruction) and Andrew Gaff (suspension) this season while the flag comes a year after Simpson was under pressure to keep his job.

West Coast's Josh Kennedy and Magpies Jordan De Goey kicked three goals apiece, while Taylor Adams and Tom Langdon were best for Collingwood.

The Magpies were as shattered as the Eagles were jubilant.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley spent several minutes post-match conforting team runner Alex Woodward.

The former Hawthorn player collided with Jaidyn Stephenson at 20 minute in the third term, enabling Elliot Yeo to take an uncontested mark.

Yeo goalled to put the Eagles in front for the first time since early in the first quarter.

Buckley, like Simpson, felt numb post-match.

"Everyone that is saying 'well done' is having to sort of put a rider on it because we didn't get the result," Buckley said.

Collingwood would have equalled Carlton and Essendon with the most AFL premierships on 16 had they won.

Saturday is the latest chapter in the Magpies' torturous history of Grand Final near-misses.

But they lost no friends on Saturday.

They have been outstanding after finishing 13th last season, when Buckley came close to losing his job.

When Collingwood were dominating early, Eagles key defenders Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass were immense.

McGovern starred despite having to go to hospital a week ago because of internal bleeding caused by a hip pointer.

SNAPSHOT OF WEST COAST'S FIVE-POINT AFL GRAND FINAL WIN OVER COLLINGWOOD

* THE STORY: Collingwood got off to a bad start as far as omens are concerned when their banner was ripped to shreds before the players even ran out. But after the ball was bounced it was all black and white. The Pies led by 29 points before taking a 17-point lead into the first break. West Coast worked into the game nicely in a second-term arm wrestle, slicing the margin to two goals at halftime. The Eagles had the better of the third quarter, the scores tied at three-quarter time. The sides traded blows in a pulsating final term before Dom Sheed landed the killer blow.

* THE GOAL: Sheed claimed a vital contested mark with one minute and 45 seconds left on the clock. He was deep in a pocket at the Punt Road End, but calmly slotted a drop punt through to give his side a lead they wouldn't give up.

* THE MOMENT: The Pies clung desperately to a two-point lead when they got a rare inside 50 as the clock ticked down. But Jeremy McGovern rose high to take a trademark intercept mark. Nathan Vardy and Liam Ryan were crucial in a string of play that ended with the ball in Sheed's hands for the last goal of the game.

* THE STAR: Luke Shuey was a popular choice for the Norm Smith Medal. West Coast's star midfielder gathered a game-high 34 possessions, had eight clearances, laid eight tackles, kicked a goal and had five score assists.

* THE QUOTE: "Just try to put it through," Sheed told Channel Seven when asked what was going through his head before his decisive set shot.

"Unbelievable game. We had so many downs the whole year and we proved them wrong and now we get a medal around our necks."

* THE STATS: After conceding the first two goals of the final term, the Eagles attacked in waves. They finished ahead in the inside 50 count 63-48.

* THE INJURIES: Brayden Maynard (Collingwood) was in the wars, copping a shirtfront from Liam Ryan and later injuring a shoulder. Eagles duo Jeremy Howe (ankle) and Jeremy McGovern (hip) were the question marks going into the match but both played well.

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