With the dust finally starting to settle on Collingwood's nail-biting four-point win over Essendon on Sunday, Magpies skipper Scott Pendlebury has detailed how the last minute unfolded on-field.
With Essendon leading by just one point with just over a minute to go, young Bomber Harrison Jones missed a set shot at goal to give the Magpies back possession of the ball. From there, the Pies quickly took the game on, working the ball down to Jamie Elliott who took a mark inside 50 and slotted a goal after the siren.
Appearing on Triple M's Marty Sheargold Show, Pendlebury revealed that while the last 40 seconds wasn't a set play from the Collingwood coaching team, he and Darcy Moore decided to take the game on from the backline.
"We spoke really quickly, but I just said to Darce (Moore): ‘If he kicks a point here, take off down the middle, but if you see a gap left or right just shoot off’," Pendlebury said
"Most people think in this situation you're going to get it, you're going to play on, you're going to kick it as far as you can down the middle.
"I reckon there was 24 players standing in the middle of the ground.
"It was Darcy's call, I just said: 'run, go left or right', and Darcy's probably the quickest guy in our side. He had Peter Wright sort of trying to chase him, but you're not going to catch him.
"Darcy made the decision to go left, it was a really easy kick for me to hit and then he took off and then Trent got out the back, and then 'Billy' got out the back and we moved the ball really quickly. We didn't want to be the side who just goes 'oh we'll boot it up the middle and hope someone takes a big pack mark amongst 24 people.'"
Elliott's post-siren winner extended the Magpies' winning streak to nine games with just four rounds remaining in the home and away season. Incredibly, the four-point victory is just one of eight matches the Pies have won by eleven points or less so far in 2022.