Collingwood have coughed up a win against Hawthorn after Darcy Moore spilled a mark and gave away a free kick in the dying seconds, with Dylan Moore securing a draw for the Hawks on the final siren.
Until Hawthorn’s late escape the efficient Pies looked set for a famous win despite missing Scott Pendlebury, Beau McCreery, Tim Membrey and Jeremy Howe, with Nick Daicos also playing at less than 100 per cent, Harry Perryman (hamstring) out from the second quarter and Darcy Cameron hurt in the second half.
Collingwood kicked 15.3 (93) from just 34 inside 50s while the Hawks had 13.15 (93) from 62 entries. It is the first ever draw between the two sides.
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The final minutes were filled with drama at both ends, starting with Nick Watson missing out on earning what appeared to be a deserved free kick for holding the ball against Billy Frampton.
The Pies’ subsequent foray forward resulted in a Steele Sidebottom goal from a 50m penalty against Cam Mackenzie for ignoring the stand rule — but their seven-point lead wasn’t enough.
Collingwood were just seconds away from the win until Darcy Moore went back with the flight but failed to grasp a tough high ball then collected namesake Dylan Moore around the neck.
Kane Cornes wondered after the “sloppy free kick” whether Darcy Moore would “struggle to sleep tonight — or maybe not, maybe he’s not wired that way” but the premiership captain was clearly furious with himself well after the final siren.
“Not his best moment, that’s what happens when you have interrupted pre-seasons, when you don’t play, it’s your first game back in a long time, you do make those types of errors,” Cornes said.
Dylan Moore said it was “a bit bizarre” to celebrate the draw.
“Feels good, we’ve got two points where it looked like we wouldn’t have any points at all,” he told Channel 7.
“It’s only my second draw. Boys are getting around me (after the goal), it’s like ‘at least one of us can kick straight’.
Asked if he will take it as a win or a loss, Moore was blunt: “Take it as a draw, that’s what it is (laughs).”
Collingwood’s best on ground Dan Houston blamed himself for falling short after kicking two of the Pies’ three behinds on the night.
“My first thought when we lost was usually I’d kick at least one of them,” he told Channel 7 in the rooms.
“I’ll go back to training and work on that.”
Daicos led all players with 34 disposals and a goal despite repeatedly needing treatment from the physio.
“He still had eight inside 50s, six score involvements, eight contested possessions,” Luke Hodge said.
“The issue for him is the workload he’s taken on over the start of the season, and he’s sore. He missed the Brisbane Lions game with a calf. He got through last weekend, he had the 40 touches, he dominated, he won the game for them against Carlton.
“But then tonight he looked proppy. He looked as sore as I’ve seen him run around for a long time, even a few times on the outer side of the ground he hit the deck and took a long time to get up.”
Cornes added: “They might need to give him a spell pretty shortly. They’re pretty good at managing their players … well he’s their most important so they need to look after him.”
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