Nick Maxwell's retirement has left a glaring hole in the stability of Collingwood's back six. Youngsters Jack Frost and Lachie Keeffe have battled manfully this season, in the absence of Nathan Brown, but they faced some intense pressure from the tall Adelaide forward line on Sunday night. The task looked like proving too much when Collingwood's 'Mr Fix it' Tyson Goldsack was forced to line up on Josh Jenkins or James Podsiadly at times. The backline's frailties were eventually exposed, as Jenkins, Podsiadly and Taylor Walker managed to get on top in the end. Walker finished with three majors and Podsiadly one, as the Crows forwards took the points against a gallant Magpie defence.

 

If you told Nathan Buckley in February Ben Reid would be playing his first AFL game of the season in round 18, the Magpies coach would have been thinking you were having a laugh. But that was the scenario facing the Magpies swingman, whose season has been derailed by a calf strain in a pre-season game against Gold Coast on March 2. A nicked quad at training and a car accident only added to the feeling he must have walked under a ladder holding a black cat. It was an unremarkable comeback from Reid, as the key Magpie struggled to impose himself on the game. He finished with nine touches and zero goals. But it was to be expected with the amount of footy Reid has missed.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire labeled it an "awkward timeslot" and there were plenty of others criticising the AFL's decision to schedule the game at 4.40pm on Sunday evening. As the standalone game on Sunday, even AFL chief Gillon McLachlan admitted during the week he would have done things differently with the fixture if the League had its time again. A crowd of 41,482 showed up at the MCG, down on the Melbourne Cricket Club's estimation of 48,000 prior to the match. The game turned out a cracker, but there is a clear argument more fans would have shown up had the game been held during the day.

 

When Scott Thompson was ruled out before the game with a hamstring strain, Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson could have been forgiven for being a little worried. The reason being Thompson had not missed a game under his coaching reign at the Crows. But luckily for Sanderson, there was another big-bodied midfielder ready to step into the void. That player was the 20-year-old Brad Crouch who set the ascendancy around the stoppages all game long, working himself to the brink of exhaustion to collect 25 touches and six clearances in a significant match-defining role.

 

Both teams knew exactly what was on the line in the lead up to Sunday night's clash at the MCG. A Collingwood win would cement it one game clear of Gold Coast in the eight; a Crows win and the pride of South Australia would leapfrog their adversaries into the top eight. Magpies coach Nathan Buckley made reference to the fact the game was a mini-final in a team meeting, while Crows counterpart Brenton Sanderson acknowledged the 'eight-point game' cliché. With the game on the line in the last quarter, it was the Crows who coped with the pressure best as they ran out 16-point victors and with their necks inside the top eight.