As we enter the new year, afl.com.au is looking back at the best matches from 2007. From nailbiters, to all-out goalscoring rampages, we're counting down the 10 most memorable contests from the season past. We'll post a new one each morning, and be sure to check back each afternoon as we count down the best quarters of 2007.
No. 2: West Coast v Collingwood, Second Semi-Final, Subiaco
IT WOULD be an understatement to call it one of the best matches of 2007, one of the great finals, or even one of the most exciting at Subiaco.
The second semi-final of 2007 between Collingwood and West Coast was simply one of the greatest matches in Australian Football.
And when the siren went at the end of the second period of extra-time, Collingwood were still in the hunt for the flag, and the West Coast Eagles, the 2006 premier, were preparing for the off-season.
Both teams had done amazingly well to get to the semi-finals. West Coast had suspended former captain Ben Cousins in the pre-season and then effectively lost captain Chris Judd to a groin injury mid-year, along with dealing with a raft of other injuries, while the Magpies had played the majority of 2007 with the world's smallest backline and no Nathan Buckley, also due to injury.
The first term was one to set the purists’ hearts racing. For the first time ever at Subiaco, West Coast went goalless in the first term, while Collingwood only grabbed one, which came directly from a forced defensive blunder as both teams' relentless aggression allowed no margin for error.
A huge spray from the coaching staff at the first break saw a different looking West Coast in the second term, and an increasing dominance in the ruck enabled the hosts to kick five goals to three and lead by three points at the long break.
Three unanswered goals in 16 minutes pushed the West Coast margin out to a game-high 23 points, but then an answering three, after the 26-minute-mark, to Collingwood – including a brace to Anthony Rocca – left the margin at three-quarter time back at just four points.
The teams traded behinds and then majors in the last term, before behinds to All-Australian full-back Darren Glass and Norm Smith Medallist Andrew Embley got West Coast to the line, but not over it.
Then in 100 seconds of phenomenally intense action in the Magpies forward line there was no score, and thus extra time, for just the second occasion in the game’s history.
A collision at the top of the defensive 50 between two exhausted Eagles let Chris Bryan – a late inclusion for Josh Fraser – kick the only goal in the first extra-time period, and, with West Coast out on their feet and the Magpies almost as gone, two goals in the second stanza sealed it.
The eventual 19-point margin will be the least remembered thing from the evening. The lasting memory will be of two teams fighting tooth and nail for their season until they simply had nothing left to give.
WEST COAST 0.4 5.5 8.9 10.12 10.13 10.14 (74)
COLLINGWOOD 1.5 4.8 6.11 10.12 11.13 13.15 (93)
After one period of extra time
GOALS
Collingwood: A Rocca 3, P Medhurst 2, A Didak 2, D Swan 2, T Cloke, D Thomas, C Bryan, S Pendlebury.
West Coast: D Wirrpanda 2, M Le Cras 2, D Cox, A Embley, C Fletcher, Q Lynch, M Priddis, M Rosa.
BEST
Collingwood: A Didak, P Medhurst, S Pendlebury, D Swan, T Goldsack.
West Coast: D Cox, M Priddis, B Jones, D Chick, D Glass.
INJURIES
Collingwood: J Fraser (back) replaced in selected side by C Byrne, S Burns (ankle)
West Coast: B Waters (hip) replaced in selected side by J McNamara, A Hansen (hamstring)
Reports: None
Umpires: S McBurney, S Ryan, S McInerney.
Crowd: 43,627 at Subiaco Oval, Perth.
