Collingwood coach Craig McRae forecasted a hammer blow to one of his emerging players, in a moment that “changed” the trajectory of Friday night’s agonising loss to Sydney.
The Magpies, who kicked five of the first six goals and restricted the Swans’ corridor use, ultimately fell by six points at the SCG after Sydney stormed home with eight goals to four in the second half.
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In the third quarter, as the tide was starting to turn in the hosts’ favour, Pies ruckman Oscar Steene went down with a devastating knee injury.
Preparing to attack a marking contest against Grundy, the 22-year-old South Australian’s left knee awkwardly buckled underneath him as he went to ground.
McRae said on Friday night that Collingwood feared the worst for Steene, who appeared in serious pain and had to be slowly assisted off the ground.
“It’s not looking good, unfortunately,” the coach told reporters post-game. “The early diagnosis is a full reconstruction.
“We’ll have to get scans to confirm all that. That’s sad. To see what he was capable of against Brodie, who clearly is one of the better ruckmen in the competition, he was really holding his own, and we had a lot of ascendancy from that.
“I think we might have been 16 points up, or close to it, around that time, and then the game changes, because we just have to have the next man up.
“We’ve got Dan McStay, Jack Buller and Ned Long trying, but not many teams can cope when their number-one ruckman goes down against an opponent like Brodie.”
The cruel blow came as Collingwood was already missing first-choice tapster Darcy Cameron due to an ankle issue.
And Grundy certainly exploited the Pies’ lack of a recognised ruckman, finishing with 34 disposals, 47 hitouts, 12 clearances and a goal to win the Goodes-O’Loughlin Medal for best-on-ground.
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Probed on what went wrong against what’s currently the best outfit in the competition, McRae said his spirited side “did a lot right”.
“We turned up tonight with probably the youngest team we’ve put on the park since I’ve been involved,” he said.
“We left with the number one ruckman out, the captain stayed at home, Patrick Lipinski a 150-gamer, and we brought in youth.
“We came up here deliberately tonight to put on a show for ours fans that we want to fight, and that jumper means something when you put it on – it doesn’t matter who wears it.
“I know this game is judged on wins and losses … (but) there’s an opportunity to turn p and play a brand of footy that our fans would be proud of, and I think we did that.”
In the past six matches, the 4-5-1 Pies – once affectionately thought of as the AFL’s close-game masters – have twice lost by a goal and given up a late lead to draw with Hawthorn.
On Friday, the inaccurate Pies kicked 1.7 in a second quarter where the Swans kicked 2.2 to stay within four goals at the main change.
“We lose by a goal, it’s almost (about) moments, isn’t it?” McRae said.
“Someone had a set shot; someone could have snapped a goal. Both teams kicked 15 points; it was tricky conditions.
“I think it’s only the second time this year the Swans haven’t kicked 100 points – we defend the ground well at our best, which gives us an opportunity.
“With that energy and effort and energy that we had tonight, plus defending the ground, we’re going to be in a lot of games.”
There was a moment of curiosity in the fourth quarter when McRae had a few words to former Collingwood ruckman Grundy as he chased a ball over the boundary line.
According to Grundy on Seven, it was along the lines of: “‘G’day old mate’ … it was nothing untoward, the spirit of it … he just bobbed up right then and there, it was good.”
McRae, though, wasn’t quite as revealing post-match.
“I’d love to be able to share, but I can’t share exactly what I said to him,” he said.
“It was all respect, trust me, it was all respect. And I’ve got great respect for what he’s doing.”