‘Head was racing’: Inside those two epic GF moments that sealed Pies’ flag

As Brayden Maynard recounted after Charlie Cameron’s late goal in the 2023 Grand Final, “I remember going into my own head.”

You sense a few of his Collingwood teammates might’ve done the same.

Of course, only five years prior, roughly half the Magpies side had suffered the most heartbreaking of losses in the 2018 decider after Dom Sheed’s iconic match winner in the dying minutes sank Collingwood hearts. Sheed had marked it right in front of Maynard, who, depending on who you ask, may or may not have been blocked by Willie Rioli.

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And so it was a feeling of deja vu for the Pies star after Cameron pushed off Maynard in a one-on-one contest to put the Lions ahead by two points with five and half minutes remaining.

“I thought: ‘Oh god, not again, I haven’t stuffed this up again for the second time, have I?,” Maynard recounted on Fox Footy’s Collingwood 2023 Grand Final recall, which airs at 7.30pm on Tuesday night.

“When he kicked that goal, I just remember going into my own head.”

History however wouldn’t repeat itself as Collingwood went on to win one of the most enthralling grand finals of the modern era, in large thanks to two particular moments entrenched in black and white folklore forever.

As Scott Pendlebury put it, this Magpies outfit, which had won an unprecedented amount of close games over the last two seasons under Craig McRae, were well equipped for the situation.

“When they kicked that goal I think a few of the guys from 2018 might have had some flashbacks. But the amount of work we’ve done with our psych Jacqui (Louder) to embrace these occasions,” the Collingwood champion said on Fox Footy.

The Pies got an instant response.

Collingwood won the next clearance to set up what will go down as one of the most famous plays in club history. Nick Daicos flicked a no-look handball to Jordan De Goey, who nailed a long bomb across his body from outside 50 to put the Pies ahead again with a little over five minutes until the final siren.

Brisbane’s lead lasted just 21 seconds of game time.

“I noticed both sides didn’t have the five-minute boards up, so I knew we had some time up our sleeve,” Pendlebury recalled ahead of the De Goey goal.

“ I said to Nick and Jordy: ‘We don’t need a goal straight away.’ Then they go do that, I said: ‘That will work as well boys’.

Second-year breakout superstar Daicos admitted his “head was racing” after Cameron’s goal as doubt crept in, acknowledging “that’s the benefit of having experienced players around us”.

“I think it did help obviously getting a goal back straight away just to calm everyone, the longer it had’ve gone without equalising one back would’ve probably been a little bit tense,” Daicos said.

Of his handball assist to De Goey, Daicos said: “Jordy keeps telling everyone it was behind his head, but I tell him it put him into momentum to do the pirouette and kick the goal. We’re stuck on that point, but happy with the outcome.”

De Goey added with a laugh: “I’ve been getting treatment on my neck the last few months actually because of that!,” before adding: “But nah, that whole play was just unbelievable.

“For Nick to be able to listen to me and trust me when I’m yelling out: ‘On your right’. He doesn’t even look and gives it, you need those special players around you to be able to do that.

“I couldn’t have kicked it any better. I don’t think the goal umpire moves.”

But there was still five minutes to play – and the Lions weren’t going to lie down.

So when Pendlebury looked over to the bench, McRae didn’t want his side to go into defence mode and try and save the lead. The Collingwood coach wanted another goal.

“Traditionally we put the sign up to shut the game down a little bit and I noticed the sign hadn’t changed from the mode we were already in.” Pendlebury said.

“So I was sort of pointing to ‘Fly’ (McRae): ‘Are we changing?’ He sort of bangs pretty physically the sign like: ‘Nah, I want another one. One more to shut this game down’.”

It led to another iconic Magpies moment, where Steele Sidebottom received a 50m penalty and flushed the most unlikely of long-range goals from a set shot from well beyond 50m.

De Goey said Sidebottom added “another 10 metres” to the distance after every beer in the post-match celebrations, while Sidebottom himself noted he’s “never hit it sweeter”.

“It’s amazing what a little bit of adrenaline can do going through your body. I’ve probably never kicked a footy that far in me life!,” Sidebottom said.

“For me to get that distance, I had to arc out a little bit. I’ve never hit it sweeter. Even the way I’ve kicked that footy, you can watch every kick I’ve ever had and it would never look exactly like that. It’s pretty cool to watch back.”

Sidebottom flippantly added: “It was about 80m I think.”

It set up wild scenes post-match where the black and white army celebrated harder than any of their epic close wins over the last two years after claiming sweet premiership number 16.

During the celebratory lap around the MCG, Collingwood skipper Darcy Moore recalled feeling “totally in the moment” – not thinking about “what’s next” – while Maynard said: “I just want to do it again so, so badly because it’s such a euphoric feeling.”

McRae meanwhile paid tribute to the fans, appreciating how much it meant to them.

“You look at the joy on people’s faces … we’re lucky enough to do what we do, but these fans have been incredible for us,” he said.

“I don’t lose sight of the smiles and the joys and tears. I’ve heard many stories of what this means to a lot of people.

“We’re just happy we can make people’s dreams come true.”

Watch Collingwood’s 2023 Grand Final recall in full on Fox Footy – where Anthony Hudson reminisces on all the big moments with a host of premiership stars – from 7.30pm on Tuesday night.