Collingwood scraped through to the AFL grand final with a stunning final-quarter surge to topple Hawthorn by three points in one of the most thrilling preliminary finals ever at the MCG.
The Magpies were below their best for much of the contest, trailing by 17 points at three-quarter time before calling on their fresh All Australian stars to lift them to a memorable 10. 8 (68) to 9.11 (65) victory and set up a final with either Geelong or West Coast.
In the dying minutes of a hotly-contest last term, Luke Ball kicked the sealer for the second time in two finals matches for Collingwood, just moments after Lance Franklin had Hawks fans going ballistic with a freak goal from the boundary that handed Hawthorn the advantage.
"When Buddy kicked that miraculous goal in the pocket I thought it was all over," Leon Davis told Grandstand.
"To the boys' credit, they kept fighting and Bally got a goal after that to put us in front.
"We got the win and can look forward to next week."
Collingwood superstars Dane Swan, Scott Pendlebury, Travis Cloke and Davis all stood up with amazing efforts in the final term, while their All Australian team-mate Dale Thomas overcame a uncharacteristically poor match to lay a telling tackle on Cyril Rioli to halt a final Hawks rebound.
Cloke and his forward partner Chris Dawes kicked three goals each while Swan and Pendlebury led the possession counts with 32 valuable touches apiece.
Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge were all terrific for the injury-battered Hawks, while Franklin booted three goals.
Collingwood will carry a host of worries through to next week's decider, with centre half back Ben Reid (quad) and ruckman Darren Jolly (groin) the biggest concerns after both were forced to play through injuries.
The Magpies, who trailed by as much as 21 points in the third quarter, clearly benefitted from the week off as their fresher legs kicked five majors in the breathless fourth term - double their return up to three-quarter time.
Dawes and Davis booted back-to-back goals early in the fourth to narrow the margin to four points before Hodge's heroic mark and goal gave the gasping Hawks some breathing room.
But it would not last as Swan snapped truly from the pocket before Cloke followed in Hodge's lead to give Collingwood its first lead since late in the opening quarter.
Franklin, hampered by a stomach bug during the week, then seemingly entered finals folk lore with his amazing display of speed, composure and precision to notch a goal worthy of winning any final only for Ball to have the final say from a stoppage.
An emotional Mick Malthouse was in tears following the final siren, his Collingwood charges presenting him with the chance to bow out with a fourth premiership as a coach.
"I'm hopeless. I'm too old for it, or too soft for it, all I want to do is cry," a now smiling Malthouse told Channel Seven.
Malthouse said he felt sorry for the Hawks but credited his veteran players on towing the team to victory when they looked down and out.
"The leaders to a man stood tall and got followers in the end - players following them into the right methodology, and handing the pressure a bit better than they did earlier," he said.
"They never got away from us Hawthorn... we didn't play well but we didn't let them get away.
"We just kept that little bit in touch, I think we only needed that sniff.
"You find something special, finals football is about heroics, both sides, and somewhere or another there is always something that gets dragged out.
"And we were very, very happy to have it dragged out of us at the right time."
While Collingwood, led by the irrepressible Swan at the stoppages, hunted the ball in numbers late on, the tenacious Hawks fell agonisingly short after expending a tremendous amount of energy in a dominant opening half.
Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson cut a contrasting figure to his counterpart at the siren, punching the dugout as he recognised a "golden opportunity" slip.
"We had a plan and we executed it for the best part of the game," he told Seven.
"A big part of that plan was be harder and tougher for longer periods of the game than what Collingwood was and we just couldn't do it in the end.
"We had a grand final berth just sitting in the palm of our hands for the bulk of the night and we let a golden opportunity slip and we are really disappointed in ourselves."
Clarkson said Hawthorn will ultimately rue its inability to convert a glut of chances on goal for not pulling away from the nervy Magpies in the first half.
The Hawks' path to goal became a lot more difficult late in the contest as Collingwood closed down across half-back and limited its tired opponent's chances of connecting with forward targets inside 50.
Collingwood: 10.8 (68) - C Dawes 3, T Cloke 3, D Jolly, D Swan, L Ball, L Davis.
Hawthorn: 9.11 (65) - L Franklin 3, B Guerra, C Rioli, J Lewis, L Hodge, P Puopolo, S Mitchell.
Tags: australian-football-league, sport, hawthorn-3122, vic, australia, collingwood-3066 First posted September 23, 2011 22:27:58