Collingwood answered its finals critics with a pulsating 13-point victory over West Coast to secure a preliminary final showdown with Sydney next week.
Clutch goals by Tyson Goldsack and Dane Swan combined with some determined final-quarter defence helped the Magpies hang on for a nail-biting 10.13 (73) to 9.6 (60) triumph at a heaving MCG.
Next Saturday night's showdown with the Swans at the Olympic stadium, a venue where Collingwood has won its last seven matches, will be the fourth straight season the Magpies have made the final four.
And despite losing their first final to flag favourite Hawthorn by 33 points, the Magpies' big guns again proved on Saturday night they are far from a spent force in September.
Ben Reid was immense leading a magnificent effort by the Collingwood defence in the absence of skipper Nick Maxwell and against arguably the biggest and strongest forward line in the competition.
Along with the likes of Heath Shaw and Harry O'Brien, Reid feasted on West Coast's poor forward supply with 10 marks in a best-on-ground performance.
Central to Collingwood's defensive superiority was a vintage display by the Magpies midfield, with stand-in skipper Scott Pendlebury (29 disposals) leading the way with his silky skills together with Dayne Beams, who topped the possession count with 30 touches and seven tackles.
Midfielder Dale Thomas, the catalyst for Collingwood's second-half surge, said the message has been simple and unwavering from coach Nathan Buckley.
"If you bring that effort and that want and desire, you will be in the game long enough to give yourself a chance to win it," Thomas told Grandstand.
"And we took enough opportunities tonight and won the game."
Goldsack said the victory was made all the more emotional by the sudden and tragic death of former team-mate John McCarthy during the week.
"A the start of the week it was hard coming to terms with the fact that it happened," he told Grandstand.
"Today it was more, as a team wearing the same jumper, honouring J-Mac and the fact he wore the jumper for four years.
"You try to do it fo him, but you do it for your team-mates more so.
"You just have it in the back of your mind and you just try and do your best for him."
Daniel Kerr (29 possessions) almost single-handedly dragged West Coast over the line with a warrior-like effort in the clinches for the Eagles, perhaps inspiring fellow veteran Alan Didak to his best outing this season on the biggest stage.
Improved displays by Sharrod Wellingham (eight tackles) and Thomas, whose three goals in seven minutes at the start of the third term gave the Magpies their first lead, put the Eagles under pressure after a lightning start.
The visitors kicked the first four goals of the game, while it took the Magpies 21 minutes into the first term to register their first major from the unlikely boot of O'Brien.
The Pies' first goal could arguably have come earlier only for Andrew Krakouer to be denied by a controversial umpire referral decision, that ruled the ball had already crossed the goal-line for a behind.
Collingwood eventually whittled down the lead to nine points by quarter-time before the two teams duked out one the most intense quarters of football all season.
"You know you're not going to get all five goals back in five minutes, you have to wrestle it back," Thomas said of the Magpies' approach to playing from behind.
"It was about getting the scoreboard respectable at quarter-time so we weren't blown out of the water.
"We didn't just swing the momentum in one instance, we just chipped away and knew it was going to happen.
"That belief is throughout the whole group."
The second term featured just one goal each, separated by 22 minutes of uncompromising attack on the footy, with West Coast emerging with an 11-point half-time lead.
The Magpies were wasteful with their errant kicking into and inside 50 before the main break, but eventually took advantage with their first lead of the game.
The explosive Thomas, rebounding from a poor outing against the Hawks last week, kicked three straight goals to have the black and white faithful in raptures and Collingwood into an eight-point advantage.
Despite a terrific boundary-line effort from Jarryd Blair, a goal from Jack Darling on the three-quarter time siren put the Eagles within two straight kicks of the Magpies.
Nic Naitanui and Josh Kennedy's produced exactly that and gave the visitors a two-point lead early in the fourth quarter only for Collingwood to answer again through Goldsack and the influential Swan (29 touches, two goals).
The Pies held onto the two-goal advantage for the better part of 15 minutes as the Eagles, coming off just a six-day break to Collingwood's eight, ran out of legs and ideas going forward.
After booting four goals in the opening 17 minutes, West Coast could only manage four majors, and nine scoring shots, for the remainder of a taxing contest.
"The game was on the line with 10 minutes to go," Eagles coach John Worsfold said post match.
"There was a real fine line, a couple of things went their way not our way.
"Whether it was a bounce of a ball or... ball almost out and we were away versus them getting it and they grabbed that opportunity right at that time and gave them enough of a lead."
Magpies: 10.13 (73) - D Thomas 3, S Swan 2, T Goldsack, D Jolly, J Blair, H O'Brien, S Pendlebury.
Eagles: 9.6 (60) - J Darling 2, J Hill 2, D Cox, J Kennedy, D Kerr, P McGinninty, N Naitanui.
Tags: australian-football-league, sport, melbourne-3000, vic, australia, collingwood-3066, perth-6000, wa First posted September 15, 2012 22:25:25
