You just knew he’d stand up.

Five years after producing a finals series that almost lifted the Pies to a premiership, Jordan De Goey topped it all with the game of his life on Friday night.

And now he's got his chance at redemption.

Back in 2018, it was De Goey 12 goals from four games that turned heads.

He kicked three huge majors in that year’s Grand Final and four into the Prelim the week before, as he made his mark in his fourth season.

But in 2023, after having exploded into one of the most damaging midfielders in the game, it was his ball-winning that is putting him above the pack against the Giants, recording 34 disposals and 13 clearances in the thrilling win.

And all this is while being stuck on the bench for the last eight minutes of the game.

Wherever you looked, De Goey was there, recording six touches and three clearances in the first ten minutes of game time.

Bursting out of the centre on a consistent basis, he was responsible for many of the Pies’ forward surges.

At one stage on track to break Nathan Buckley’s record of most clearances in a game by a Collingwood player (15), the 27-year-old wouldn’t relent.

It wasn’t just his possession gathering that had De Goey as the hottest player on the ground, with his pressure and attack on the ball becoming a feature.

Post-match, Collingwood Head Coach Craig McRae was in awe of his star midfielder and said he knew a big game was brewing.

“What a great game from him,” he said.

“I thought he set himself up for the last final unbelievably well, he trained at a level that I thought ‘he’s going to tear the game apart against Melbourne.

“It didn’t really come to that and sometimes you get a bit despondent with that but he just went back to work.

“If you came and watched our match play, he kicked three goals in a quarter on Friday night and he’s just trained so well so that doesn’t surprise me the performance.

“A player of his talent training at that level, he’s set himself up to play that well and when he’s a full flight he’s a weapon isn’t he.”

From the young talent of the 2018 series, to the decision to re-sign with the Club this time last year, De Goey has grown up at Collingwood.

McRae said it was a credit to his continued work ethic to improve himself that help performances like that emerge.

“He’s growing, some take a little bit longer to find who they are we’re really proud of his journey, his growth,” he said.

“We all want to keep growing – people don’t like change. No one likes to change, but people want to grow so we’ll keep using that language around our environment.

“What you’re seeing definitely is a guy that’s growing up.”