It has been a relatively rare occurrence for Collingwood and Essendon to square off a week before the finals. Since the inception of the VFL in 1897, the fixture has seen the Magpies and the Bombers play in the final round on 15 occasions.
Collingwood has won nine of those final round contests; Essendon has won five, while there was a draw in 1961 - one of only four draws between the two sides.
The last time the teams met in the final round was on August 29, in round 22 of the 2003 season. The match was significant in a few different ways and is recalled fondly by Collingwood supporters for what happened that night, but also for the promise of what September might have been capable of producing.
That Friday night clash was played out before the biggest home-and-away crowd of the season - 68,381 fans - which was almost a thousand more than the Anzac Day clash four months earlier. It must be remembered that the MCG was at a reduced capacity at the time, with the Ponsford Stand under redevelopment.
Unlike this year, Collingwood and Essendon were both locked into the finals that season. This year the Bombers have missed out after a blistering start was shaken by inconsistent form and injuries, while the Magpies are still chasing a spot in the top four with this week’s game of key importance to their premiership aspirations.
The importance of that game in 2003 came from the fact that Collingwood needed to win to guarantee a top two spot and an all-important home final. A loss for Essendon meant it was going to be headed into a cut-throat elimination final on the road.
On a purely personal level, although Buckley would never have acknowledged it at the time, that final round game against Essendon - the 225th of his career - would prove critical to him winning the Brownlow Medal that year.
Buckley would receive one vote for his 27-possession, two-goal effort against the Bombers. The other votes went to previous Brownlow winners - three votes went to then-Collingwood player and the winner of the Medal in 2000, Shane Woewodin, and two votes went to Hird, who had won the award back in 1996.
That solitary vote - the 22nd vote Buckley would receive from the umpires that year - would be enough for him to win the Brownlow Medal three-and-a-bit weeks after that Essendon game, equal with Adelaide’s Mark Ricciuto and Sydney’s Adam Goodes.
Ricciuto also polled one vote in that last round; Goodes scored two, bringing a three-way tie for football’s highest individual honour.
Collingwood’s week leading into that round 22 clash was anything but ideal. Yes, the club had won eight of their previous nine games - broken only by a round 19 loss to Brisbane - but the club had become embroiled in a controversial tribunal ruling when Brodie Holland was up on a charge of striking former Magpie-turned Swan Paul Williams in an off-the-play incident. Critics cried out for a lengthier penalty, but Collingwood united behind Holland when he was banned for two matches.
Essendon had also won eight of its past nine games, with Kevin Sheedy talking up the big clash: “Tomorrow night’s Hot August Night. You put Neil Diamond out there, and let’s go for it.”
Mick Malthouse signalled his intentions of going for an injection of youth in order to try and bring about the demise of Essendon.
One of three players the Collingwood coach brought into the side for the game was a slightly wayward, stocky 19-year-old without a hint of artwork on his arms. He was playing his third game. He had played in rounds 13 and round 16, but hadn’t kept his place in the side. No one knew it at the time - and no one would have suspected it with his six touches from this game - but the kid would be Collingwood’s next Brownlow Medal winner after Buckley. His name was Dane Swan.
Collingwood’s team had only four players 27 and over - Buckley, 31, Scott Burns, 28, Shane Wakelin, 29, and Woewodin, 27. Almost half the side - or eight at least - were 21 and under, including Swan, Alan Didak, 20, Matthew Lokan, 20, Ryan Lonie, 20, Rhyce Shaw, 20, Richard Cole, 20, Josh Fraser, 21 and Jason Cloke, 21.
If Magpies supporters these days might forget just how good a player Fraser was in his early days in black and white, all they need do is bring out the video (or DVD) of this match as a reminder. The 1999 No.1 draft pick was outstanding working tirelessly in the ruck and kicking one of the most important goals of the game when it was in the balance.
The umpires might not have agreed, failing to give him a vote in the Brownlow for the game, but most media outlets had him as the clear best afield with his 20 touches, 24 hitouts and one goal standing out in his 87th game for the club.
One newspaper summed it up: “(Fraser) put his hand up to light the way. It wasn’t anything spectacular. Not a towering mark or booming goal. Rather the quick thinking of a ruckman far more advanced than his experience.”
For a time Buckley was tagged by Damien Peverill and Hird was shadowed by James Clement, before Sheedy threw his skipper into the middle of the ground and it led to a pairing of Buckley and Hird for a period of time, which thrilled the crowd.
Woewodin played one of his best matches for Collingwood, earning his fourth three-vote performance from umpires for the season, as he tried to silence the critics who claimed that he didn’t perform when the heat was at its highest.
After the match, he said: “I suppose in the past, I haven’t really delivered in the big games. But it was just good to get out there and get amongst it, get a few kicks and tackles, and get a bit dirty, really.”
That’s what Collingwood did in the opening term, racking up three goals to one in the opening term, setting up a two-goal lead at the first change.
Collingwood looked to have reasonable control on the game for the greater part of the second term. With Jason Cloke taking plenty of marks in the second term to repel a number of Essendon moves forward, and the midfielders on top, it seemed as if the Magpies were well placed to gain a firm foothold on the game.
Woewodin kicked his first goal of the game at the 19-minute-mark of the second term to put the Magpies 13 points ahead, but that invoked a fight back from the Bombers - at least for the remainder of the quarter. Three Bomber goals followed in the last nine minutes of the term, including a soccer goal from Matthew Lloyd. It was enough to give the Essendon side a narrow lead going into the half-time break.
Malthouse said: "I wasn't disappointed with the position we were in, given the last five minutes of the second quarter, when we had a two-goal lead, and they came back and actually led us by a goal."
But there were more worries for Collingwood and the coach. At the five-minute-mark of the third term, a groin injury suffered by Shane Wakelin forced him from the ground and left Malthouse with a dilemma for Lloyd. Fortunately, once again, Clement was more than up to the challenge.
Malthouse said: "I was extremely pleased we were able to cover for 'Wakes', who had done a terrific job early on Lloyd.’ Jimmy' (Clement) jumped back and held up his end and (he and) other players were able to cover for him."
Collingwood regained the lead within two minutes of resumption when Scott Burns goalled but it jumped back and forward for a period of time as the two teams traded goal for goal. But, importantly, the Magpies were able to claim the last two of the third term - against a swirling wind.
One of them came from Woewodin. It was set up from a kick-in from Dustin Fletcher, which got caught in a pocket of the wild wind and dipped "like an out of control missile", according to one source. It landed in Woey's arms and he made no mistake in kicking the goal.
Collingwood held on grimly to a six-point lead at three quarter-time, but with the wind at its back, the Magpies were confident of bringing the game home with a win.
And that's how it panned out, although there were a few tense moments in the final term.
It was Fraser who made the statement that needed to be made.
With 20 minutes left to play, the young ruckman kicked what was described as "a team-lifting goal." From a boundary throw-in, he had the ingenuity to grab the ball and throw it onto his boot. It sailed through the goals to make it 11 points.
Essendon's Ben Haynes got one back, just to keep the Magpie fans on edge.
But two goals to close out the game from Anthony Rocca and Chris Tarrant won the day for Collingwood.
Rocca's goal came after he was able to grasp a ball that had slipped through Scott Lucas' touch. Then, four minutes later, at the 22-minute-mark of the last term, Tarrant took a strong mark, with Mark Johnson giving him some attention after he had crashed to the turf.
Tarrant simply got up, dusted himself off and slotted a strong goal from 50m to "ice" the game.
The Magpies would go on to win the match by 16 points.
It was a tough struggle, but the win had secured a top two finish and a home final. And it would help to secure the Brownlow Medal for Buckley, who deserved it in what was his 10th season in black and white.
After the game Malthouse dared to dream of just how far this Collingwood side could go into September after the club had finished runner-up the year before.
"What's behind you is behind you," he said at the time. "We'll go in with confidence, that's terrific, but it doesn't win you games of footy."
Collingwood would beat Brisbane the following week in a Qualifying Final and Port Adelaide in a Preliminary Final before being outmuscled and outplayed by the Lions, who secured their three-peat of premierships (2001-03).
Let's hope for a different result this season as Buckley leads the Magpies in his first finals series as a coach.
