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It took until dying seconds until they knew it \u2013 but once they did, they let it all out.<\/p>\n
In true Collingwood fashion, there was plenty of swearing \u2013 but it wasn\u2019t laced with aggression. Just pure joy from the black and white army when their side secured premiership number 16 with victory over the Brisbane Lions.<\/p>\n
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Fans celebrate Magpies winning the grand final at the Collingwood fan site at Olympic Park.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Chris Hopkins<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cI feel amazing today, I can\u2019t believe it,\u201d said Tracey Farley, a Collingwood fan of more than 40 years. \u201cIt was heart-wrenching, absolutely heart-wrenching. We have a 7am flight to Tassie tomorrow, we\u2019ll still be up.\u201d<\/p>\n Early Saturday, there was a small earthquake recorded in Melbourne\u2019s north, with a magnitude of 2.2. That was barely a tremor compared to the convulsion that reverberated across the city when the final siren rang.<\/p>\n The epicentre was Collingwood\u2019s training ground at Olympic Park.<\/p>\n The MCG has its blend of neutrals, but the concentration of thousands of Pies fans at the club\u2019s watch party was like 100-proof liquor.<\/p>\n And they\u2019ll be consuming plenty of whatever they can get their hands on after a back-and-forth game that will go down as one of the all-time great grand final tussles.<\/p>\n You could barely breathe in the final quarter, such were the nerves.<\/p>\n Then the tension was released like a giant spring.<\/p>\n They jumped, they ran around, they screamed. The mobile phone network struggled under the load of all the calls, text messages and social media posts.<\/p>\n Olympic Park erupted on the final siren.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Chris Hopkins<\/cite><\/p>\n Raihania Thompson wiped back tears in the moments after the game was over. He doesn\u2019t look like the type of bloke who cries often.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter [the loss in] 2018, this is just … oh my God,\u201d he said, battling for words. \u201cIt was intense. Every goal they kicked we had to respond. It was just … wow. I just love this club.\u201d<\/p>\n They adored Bobby Hill\u2019s game. The small forward only joined the club a year ago, but he\u2019s already a Magpie legend forever.<\/p>\n The mark he took in the second quarter will be on posters in children\u2019s bedrooms for years to come.<\/p>\n \u201cBobby, it has to be Bobby,\u201d said Thompson when asked of his pick for the Norm Smith Medal. At that point Hill was an un-backable favourite, his win confirmed a few minutes later to huge cheers from the black and white.<\/p>\n Then it was time for another rendition of the club chant, you know the one. It goes COOOOOOO-LING-WOOOOOOOOOD.<\/p>\n Gary Robson travelled from Western Australia to see the game. He couldn\u2019t get a ticket but did the next best thing and joined fellow Magpies to watch Collingwood on the big screen.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m 55, you don\u2019t see them [premierships] often,\u201d he said, as he prepared a celebratory cigarette.<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have begrudged Brisbane winning that.\u201d<\/p>\n The definition of confidence?<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Chris Hopkins<\/cite><\/p>\n Danny Robertson, a Pies fan for 59 years, said he felt \u201clike a million bucks\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cCraig McRae \u2013 he\u2019s the man,\u201d Robertson said of the Collingwood coach.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve all bought into what he\u2019s selling. He\u2019s just getting the best out of every single player and then some.<\/p>\n It was all too much for some.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Chris Hopkins<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cThey just kept going forward. How about Pendles [Scott Pendlebury] and Steele [Sidebottom]? That goal was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t all go their way. The game was a topsy-turvy contest, with both teams getting on top at various times. Brisbane could have easily pushed ahead, but fell short.<\/p>\n The Collingwood fans rode each contest, roaring with delight at every goal and screaming \u201cBALLL!\u201d as if the umpires half a kilometre away could hear them.<\/p>\n At three-quarter time, with the result still in the balance, cracks began to appear.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll either be the best or worst day of my life,\u201d said Chris. \u201cI\u2019m about the most stressed I\u2019ve ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n Collingwood has a knack for making grand finals \u2013 but not necessarily winning them. There was very little discussion of what happened in 2018, when West Coast\u2019s Dom Sheed snatched the premiership from the Magpies.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Collingwood will have enough. I feel as if it\u2019s 1990 again, when they went from just losing games to winning them,\u201d said Jenny Bone before the game.<\/p>\n Bone was keeping a close eye on number 23, the one with the surname Hill: \u201cHe\u2019s exciting, when he does something big it doesn\u2019t have to be much. It electrifies the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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