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Greater Western Sydney has qualified for its first AFL grand final with a heartstopping four-point win over Collingwood in their preliminary final at the MCG.
Missing four of their top players going into the game, and having their best defender, skipper Phil Davis severely hampered for most of the match, the Giants outpressured the Pies for much of the match.
Five unanswered goals in the third term left GWS in control, and the margin was out to 33 points shortly after Jeremy Cameron kicked his third of the day early in the final quarter.
But Collingwood hit back with a string of goals — including a controversial major to Josh Thomas that looked to be touched off the boot by GWS — that brought the lead back to less than one straight kick deep in time on.
However the Giants held on in an intense finale to win 8.8 (56) to 7.10 (52), and they will take on hot favourites Richmond in next Saturday's decider.
There were 77,828 fans at headquarters for the prelim, and all but a few thousand were supporting the Pies.
The match followed a week of controversy over the suspension of Toby Greene, the challenge at the tribunal and the failure of a last-ditch appeal by the Giants.
When Davis injured his calf in the third minute of the prelim final, it looked like GWS was cursed.
The skipper went off for attention, then returned to the game only to wrench his right shoulder attempting a tackle.
He went off the ground again, and when he came back he spent the vast majority of the match at full-forward.
As rain made the conditions difficult to control the football, goals were at a premium.
In the first half the Giants struggled to take advantage of their superiority in a number of areas.
GWS had 10 more inside 50s, a clear advantage in contested possessions and clearances, but the score was 3.2 (20) to 2.5 (17) to Collingwood at the main break.
The third term saw the Giants make their move, as they booted 5.2 to 0.3, and the tension mounted in the Magpies-dominated stands at the MCG.
However when Collingwood produced the big final quarter comeback, there was a feeling of inevitability as the Giants tried desperately to avoid another painful prelim loss to go with 2016's defeat by the Western Bulldogs and 2017's season-ender against the Tigers.
The goal to Thomas — a snap out of the pack from 20 metres out — was originally called a goal, then despite replays showing a Giants defender's fingers bending back, it was given the all-clear.
The final minutes were ferocious, as Collingwood tried desperately to get the go-ahead score, but the Giants' back six stood up to ensure their team hung on.
Collingwood had chances — Ben Reid missed from a set-shot, Chris Mayne had a goal ruled out on review, and then Taylor Adams hit the post.
One last attack from the Pies saw the ball pumped high towards the goalsquare.
A Giants defender opted to punch rather than take a mark, and players scrambled for the ball, but Daniel Lloyd handballed it out and a final clearing kick from GWS was smothered over the boundary line as the siren sounded.
The black and white half of the MCG went silent, as Giants' players celebrated the biggest moment in the club's short history.
Sam Taylor, Nick Haynes and Lachlan Keeffe were particularly strong at the back, despite the extra pressure from Davis' absence for much of the game.
It was a strong coaching performance from GWS' Leon Cameron, as Collingwood's expected stars like Steele Sidebottom (16 disposals), Scott Pendlebury (18 disposals) and Adam Treloar (22 disposals) found it hard to get clear.
Matt De Boer on Pendlebury and Harry Perryman on Sidebottom both played brilliant lock-down football to nullify the stars.
Brodie Grundy was dominant as expected in the ruck over Shane Mumford, but it did not translate to a game-winning advantage in inside 50s.
For Collingwood it was a crushing end to the season, after the Pies had seemed to have all the momentum when they snatched a top-four spot after round 23, then beat Geelong to set up a home prelim.
A second grand final in as many years appeared well in reach, but now the Pies will have the next few months to wonder what might have been.
Having defied the odds to get to the grand final, GWS will now get Greene back from suspension, and Lachie Whitfield — who missed the prelim after undergoing an appendectomy in hospital — will be a chance to return.
The other possible addition is gun midfielder Stephen Coniglio, who has missed nine games with knee problems, but will be given every chance to make it next weekend.
Topics: australian-football-league, sport, australia, vic, collingwood-3066, nsw, homebush-2140, melbourne-3000
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