1st Qualifying Final
	V
Port Adelaide 14.11 (95)		Collingwood 16.12 (108)

Collingwood has exposed Port Adelaide as the AFL’s biggest finals chokers by producing an upset victory over the Power in the first qualifying final at AAMI Stadium on Friday night.

The Magpies’ stunning 13-point victory – 16.12 (108) to 14.11 (95) – continued Port’s dreadful record in September and at the same time sets Collingwood up for a genuine tilt at its first premiership since 1990.

The Power has now lost all four finals matches it has played since joining the competition in 1997 and for the second successive year has gone down in a final in front of its own fans.

And despite finishing the home and away season on top of the ladder, the Power will now only have home advantage in next week’s semi-final before having to travel - possibly to Brisbane - for the preliminary final.

In fact the Magpies’ finals victory has sent shockwaves through the entire finals draw – and while their win is a disaster for Essendon it is a huge boost to the September campaigns of both Melbourne and the Kangaroos.

That’s because Essendon will now have to travel to Adelaide to face Port in a semi-final next week, provided the Bombers beat West Coast at Colonial Stadium on Saturday.

But in contrast the winner of the Melbourne-Kangaroos elimination final will have home advantage at the MCG again next week against the losers of the Brisbane-Adelaide qualifying final in a knockout semi-final.

However the winner of that match will now enjoy home advantage in the preliminary final instead of having to travel to the MCG.

And that’s because Collingwood will host the other preliminary final at the MCG in a fortnight’s time after producing the biggest upset of the season – and all without injured skipper Nathan Buckley.

Collingwood – which came into the game having lost five of its past eight games and playing in its first finals series in eight years – will now get a week off which will ensure Buckley has overcome his hamstring injury by the time the Magpies next play.

And all that means the Magpies are now a genuine chance of qualifying for their first grand final since 1990 and the joy in the Collingwood camp at the final siren was obvious for all to see.

Even if Buckley had been playing against Port – he would have been hard pressed to have perform as heroically as Paul Licuria, who produced one of the greatest finals performances imaginable.

Licuria – opposed to Port star Josh Francou who is one of the favourites for this year’s Brownlow – amassed a staggering 40 possessions as he continually surged the gallant Magpies forward.

It was one of the most inspirational performances imaginable and he was well supported by the likes of Shane O’Bree, Scott Burns and Ryan Lonie as the Magpies dominated the all-important midfield battles.

And Collingwood’s defence was simply magnificent as the Pies led this game from start to finish much to the shock of a pro and disappointing hometown crowd of only 33,000.

Young key defender Jason Cloke defied his tender years to dominate at centre-half-back while Simon Prestigiacomo was magnificent in keeping Warren Tredrea goalless.

In fact big question marks now hang over Tredrea’s ability to perform under the finals pressure after he also disappointed in last year’s September campaign – when Port was knocked out in straight sets.

However Tredrea is not on his own there, with Port showing a total inability to handle the increased tempo of finals yet again as the Magpies simply pressured them out of their normal free-flowing game all night.

And Collingwood’s win was even better considering that not only was it achieved interstate but it came on the back of some poor recent form.

And even the Magpies’ much-vaunted attack did not really dominate with Josh Fraser unsighted and Anthony Rocca and Chris Tarrant both struggling to break the close attention of Stephen Paxman and Matthew Bishop respectively.

But the Pies’ small forwards were superb with Leon Davis kicking three – including the goal which sealed victory in the dying seconds – while Nick Davis and Rupert Betheras each kicked two as did Rocca and Lonie.

However even their efforts paled in comparison with the courageous Licuria, who was not only clearly best afield but produced one of the greatest individual finals performances of recent years.

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