A POST-MATCH disagreement between Melbourne leaders Max Gawn and Steven May was nothing more than two passionate teammates processing the one-point loss, according to coach Simon Goodwin.
With the game up for grabs, Gawn had an opportunity to kick-start one last run for Melbourne with around 35 seconds remaining, but his kick from defence to the open side skewed wider than planned, falling into the waiting arms of Collingwood's Will Hoskin-Elliott.
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May came up to Gawn post-siren and shared some words, the skipper screwing up his face and pushing the key back away, while 27-gamer Daniel Turner attempted to defuse the situation.
Post-match Gawn said it was all a little unclear exactly what had transpired.
"We just both want to win and I'm not exactly sure what actually happened - it was very loud with the crowd and what-not," Gawn said.
"But we both want to win and it was a very disappointing last 30 seconds in the way it played out.
"Maysey just wants to win and he holds us all to high standards. It was too loud for me to even know.
"I didn't realise the cameras were on us but it obviously was caught. Is that play genuinely going to get us a win? It's a pretty tough place to get us a goal."
Goodwin explained the confrontation as being due to the competitive nature of the two star Demons.
"[Just] two competitors that are frustrated, two leaders that got an incredibly strong relationship, that are obviously disappointed with the outcome," Goodwin said.
"But as I've spoken to the whole group about, yeah, be disappointed with the outcome, but keep working on the things that'll keep making us better. They've moved on already. They're in [the rooms] having a good chat about it. And yeah, they've moved on pretty quickly.
"Obviously, it didn't quite come off the boot the way we would have liked. But, you know, they're the decisions you make with 45 seconds to go. I thought the whole last quarter was filled with moments, and moments that they probably just got that one or two better than us on the day, and were able to maximise those opportunities.
"People look at that kick, but you know, you're deep inside your last 15 metres, and you're trying to create something for the team. I certainly understand the thought process, it was just a bit of execution."
Far from being despondent about the last-gasp loss, Goodwin was upbeat with his team's performance against the ladder-leaders.
"First up, it was a cracking game of footy and credit to Collingwood for getting the result on what is a pretty special day, obviously, for the Big Freeze, for MND, for Neale [Daniher]," Goodwin said.
"It was a very special day for not only our footy club, but for, I think, for everyone in football. And I think the game matched it. It was a cracking game of footy, and unfortunately, someone's got to come out on the receiving end, and that's us today.
"But, you know, there's lot to like. I thought we played like winners all day. I thought we hung in there and continued to play our way for as long as we could, and we just fell short."
Collingwood coach Craig McRae was equally moved by the pre-match celebrations, which culminated in the players, coaches and umpires forming a guard of honour for Daniher.
"Before the game, that was a moment that was, I don't know – I was lucky enough to be here when EJ Whitten did his final lap. And I'll never forget that, where I was when I saw that, and today, I'll never forget where I was when I saw Neale do his lap of honour, he's an incredible human being," McRae said.
"The game itself, it was scrappy, it was winter footy, but I think you would somewhat be happy with the game, with the result.
"I thought [Melbourne] were enormous, they played so well. They're probably in there thinking they let one slip, because all the numbers suggest they dominated phases of the game, particularly the contest. I thought the contest was enormous.
"We found a way to win. We did, and that's what we're doing at the moment. We're in this phase of qualifying, like there's no other thing we're doing right now. There's no bigger outcome than just getting enough wins to play finals, and we're all in the same [boat]. And today was a really good result because the opposition were very, very good."
Melbourne opted to utilise winger Ed Langdon as a tagger against the dangerous Nick Daicos. While the Dees chose to keep its ball-winning balance at the centre bounces, letting Daicos go, Langdon would pick the Pie up after the stoppage, leaving him with the slightly lopsided numbers of 19 disposals and eight clearances.
"He did a really good job. I said before the game, this is what makes this competition so difficult – you want to do things, and today they took things away from us, and they did it really well," McRae said.
"But that's what you're trying to do to the opposition, to everyone, you're trying to exploit them or manage certain situations.
"Nick was, I thought he was well handled today, they did a great job on him. Nick fought through it. But Langdon would have had the honours, I would have thought."