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'Blind eye': AFL fans fuming over 'blatant' controversy

A screenshot shows the moment Jack Crisp appeared to throw the ball to teammate Scott Pendlebury.
Collingwood's Jack Crisp got away with what appeared to be a clear throw in the dying stages of the Magpies surprise victory over the West Coast Eagles. Picture: Fox Sports/AFL

West Coast fans are up in arms after footage from the dying moments of Collingwood’s one-point elimination final win over the Eagles showed Magpies midfielder Jack Crisp getting away with what appeared to be a blatant throw.

The potential missed call came at an incredibly inopportune time for the Eagles as the ball was in dispute just beyond their forward 50, with the Magpies able to hold on for a memorable victory.

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It looked as though the Eagles were going to have a good chance to score when some nice play off half-back set up Tom Cole, whose kick inside 50 was smothered by Magpies opponent Taylor Adams.

Crisp swooped on the loose ball and attempted to handball it to Scott Pendlebury, but instead seemed to flick it towards the Collingwood skipper with two hands - making it an illegal throw.

While it seemed like an innocuous play at the time, the umpire was blindsided and the whistle never blown, leaving irate West Coast fans seeing red.

American Mason Cox unleashed an early onslaught and Brody Mihocek provided the late heroics to power Collingwood to a famous one-point win over West Coast in Saturday night's elimination final at Optus Stadium.

Cox reprised memories of his demolition job on Richmond in the 2018 preliminary final by booting three goals in as many minutes in the opening term.

West Coast snatched back the lead in a see-sawing final quarter, but Mihocek kicked two late goals and took an important defensive mark to lift his side to a 12.4 (76) to 11.9 (75) win.

Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley is adamant Brodie Grundy isn't carrying an injury despite benching the star ruckman for key moments of Saturday night's elimination final win over West Coast.

Grundy was the premier ruckman of the competition last year and was duly rewarded with All-Australian honours, but question marks have been raised over his fitness this season after a drop in output.

In the one-point elimination final win over the Eagles, Grundy was benched at the start of the third and fourth quarters.

That left 10-gamer Darcy Cameron to battle the might of Nic Naitanui in the crucial centre bounces.

West Coast Eagles hurting after missed AFL chance

West Coast coach Adam Simpson says it feels like a bit of a waste after watching his team's finals campaign come to an abrupt end for the second year in a row.

The result follows on from last year's exit during the semi-finals.

In each of those years West Coast were considered a massive premiership threat, only to miss out on a top-four berth on percentage.

Last year, a final-round loss at home to Hawthorn saw the 2018 premiers tumble out of the top four.

This season, an early three-game losing streak during their first Queensland hub campaign put them on the back foot, but it was the two-point loss to the Bulldogs in round 16 that proved decisive.

Collingwood celebrate after their upset victory over West Coast in Saturday night's elimination final. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Collingwood celebrate after their upset victory over West Coast in Saturday night's elimination final. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Simpson said they had no one to blame but themselves.

"It hurts, but that's on us. Two years in a row we missed out on top four through percentage," Simpson said.

"If you look back on our year, other than (the loss to Collingwood on Saturday), we only lost two games after round five.

"We lost three in a row earlier in the year and we lost by plenty, and that hurt out percentage.

"I suppose those three games we played early in the year when we didn't get our act together hurt us."

With AAP

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