The game was sealed by a Pickett goal, but the symbolic moment was a tackle

In a game of amazing feats and egregious mistakes, the signature moment belonged to a young Melbourne midfielder, Harvey Langford.

The Demons lead by two points, having recaptured the lead in the final term via Paddy Cross’s improbable hook shot from the boundary. They had reversed the flow that had seen the Pies led by 11 points only several minutes earlier.

Nick Daicos, Collingwood’s young champion, had taken the football, and was ready to take the Pies forward for a final attempt to wrest back the lead.

As Daicos looked ahead, Langford swooped and nailed Daicos in a tackle.

It wasn’t folkloric enough to be known as “the tackle” but it was the most critical moment in a game in which Collingwood led at each change, but were never potent enough to shrug off the Demons, just as Daicos was unable to shrug off Langford, who had booted possibly the game’s most audacious goal at an important stage of the third quarter, when the Demons sorely needed it to stay close.

Fittingly, after that tackle, the outcome was secured by the player who won the Neale Daniher trophy – not for best afield, but as the one who exemplified the Daniher spirit: Kysaiah Pickett.

Pickett booted three goals – including the first two of the game – but it was his creativity that stood out and apart. While the younger Daicos mixed brilliance (his first goal from the Ponsford pocket was exceptional) with some shoddy ball use, Pickett’s class was decisive.

Not the game’s premier player as yet, “Kosi” is arguably already the one who gets more people out of their seats – including those crusty veterans in the MCC members reserve – than any other.

Bayley Fritsch was another mercurial presence. One never knows which Fritsch will appear, the better or bad Bayley. Fortunately for the red and blues, better Bayley materialised and became a weapon in the second half, booting all three of his majors – and each of them was special. Twice, his unerring left boot regained the Demons the lead.

Collingwood’s lead at each quarter never exceeded a goal. One felt that Melbourne had the greater upside – certainly more talented youth, as demonstrated by Caleb Windsor (one exceptional running goal), Latrelle Pickett and Langford (26 disposals) – but that they were less bankable than the seasoned Pies.

And so, when the Pies stretched the lead to a game-high 16 points via a Dan McStay goal in the third term, many of the 88,000 wondered if the Demons were ready to fold, as in 2024 and 2025 when the era that had delivered that exiled premiership faded into the next phase, a regrouping.

But the Demons, as