By Luke Holmesby

GREATER Western Sydney has fallen agonisingly short of its first win in an official AFL match, losing by just three points to grand finalists Collingwood.

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The narrow defeat came after the Giants lost by just five points to the Western Bulldogs in similar circumstances in game one.

The Giants looked set to produce an amazing upset when they led the Magpies by three points late in the game, but a freakish Jackson Paine goal with three minutes to go ensured the Magpies prevailed.

The ball was only 50m from the Giants' goal when the siren rang.

While much was made of Collingwood resting many of its senior players, the Giants went in even more undermanned, with former Adelaide defender Phil Davis the only player in their side to have any AFL experience.

Davis was a pillar of the GWS defence, cutting off Magpie forward thrusts, but the Giants struggled to link up when rebounding.

Also shining was No.3 draft pick Dom Tyson, who was excellent in the midfield, extracting the ball at plenty of stoppages.

Lively forward Rhys Cooyou was a thorn in Collingwood's side, while Jacob Townsend shadowed Magpie midfielder Dane Swan for the entire 40 minutes of play.

But Collingwood didn't win by accident, even though it did trail at half-time. Midfielder Dale Thomas was exceptional, gathering 15 touches and charging through the corridor at every opportunity.

Tom Young also stepped up to suggest he could break into the all-powerful Collingwood team this year while Tyson Goldsack was prolific up forward.

It looked as if the upset of the season was about to happen in just the second week of February and it was on the cards as the Giants led for much of the night.

But a lack of composure under pressure and a lack of experience worked against them. But while the Giants came away from week one sitting at 0-2, they made the football world take a bit of notice and earned respect they may not have had two hours earlier.

MATCH DETAILS

COLLINGWOOD 0.1.1 0.5.5 (35)
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY 0.1.2 0.5.2 (32)

GOALS
Collingwood: Young, Thomas, Paine, Ceglar, Ball
Greater Western Sydney: Tyson, Tomlinson, Giles, Cooyou, Bugg

BEST
Collingwood: Thomas, Goldsack, Young, McNamara, Ball, Yagmoor
Greater Western Sydney: Tyson, Davis, Cooyou, Coniglio, Bugg, Tomlinson

INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
Greater Western Sydney: Nil

Reports: Nil

Umpires: McInerney, Mitchell, Elsworthy

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL