Mother's Day 2001 reverted to Brothers' Day as both Mrs Rocca's boys, who had barely impacted on the game, eventually decided the result between them. Disconsolate Anthony had rejoined his equally miserable Collingwood teammates before Sav broke away and trotted 50m to pat him on the backside. Rocca the Roo didn't tempt fate by hanging around his former teammates much longer and left after hurriedly shaking hands with a couple of Magpies. Even Kangaroos coach Denis Pagan admitted he thought Anthony Rocca would kick the goal from the set shot nearly directly in front with only a couple of minutes left on the game clock. One little incident doesn't make the game, it's what happens over four quarters.
Every little incident adds up.
The brutal reality is that everyone will recall Anthony's gut-wrenching miss as distinct from, say, Roo Stuart Cochrane's at the same end earlier. No one was to know the consequences of Cochrane's amazing miss from half Rocca's distance on the run. That was the past, Rocca stood in the present, knowing exactly the impact of the shot. It was all about seizing the moment that would earn the young Magpies their stripes against yet another AFL foe. Today the game certainly got away from us.