Ben Keays furious as Brayden Maynard spear tackle on Alex Neal-Bullen sparks post-siren fracas

Adelaide forward Ben Keays and Collingwood defender Brayden Maynard had a fiery post-siren exchange after their AFL qualifying final on Thursday night.

The pair had to be broken up by teammates and umpires continued to monitor the situation long after the final siren had sounded on the Magpies’ 8.7 (55) to 11.13 (79) win at the Adelaide Oval.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Ben Keays and Brayden Maynard in fiery exchange.

Keays appeared to take umbrage at Maynard for a spear tackle he flattened Crows midfielder Alex Neal-Bullen with, a few moments before the game finished.

“Watch Maynard,” an umpire could be heard saying as play went on for another couple of seconds.

Maynard crunched Neal-Bullen and then gave him some choice words as he got up and walked away, which was just caught on Channel 7’s broadcast.

That boiled the blood of Keays, who had words with several Magpies players as they tried to diffuse the situation.

Luke Pedlar also gave Maynard a shove but was ushered away by Nick Daicos, despite Maynard visibly blasting him with a verbal response.

Keays and Maynard did shake hands, but the tokenistic gesture did nothing to ease the tension between the two, who continued to go back and forth for an extended moment.

Riley Thilthorpe eventually came in and broke it up, after which an umpire could be heard intervening.

“Walk away,” he said.

Keays went again one more time, before exchanging words with Billy Frampton.

Adelaide will now host a home semi-final next week after being blitzed by the Magpies in the third quarter.

Having led by six points at half-time, Collingwood booted five majors to none in a golden quarter-hour.

The Pies’ 34-year-old veteran Steele Sidebottom triggered the onslaught with two left-footed snaps in a game-breaking burst.

The visitors scored five goals to three in what is widely-dubbed ‘the premiership quarter’ — and the feat gives Craig McRae’s outfit inside running on the path to this year’s grand final.

“Really proud of the group — the whole collective staff, players and all the coaches,” Collingwood coach Craig McRae said.

“No-one probably gave us too much of a chance, which we somewhat love.”

Sidebottom’s two left snaps — punctuated by a near-identical major from Jordan De Goey — came in four minutes that stunned the 52,187-strong pro-Adelaide crowd.

The Pies added two more to create a match-high 35-point advantage before Adelaide could reply.

The Crows, in their first final since 2017, scored three consecutive goals to reduce their three-quarter-time deficit to 19 points.

But the gap proved too wide in the final term as minor premier Adelaide’s nine-game winning streak ended.

Magpie great Sidebottom, in his 353rd AFL game, finished with three majors, while his 33-year-old teammate Jamie Elliott kicked four.

De Goey (26 disposals), Nick Daicos (24), his brother Josh (23) and Ned Long (23) were prolific ball-winners and captain Darcy Moore was pivotal early with six intercept marks by halftime and 10 grabs for the game.

Adelaide’s Luke Pedlar kicked three goals, Taylor Walker scored two in his 300th AFL game, and defender Josh Worrell (26 touches, six marks) was a standout.

- With AAP