A historical battle has been waged, with Collingwood president Eddie McGuire hitting back at Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson for his dig at the Magpies' record premiership streak.
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The 2016 Hawks had been striving to match the Pies' benchmark of four consecutive premierships, won between 1927-30. But Clarkson's side's run ended at three with their semi-final loss to the Western Bulldogs.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Clarkson suggested that his club's achievement was more meritorious than that of the pre-World War II Pies' teams - a group that was colloquially known as "The Machine".
Clarkson had mentioned that the Pies had lost finals in 1929 and 1930 before recovering to win the premiership in both seasons - seemingly overlooking Hawthorn's qualifying loss to West Coast en route to the 2015 flag.
"We've marvelled at the achievement of our players over the last three years ... to win three in a row," Clarkson said.
"They talk about Collingwood and four in a row. And it was a fantastic achievement, but honestly. they won two of those losing a preliminary final, Collingwood."
But on Monday McGuire defended his club's record, claiming Clarkson's comments had been in poor taste, and suggesting that the four-time premiership coach had let himself down.
"It's laughable," McGuire said on Triple M. "It's been the record since 1930. Everyone has accepted it and everyone understands it.
"It is just ridiculous when people [say] that.
"If you want to line them up side-by-side on achievements, fair dinkum, they [The Machine] are miles ahead of what has happened in the last period of time.
"Let's not be silly about it, OK?"
There was a further historical link to the two dynasties, with Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge's late grandfather Jack Beveridge a member of those Collingwood premiership teams.
Clarkson earned plaudits for going into the Bulldogs rooms to congratulate Beveridge - a former Hawks assistant - after the game. But he also queried the interpretation of the "holding the ball" rule after his side won just three such free kicks despite laying 104 tackles.
"The game's changed in terms of interpretation," Clarkson said.
"How can you lay 104 tackles and not even 20 of them be done for holding the ball for incorrect disposal?
"So that's where the game has changed a bit in terms of interpretation, so we'll have to get better in that aspect.
"That is a significant change in terms of how the game's been umpired."
McGuire said Clarkson should have acted more graciously.
"When he bagged the umpires then had a crack at us, I thought 'Oh mate. You've done such a beautiful thing going into the rooms to see the Bulldogs afterwards. Shake hands and just keep your head up mate'," McGuire said.
