Steaming hot Pies
September 21, 2010
By
Steve Healy
Collingwood vs Geelong preliminary final...
THIS was mouth-watering clash that looked far the better of the preliminary finals. The teams had played twice in previous encounters in the home and away season, which were both over-hyped by the media. All day I eagerly awaited for the match to start, and wrote down that the Pies would prevail by six goals – I was almost correct.
The game began as I sat on the couch and ate my dinner. The Pies looked cleaner, stronger and faster. They steamed ahead with goal after goal after goal. From the time Cloke nailed the first, the Pies’ fans exploded. Once they had the crowd on their side, they could not falter. Each goal was followed by defeaning applause, the biggest one coming when Leigh Brown, an improver out of sight this season, kicked one of the most remarkable goals you’ll ever see with a magical bounce from 70 out on the run. Collingwood’s first quarter almost resembled what Geelong did to Fremantle last week, although, as Bruce and Dennis kept pointing out, the stats were even. Ablett was Geelong’s only highlight, with 14 touches in the first quarter in probably his final outing.
A toe-poke from Didak, who starred, quickly set up another goal to Sidebottom as the Pies pulled out to 43 points ahead. Mooney took a good contested mark at the edge of the square to reply, but there wasn’t much else to smile about. When the ball was stripped off the Cats in defence due to a little side step at the interchange gates from Enright, Thomas increased the margin to 55 points. Swan snapped a goal, Dawes got another and the scoreboard showed 13.7 85 to 3.5 23 at half time. It struck me then that Collingwood were going to make the grand final. I put down the important stat- Collingwood kick to handball ratio was 121-57, Geelong’s was 81-114.
Collingwood didn’t stop there – Swan kicked his second from a fifty metre penalty, Macaffer, who was playing a good game, kicked another, as did Wellingham, and the margin was 81 points. Could this be one of the biggest floggings ever? But no, from there on the Pies appeared to halt their attacking and seemed to be looking forward towards next week more. The Cats kicked the next 8/10 goals for the match. Podsiadly finally got into the game after being held to just one handball by Nathan Brown in the first half. Ablett had an unbelievable 37 possessions up to three quarter time, but only managed three in the final term. The Pies tried to control possession but failed to a certain extent, but it didn’t matter, they had the game in the bag.
As the game drew to an end the huge crowd was now cheering for each possession. The Cats were getting all the goals, but the fans didn’t care. Collingwood were headed for a very comfortable win. The much smaller Geelong crowd hardly cheered for each goal. A huge roar filled the MCG as the siren sounded. Collingwood meant business. Did that mark an end to Geelong’s powerful era? Did they make the wrong decision by not playing Mackie and Blake?
The Pies now have a flag in their sights. With the form of Didak, Swan, Cloke, Pendlebury and Jolly, and the massive improvement from others such as Leigh Brown, they will be hard to beat.
Collingwood 7.2 13.7 16.11 18.12 (120)
Geelong 1.1 3.5 6.10 11.13 (79)
GOALS
Collingwood: Cloke 3, Pendlebury 2, Swan 2, Wellingham 2, Sidebottom 2, Didak, L Brown, Johnson, Beams, D Thomas, Dawes, Macaffer.
Geelong: Stokes 2, T Varcoe 2, Brynes 2, Mooney, S Johnson, Podsiadly, Ottens, Bartel.
BEST
Collingwood: Didak, Swan, Pendlebury, Maxwell, N Brown, L Brown, Macaffer, Johnson, Thomas.
Geelong: Ablett, Bartel, S Johnson, Scarlett, Stokes, T Varcoe, Chapman.
My Votes: 3. Alan Didak (COLL), 2. Gary Ablett (GEEL), 1. Dane Swan (COLL)
• Dane Swan of Collingwood celebrates a goal at the MCG. Photo by Lachlan Cunningham. The Slattery Media Group.
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