All the action and talking points from Geelong’s semi-final against Collingwood
Nathan Buckley has conceded some Collingwood players lost hope by halftime of their horror semi-final loss to Geelong as the Magpies crashed out of the premiership race with a heavy defeat.
Collingwood
Don't miss out on the headlines from Collingwood. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Shocked Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley said some players gave up before halftime in a clear sign the Magpies played their Grand Final against West Coast last week.
Buckley said there was no evidence to suggest his club had crashed into the wall until the opening seconds of Saturday night’s 68-point mauling at the hands of Geelong.
“It happened pretty quick. It just looked like we couldn’t go,” he said.
“It was as comprehensive a loss that you’re going to see, I’d have thought.
“You’re not going to see a game that one-sided very often.”
Watch the 2020 Toyota AFL Finals Series on Kayo with every game before the Grand Final Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Buckley said the pre-game language was optimistic and the GPS numbers remained solid, but every critical area collapsed.
“It’s fair to say our board was red from one minute into the game, for the rest of the game,” Buckley said.
“Contested ball (106-85), groundball, territory, positive territory turnovers, marks (134-46).
“They controlled the ball and were able to do what they wanted at will.”
Buckley couldn’t recall a disposal mismatch in the vicinity of Geelong’s 366-200 at the Gabba while he said their pressure rating was miles off an acceptable reading.
ROBBO: PATHETIC PIES RISK LOSING DE GOEY TO BITTER RIVAL
“At some point it looked like our players clearly had lost their hope to get the result,” he said.
“Talking to various guys, was that during the second quarter or early in the third?
“There was still a lot of the game to be played after that.”
Buckley said kicking four last-quarter goals counted for little.
But the coach was still tinged with pride because he knows the Magpies have tried their guts out in the most trying of seasons.
“The only way I can comprehend a result like tonight is that we had nothing more to give,” he said.
Buckley was pragmatic that uncontracted match-winner Jordan De Goey was in talks with other clubs but hopeful loyalty would win out and a fair deal could be reached.
He also said ruckman Brodie Grundy was one of many players whose form may have suffered because of the hub situation, as Grundy likes to escape football to maintain balance in his life.
Buckley said the futures of one-dimensional key forwards were numbered and youngster Will Kelly would’ve been a regular this season if not for breaking down on debut.
CATS TROUNCE MAGPIES TO SET UP GABBA SHOWDOWN
Chris Scott hadn’t looked this mean standing on the Gabba since his roughhousing days as a Brisbane defender back when the mighty Lions were untouchable.
Before the national anthem Scott vigorously punched his fist into his palm and screamed words of encouragement at captain Joel Selwood, who was right next to him.
Mark Blicavs then used his 100kg frame to push and shove young Magpie Josh Daicos (76kg) on the wing before the first bounce.
Already there were signs that Geelong was on, and Collingwood’s clues emerged almost as quickly.
Darcy Cameron dropped a chest mark in the forward pocket, Jordan De Goey’s first crack at the goals missed everything and heart-and-soul midfielder Taylor Adams was left nursing a sore elbow.
It took 23 minutes for Jamie Elliott to open their scoring, the club’s season on life support before Elliott could even celebrate with a fist bump.
“Geelong’s just too hard around the ball,” said Brad Sewell, a Hawthorn great who knows a thing or two about cracking in come finals.
These two clubs have spent their past five encounters strangling each other, and yet suddenly Geelong slipped free.
It was as if the Magpies were playing in a phonebox and the Cats all brought their mobiles.
Retiring legend Gary Ablett’s first two kicks were delivered so beautifully inside 50m that Zach Tuohy and Gryan Miers couldn’t help but go back and reward them with goals.
They call it the ‘money kick’ and Ablett, playing down the highway from where he made most of his cash, was the money man in the first term.
Sam Simpson then did his best Ablett impersonation by picking out Tom Hawkins.
You wondered what GWS free agent Jeremy Cameron made of the Cats’ silver service as he mulls their contract offer.
For the first time in Ablett’s career he was faced with the prospect of no tomorrow, and he sharpened accordingly.
The 36-year-old kept his feet opposed to Jack Crisp on the wing in the second quarter, which led to the first of two identical Patrick Dangerfield set-shot goals from the boundary.
That quarter began with Luke Dahlhaus kicking the easiest of centre-bounce goals as Magpies captain Scott Pendlebury strangely watched on helplessly from the bench.
And in a shortened game, the Cats held their third-largest halftime in a final, and it came against a Collingwood defence that has largely been impenetrable for several seasons.
In fact, the Magpies hadn’t scored fewer points in the first half of a final since 1905.
The only time they received noise from the Gabba crowd was when the big screen flashed up a deflated Eddie McGuire.
This was a Geelong training drill masquerading as a semi-final.
LAZY MAGPIES?
Scott dubbed headlines targeting Geelong’s 4-12 finals record between 2011 and Saturday night was “lazy journalism”.
Well, Scott’s sledge could probably be used to describe the semi-final Magpies.
At halftime the Cats had recorded 67 more uncontested possessions and led marks 67-22.
Both set records for the biggest differentials this season, while Collingwood’s first-half pressure factor was its fourth-lowest this year.
Will Hoskin-Elliott and Crisp ran hard, but it all pointed to work-rate.
That’s not to say coach Nathan Buckley’s side didn’t pack an excuse.
The toll of spending 100-plus days in the hub was further inflated when the Magpies spent seven days in quarantine at Joondalup before last week’s epic elimination of West Coast.
That will forever remain one of the great finals wins.
STAGE IS SET
Geelong is 4-0 at the Gabba this season, and preliminary final opponent Brisbane is 10-0 at its home fortress.
After enjoying the week off, and with the prospect of a home Grand Final, nobody is better placed than the Lions, Scott’s old club.
But cast your mind forward and it is Geelong in an avalanche on the rest of the AFL. The Cats will sign free agent Brad Crouch, possibly Cameron and hold three first-round draft picks, courtesy of trading Tim Kelly.
The fact they are two wins from preceding that haul with a premiership is simply mind-boggling.
RAZOR CAN’T DODGE SPOTLIGHT
Umpire Ray Chamberlain didn’t think Zach Tuohy held a mark inside 50m, but the umpire further afield blew his whistle.
Chamberlain probably wished he hadn’t. Tuohy slotted the game’s first goal, and that took shonky bouncer Chamberlain to the centre circle to restart the game.
Chamberlain had to recall it as it veered off shallow and to the right, and it was déjà vu in the final quarter after Tom Hawkins added another lick of icing to Geelong’s cake.
SCOTT: WILL HOME CROWD REALLY MATTER?
Geelong coach Chris Scott has hailed his side’s “resolve” after the Cats blitzed Collingwood in one of the finest finals wins on his watch.
Scott described the 68-point win as “probably” their best victory of the season after the Cats wiped the Magpies in stunning four-quarter domination.
“I’m really proud of our players and coaches,” Scott said.
“We had a lot of confidence we could build on the way we played this year. I thought we played OK last week without getting to our best.
“It was pretty close to our best, I find it hard to rate these things. There’s a resolve within our group to try to find a way to play better. If we do that, we’ll be hard to beat.”
The Cats will face Brisbane next Saturday night at the Gabba, a venue Scott said his side felt comfortable at. They have won all four matches at the ground this year, by margins of 33, 59, 66 and 68 points.
“Our execution here has been good in front of goal, that is an intangible that one,” Scott said.
“Sometimes the guys who take the shots — (Gary) Rohan and (Tom) Hawkins in particular, even (Patrick) Dangerfield here — seem to set up well for them for some reason.
“It’s really just that we’ve played here three time (before last night) and played well every single time. This is the fourth.
“The crowd is in their favour (Brisbane), but it’s been that sort of year, hasn’t it?”
Scott said his side had paid little attention to doomsday commentary predicting a straight-sets exit, but said the win was: “probably (the best win for the year), given the stakes”.
On the question of whether people had undersold Geelong after last week’s loss to Port Adelaide, Scott said: “I can’t think of a nice way to say that I don’t really care”.
He admitted he was surprised the match unfolded the way it did given the nature of past battles with the Magpies.
“Given the pattern that our games with Collingwood have followed in recent times and recent years,” he said.
“They’ve been very low-scoring games and a real grind. Even when we got those first couple of goals, we were thinking they were going to be really valuable but that the rest of the game was going to be an arm-wrestle.
“It didn’t turn out that way. It’s hard to assess why. Hopefully a fair bit of it was our guys were really good in the contest and executed well.”
Patrick Dangerfield spearheaded the victory with four goals — two of which were brilliant checksides from the same spot deep in the forward pocket.
Dangerfield started in a more conventional centre-half forward role, rather than deep forward, and Scott said the players themselves had a major say in the decision-making process around positioning.
“Our process is we consider our best players to be experts and we consult heavily with them early in the week,” Scott said.
“If they really want something they tend to get it, unless there is a really important structural issue that the team prioritises.
“Corey Enright works closely with the forwards; Tom Hawkins gets a say in it, and after we set up a planning process it’s a matter of reading the game to work out where he’s best suited. It’s a collaboration.”
He said Rhys Stanley was fine after he left the ground for an assessment on his knee, but returned to finish out the game.
MORE AFL NEWS:
Why Tom Lynch will be free to play in the preliminary final against Port Adelaide
Marlion Pickett two wins from playing in second AFL premiership in 20 games
Essendon unlikely to receive first-round compensation pick for free agent Joe Daniher
Originally published as All the action and talking points from Geelong’s semi-final against Collingwood