Collingwood rallies to defeat Geelong at the MCG

COLLINGWOOD produced its best performance to upstage Geelong, kick-starting a season that had been looking decidedly wobbly in recent times.

COLLINGWOOD produced its best performance of the year to become the first team to upstage Geelong in 2013, kick-starting a season that had been looking decidedly wobbly in recent times.

In an extraordinary match that ebbed and flowed in a pressure-packed night, the Magpies somehow overwhelmed the Cats in the final term after looking as if they had lost their way in a third quarter in which their opponents dominated.

With no Heath Shaw (suspended) and Dale Thomas (ankle) missing, the only way Collingwood was going to prevail was by applying the sort of pressure that had been absent for much of the season to date.

And they did that almost from the outset, opening up with five goals in the opening term before pushing the margin out to 26 points at the main interval.

AFL Round 8: Collingwood v Geelong

But as Magpie midfielder Luke Ball, returning for his first AFL game since his knee reconstruction last year, admitted after the club's six-point win, the only certainly on a night of uncertainties was that the Cats were going to fight back in the third term, even without late withdrawal Steve Johnson.

Geelong's ability to own third terms this season - known as the premiership quarter - has been one of the key reasons for their outstanding start to the year.

Kittens all class

Almost on cue, the Cats added 8.4 to 2.1 in a half-hour after the main interval that changed the entire context of the match, taking their collective third-quarter efforts this season to 49.26 (320) to their opponents' 18.27 (135).

From similar positions, the Cats have gone on to beat all comers so far this season – but not Collingwood.

Here's where the script differed to the other matches, Collingwood simply wasn't prepared to let the issue slide and doggedly held on to a contest that had appeared to be slipping away.

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Perhaps that was an optical illusion; perhaps not. But when Tom Hawkins booted his fourth goal of the night, at the five-minute mark of the last term, gave the Cats a 13-point buffer, the Magpies appeared to be in real trouble.

Still, they kept coming, and kept running.

Unlike others who have waved the white flag after encountering Geelong’s third term blitz, the Magpies faced it head on and refused to budge.

The tackling pressure and run that they had displayed in the opening two terms returned in devastating fashion in the final term, and for once, the Cats began to look a little vulnerable.

AFL Round 8: Collingwood v Geelong

Harry O'Brien and Sam Dwyer epitomised the Collingwood capacity to keep fighting throughout the final term.

They had nine and 13 possessions respectively in the last term, giving Collingwood first use of the ball and driving it deep in attack.

Scott Pendlebury also had seven in the last term. All three were very important players all night, barring the third-term blip.

Dwyer kicked the opening goal for Collingwood in the final term - his third for the night – when only three minutes had elapsed, and importantly he had a hand in several other important moves forward for his team.

Andrew Krakouer played his best game this season, kicking two crucial goals in the final term - the first from a free kick in which he ran around to score and the second after a mark on the goal-line that would prove to be the last goal of the game.

Squeezed in between Krakouer's goals came one from Jamie Elliott (his third) after some excellent work from Dwyer that had levelled the scores at the 16-minute-mark before Krakouer's match-winner came six minutes later.

Scott offers no excuses

Geelong’s ability to fight back after being so outpointed in the first half deserves plenty of credit. Mathew Stokes fought hard, winning 31 touches, Corey Enright was like a rock at times in defence, as was Andrew Mackie, and Jimmy Bartel overcame the first-term jitters to have a good influence on the game.

Joel Selwood was well held for much of the night by Brent Macaffer other than when he was largely responsible for igniting the Cats in the third term.

Magpies regain upperhand

But Collingwood was not to be denied in a performance that would have delighted coach Nathan Buckley and given a clear message to those who had prematurely written the Magpies off this season.

They have not lost to Geelong since the 2011 Grand Final, and on last night’s effort, they will again loom as dangers to the Cats at the business end this year.