Collingwood too good for Geelong in AFL Qualifying Final
It’s no coincidence that during Collingwood’s mid-year slump this man was missing in action. While Scott Pendlebury was in the top handful of players on a milestone night, this gun midfielder was next level.
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If you want to pick a crowning moment of Collingwood’s march into the preliminary final it has to be owned by Scott Pendlebury.
The heroic Magpies captain was celebrating his 300th game last night and given his love of the big occasion throughout his career, he was odds-on to feature prominently in the highlights.
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At the 21-minute mark of the third quarter the qualifying final was on a knife’s edge.
Collingwood had dominated the first quarter-and-a-half against a Geelong team who once again suffered finals stage fright.
But the Cats kicked the final three goals of the second term and had just got the margin down to 19 points midway through the third.
Enter the Iceman.
At a ball-up where Brodie Grundy once again monstered his Geelong opponent, his tap went to Jaidyn Stephenson whose quick handball found Pendlebury floating across the back of the pack.
It was his moment. From 48 metres out on his trusty left-foot Pendlebury nailed the shot and effectively killed off the Cats.
His teammates knew as much and they came from everywhere to celebrate with their leader.
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At three-quarter time the margin was 25 points. It finished at 10 points after a desperate late flurry from the Cats who really blew their chances at the start of the game.
While Pendlebury was in the top handful of players, the man who is fast becoming Collingwood’s Mr September, Taylor Adams, was best-on-ground.
It’s no coincidence that during the Pies mid-year slump Adams was missing.
Hardness has previously been his trademark but now there is a lot more to Adams. His disposal has improved and his influence on Nathan Buckley’s team is now pronounced.
His former GWS Giants teammate Adam Treloar rode shotgun with him for most of the night as the Pies overwhelmed Geelong’s much hyped midfield.
There were plenty of other heroes for the Pies. Grundy enjoyed taking on a makeshift Geelong following division while Jeremy Howe led a defence that didn’t miss a beat.
Patrick Dangerfield was enormous (32 possessions), particularly in the final quarter but as hard as he tried he couldn’t match the Collingwood collective led by their milestone man.
PIES WELL COOKED
Those looking for negatives about the Pies coming in pointed to the bunch of returning players coming in off long lay-offs.
Well, they were right on one count with Jordan De Goey gone for the night by halfway through the second quarter with hamstring tightness.
He’d only touched the ball twice before departing.
Stephenson, who was making his return after a 10-week suspension, was widely cheered when he got his first touch and the MCG erupted when he ran into an open goal early the first term.
Darcy Moore had a few shaky moments early but settled well to star in the second half — he took six contested marks — ensuring the underdone Pies got a big tick.
There was carnage for both sides throughout the night.
The Pies were down to two on the bench in the second half with Levi Greenwood (knee) joining De Goey as finished for the night.
Geelong also lost a key player with Mitch Duncan suffering a knee injury late in the second quarter which put him on ice.
STRANGE MOVES
If you had any doubt about Chris Scott’s thoughts on his ruck division then they were answered at 6.20pm last night.
That was when the final teams were announced with Rhys Stanley replaced by Sam Menegola.
So the Cats went with a makeshift ruckman in the form of Mark Blicavs against Grundy, the best big man in the competition.
It had lots of people scratching their heads and the stats sheet told the story with the Pies winning the hit-outs 49-26 although Geelong evened up the clearances in the second half.
Even Pie Jaidyn Stephenson was bamboozled by the move.
“I found it quite bizarre they left Rhys Stanley out,” he said on Fox Footy after the game.
Blicavs was more than serviceable in the role but the by-product of the move was the Cats defence were rattled without him.
EARLY DEJA VU
A lot of oxygen was used on Geelong’s slow starts in the lead-up and guess what? Geelong started slow AGAIN.
In three of the previous four finals the Cats had failed to kick a goal in the first quarter.
When Collingwood kicked the opening three goals inside 11 this stat was looming large again.
In fact by that stage Geelong hadn’t even registered an inside 50. When they did at the 13-minute mark it at least resulted in Tom Hawkins kicking a behind.
That elusive goal did come at the 17-minute mark when Gary Rohan marked at the top of the goalsquare.
The problem for the Cats their second didn’t come until the 19-minute mark of the second term through a Brandon Parfitt snap.
SCOREBOARD
GEELONG 1.2 4.4 5.6 7.9 (51)
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COLLINGWOOD 4.2 7.5 9.7 9.7 (61)
GOALS
Cats: Miers, Tuohy, Rohan, Parfitt, Menegola, Dangerfield, Kelly
Pies: Elliott 2, Adams 2, Stephenson, Pendlebury, Howe, Hoskin-Elliott, Sidebottom
SCOTT GULLAN’S BEST
Cats: Dangerfield, Stewart, Kelly, Parfitt, Blicavs.
Pies: Adams, Sidebottom, Pendlebury, Grundy, Treloar, Howe, Moore, Phillips.
SCOTT GULLAN’S VOTES
3 — TAYLOR ADAMS (Collingwood)
Collingwood’s Mr September. The midfield bull was again brilliant with 16 contested possessions in his 26 touches. This also included nine clearances, nine tackles and two goals.
2 — STEELE SIDEBOTTOM (Collingwood)
Was the dominant player on the ground in the second half. Had floated between the wing and half-forward in his new role at the start of the game before going up a notch after the break with 22 of his game-high 33 possession coming in second half.
1 — SCOTT PENDLEBURY (Collingwood)
No surprise that he was all class and poise in his 300th game. Nine tackles and three clearances in his 24 disposals which all included the goal of the night midway through the third quarter.
INJURIES
Cats: Duncan (knee), Rohan (knee)
Pies: De Goey (hamstring), Greenwood (knee)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: O’Gorman, Chamberlain, Meredith
Official crowd: 93,436 at the MCG
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