Robbo: Geelong will lament ‘lame’ AFL Finals start against Collingwood
Geelong coach Chris Scott doesn’t indulge in history too much, but with a 3-10 finals record since the 2010 Grand Final, the Cats’ September failures have to be mental, Mark Robinson writes.
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It was the same old lame Cats in September. Jittery. Sloppy. Second to the ball — But only for a short time.
Indeed, it was only in the first 11 minutes of the Qualifying Finals clash with Collingwood, but it was those 11 minutes that were the most decisive last night.
They helped condemn Geelong to yet another finals loss, which means it will play West Coast next Friday night.
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A straight-sets exit would be soul-destroying for a team that finished the home-and-away season on top of the ladder.
Coach Chris Scott doesn’t indulge in history too much, but it seems mostly everyone else does, because Geelong’s finals record under Scott since the 2011 premiership is a major part of the narrative.
It’s now 3-10 and a living, breathing monkey on Geelong’s back.
Who really knows what role it plays, if any, but the clear conclusion after last night is the Cats once again failed in a first quarter in September.
Is it mental? Surely it has to be mental. They are told over and over by the media that they bomb first quarters, so you half-think they’re believing what they’re reading.
It happened again last night.
Collingwood was great, mind you. Not great as in barnstorming to victory, but great in terms of playing four quarters of professional and resilient footy after a breakneck opening to the game. The Cats couldn’t take a trick in the first quarter.
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Collectively, they were unlucky, clumsy and well beaten, and, save for Patrick Dangerfield late in the second quarter, this game would’ve been over at halftime.
Unlucky were the injuries. High forward Luke Dahlhaus limped off two minutes into the game with an ankle injury. He returned, but had only four touches to halftime. He was a passenger for the Cats.
Clumsy were the players.
Gary Ablett dropped an easy mark on the wing, and Harry Taylor and Zach Tuohy dropped each other in a contest on the other wing, leaving Jaidyn Stephenson on his feet, who kicked to Jamie Elliott on the lead, who kicked the goal.
Very clumsy.
Another time, three Cats defenders flew for a mark and the spillage fell to Stephenson, who kicked his first goal of the game. It was clumsy again from the Cats.
When they finally threatened inside their own 50m, Gary Rohan kicked a goal, then Rohan missed from 25m and Tom Hawkins missed from 10m.
Another Hawkins kick for goal was touched ever so slightly before it crossed the line.
Five minutes of controlling the game from the 22nd minute to the 27th minute of the first quarter yielded nothing for the Cats.
And when the Pies eventually went forward, it was another clumsy Cats configuration in the air that gave another goal to Elliott over the back.
It was a horrible first term.
It was a most horrible first 11 minutes.
In that time, Collingwood had 10-0 inside-50s; 6-1 clearances; 241-169 pressure points, which was truly off the charts; and 3.2 to 0.0 on the scoreboard.
It was a shellacking, and though the Cats were able to rescue the game in terms of numbers and competitiveness — they won contested ball 157-135 and inside-50s 50-43 — the 11 minutes of damage could not be reversed on the scoreboard.
In the second quarter, the lead ballooned to 36 points before the Cats slowly cut into it, led by Dangerfield.
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In the end, it was 10 points, and it will be said the Cats fought out the game.
They did. At the final break they were down by 25 points.
From that point they were: plus 14 contested possessions; 16 inside-50s to four; seven shots at goal to one; two goals, three behinds to 0.0. It was gallant, but still they were defeated, and those first 11 minutes will hurt even more today.
Dangerfield lamented the poor start and said the Cats had to “get better quickly”.
“We can’t start like we did this week. It is do-or-die. Disappointing, but we will get back on the horse,” he said.
“We had opportunities to arrest momentum and take shots in front of goal, which we weren’t able to. We will regroup and reset and go again.’’
Credit to the Pies, of course. They can be a tough opponent, and last night they were September tough.
Their pressure for the game was 212, the fifth best of any team this year and Collingwood’s best since 2014.
It was led by 92 pressure points for Rupert Wills (including 13 tackles).
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