Where Geelong went wrong in Collingwood loss

It could have been much worse but Geelong was handed an early season reality check by a rampant Collingwood on a slippery MCG.

THE opening stanza of Geelong’s season may have been all about St Patrick but it was an English crooner who threatened to pull a handbrake on the premiership defence.

On what appeared to be an incredibly slippery surface at the MCG, the remnants of Ed Sheeran’s recent concerts haunted a noticeable dark green patch covering the majority of the ground and before halftime Cats fans were fearful of losing their A-Team as Tom Stewart, Sam De Koning and Tyson Stengle all went down.

Tom Stewart ended the night in a knee brace. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

The status of Stewart, subbed off with a knee injury at quarter-time, will linger over the Cats in coming days.

While De Koning and Stengle both weren’t specifically related to the Sheeran square, expect the MCG to be a big talking point in the coming week.

A pair of goals in the first five minutes from Zach Tuohy had St Pat’s Day trending before he finished the opening quarter with his jumper ripped in half thanks to a bit of push and shove.

Ollie Henry had a night to remember, then forget, then remember and finally forget as he went from pantomime villain to superhero and all at once when run down by Darcy Moore in the goalsquare.

And that was all in the first half.

With Geelong wilfully allowing Nick Daicos to wander around and collect the ball as he pleased, Collingwood cut the Cats up with hard running and footskills.

The premiers just couldn’t keep up and a 22-point margin was fitting reward for Collingwood.

It was just absurd conversion that kept Geelong in front as Geelong’s firing forwardline at one stage booted 16.1.

Tyson Stengle was firing early. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

The sheer magnetism of Tom Hawkins, Jeremy Cameron and Stengle pushed Geelong along, with Henry comfortably fitting in.

They will play worse this year and win but the Cats will need to sharpen up – with Daicos and Scott Pendlebury at the wheel Geelong’s all-ground defence was severely lacking as the Pies literally ran away with the game and booted the final eight goals.

There is little room to move this year given the competition at the top of the ladder but having avoided serious carnage on the Sheeran square, the Cats will hope that grass and their team is in better shape in six days time when Carlton awaits.

Originally published as Where Geelong went wrong in Collingwood loss