AFL Finals 2022 Geelong v Collingwood: All the news, action and fallout from qualifying final
Geelong was one and eight in the first week of finals stretching back to 2013 going into Saturday’s game, but they managed to get across the line and break the hoodoo.
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The pressure on Geelong was at fever-pitch.
The Cats entered their qualifying final with Collingwood having won 13 straight games, after finishing as minor premier.
However, there was no hiding from the external narrative that they had only won one of nine games in the first week of finals since 2013 – as much as the players like to sweep that record aside.
“There’s no monkey on the back. This is such an exterior myth,” Geelong defender Zach Tuohy told the Herald Sun after his side’s six-point win over the Magpies.
“I‘m really proud of the group. We give ourselves a chance every year to get there. It hurts when you don’t get there but it certainly beats booking your holidays at Round 15 like some other teams.”
Far from booking their September holidays, the Cats booked a remarkable fourth-straight preliminary final with their hard-fought win over Collingwood.
They now sit as a clear favourite to collect what would be their first premiership cup since 2011.
In the past, a 19-point deficit in the first quarter of a final could have been a hammer-blow for Geelong.
The same could be said about a 12-point deficit early in the last quarter, especially against a Magpies team that have been the competition’s close game specialists this season.
But as they have shown time and again this season, the 2022 version of Geelong is new and improved.
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They are more daring with ball in hand than they have been in the past and they can find ways to hang in there and then change momentum when things are not going all their way.
“Collingwood are notoriously good in tight games,” Tuohy said.
“They probably deserve even a bit more respect than maybe they get. But to our credit I thought even when momentum was with them, we found a way in quarter to swing momentum back our way, which is the hardest thing in footy. Momentum is so hard to stop and usually it takes a quarter-time or halftime break. I thought we could do it in game which is a great sign.”
By almost every measure, the qualifying final clash with the Magpies was played on Collingwood’s terms.
It was the scrap of the season – a pulsating contest despite recording the ninth-most turnovers of any match this season with a combined 166 between the two teams.
While Collingwood thrives on chaos, Geelong prefers control which they struggled to get.
The Cats’ kicking efficiency of 61 per cent for the match was their second-worst of the season and they took just 49 uncontested marks which ranked as their fewest of the season.
But, decisively, Geelong was able to score 18 points from its defensive half in the all-important final term on the back of its new-found willingness to take the game on with daring kicks through the corridor this year.
Geelong coach Chris Scott said his team’s “ability to stay in” the game was critical, as well as the efforts of the forward line.
Two of the Cats’ three leading goalkickers this year – Tom Hawkins and Tyson Stengle – kicked one goal between them.
Yet, Geelong still produced a winning score as Jeremy Cameron (three goals) shone brightly once again and Gary Rohan (three goals) produced his best game of the year – and one of the best finals of his career.
“Gaz brings incredibly consistent effort and output doesn‘t always get the reward on the stats sheet,” Tuohy said.
“But it was nice for him to get the reward tonight because some of the stuff he does is just unbelievable and he rarely gets the recognition externally for it. He‘ll get the recognition internally as he always does, but it’s nice that everyone on the outside gets to see it as well.”
BRINGING THE HEAT
They were pipped at the post, but Collingwood held the lead for 91 minutes of its clash with Geelong on the back of a game built on pressure.
It was nothing new for the Magpies, but coach Craig McRae had clearly taken note of what bringing enormous heat had done for Sydney in its qualifying final win over Melbourne the previous night.
“Our pressure was enormous,” McRae said.
“Watching Sydney (on Friday night) was a bit of a role model for us on how to go about it in a big game. I thought we didn’t get rewarded for our tackles. I’m not sure if that’s something we’ll look at.
“Anyone watching at home thought we tackled really well I would have thought.”
Collingwood’s pressure applied rating for the match was 195 – its sixth-best rating of the season.
The Magpies also recorded their third-most tackles in a match this year with 85.
However, they received just 13 free kicks as the umpires put the whistle away – leading to a little frustration from McRae.
There’s no doubt that bringing similarly high pressure will be a focus heading into a semi-final against Fremantle this week.
THE ‘ALMOST’ MATCH-WINNER
Craig McRae spoke last Thursday of the need for his team to find an extra “five per cent” against Geelong and suggested that star midfielder-forward Jordan De Goey could be the player to provide that.
“Jordy’s a five per cent player. He can give us something if he can bring his best,” McRae said.
De Goey certainly did bring his best and give Collingwood an extra five per cent in the final quarter – very nearly proving a matchwinner.
The 26-year-old stepped up when the game was on the line to produce an incredible final term, in which he recorded seven disposals, two clearances, two tackles and two goals.
Still out of contract at season’s end, the performance only further solidified how important he is for the Magpies and the importance of retaining him.
“There’s not many guys in our team or many other teams that have a guy that can really turn it on when you need it and kick clutch goals,” McRae said after the game.
“He did it again tonight. We continue to look for opportunities to put Jordy in positions where he can shine.”
De Goey finished the night with 26 disposals, eight clearances and seven score involvements and need another big game through the midfield against the Dockers – especially given the fresh groin injury to the Magpies’ best clearance player this season in Taylor Adams.
McRae takes aim at Pie ‘losers’ as star looks set to miss
Collingwood expects scans to confirm a season-ending groin injury for star midfielder Taylor Adams as the Magpies look to pick themselves off the canvas and not act “like a loser” following a narrow qualifying final loss to Geelong.
Adams had to be helped from the field midway through the final quarter after hurting his groin as he slipped while trying to get a kick away.
He immediately grabbed at the right side of his groin after going down.
It was the 28-year-old’s first game since Round 20, with Adams having been sidelined for the previous month with an adductor injury.
“It looks like Tay’s season’s done,” Collingwood coach Craig McRae said.
“It looks like he might have torn the groin off the bone. That could be the early diagnosis.
“I just grabbed him then. He’s had his moment of emotion and we’ll just get around him and support him as best as we can.”
Adams has been Collingwood’s best clearance player this season, averaging 5.3 clearances among 22.2 disposals.
McRae said he was “extremely proud of the effort” of his side in a see-sawing contest that brought 10 lead changes, but took aim at some of his players who fell to the ground after the final siren sounded in the six-point loss.
“We want to act like winners,” he said.
“I must admit, the siren goes and we’ve got half a dozen of our guys laying on the ground. For me, that’s not a winner. That’s acting like a loser. We lost the game but we’re not losers. So I just made that point. We’re here to win this thing. We’ll give it everything we’ve got.
“For the lifetime that I’m sitting in this chair, maybe barring a Grand Final, if we don’t win, don’t lie on the ground.”
Collingwood laid 85 tackles but were awarded just 13 free kicks for the match, with McRae expressing some frustration over a lack of holding the ball decisions.
“I thought we didn’t get rewarded for our tackles. I’m not sure if that’s something we’ll look at,” he said.
“Anyone watching at home thought we tackled really well I would have thought.”
Uncontracted midfielder-forward Jordan De Goey was nearly the match-winner for the Magpies as he logged seven disposals and two goals in a sizzling final quarter, playing out the game after hurting his shoulder late in the first quarter.
“He (De Goey) has got a bit of an AC issue,” McRae said.
“He played out the game and the doctor just said to me before it looks like he’s okay.
“There’s not many guys in our team or many other teams that have a guy that can really turn it on when you need it and kick clutch goals. He did it again tonight. We continue to look for opportunities to put Jordy in positions where he can shine.”
What record? Proud Scott says Cats living in the moment
- Marc McGowan
Geelong avoided discussing past finals failures ahead of Saturday night’s thrilling victory over Collingwood that booked the Cats a sixth preliminary final in seven years.
The Cats’ September heartbreak under Chris Scott since he led the club to the 2011 premiership is an annual narrative but the coach argued fervently against such thinking in the wake of the six-point win.
Scott took the same approach for Gary Rohan, a three-goal hero on the night who was directly involved in Geelong twice snatching back the lead in the dying minutes but who has a chequered past on the biggest stages.
Rohan’s heroics, after Jeremy Cameron did some heavy lifting earlier in the contest to keep the Cats in touch with the Magpies, ensured Geelong ended its four-match losing streak in qualifying finals.
“I’d prefer just to speak about today and the moment and not get drawn into the past. I said during the week I think it’s a better way to live your life, to be looking forward,” Scott said.
“It’s not that anyone in our club (is) critical of other people making that assessment. That’s kind of their job – I get it – but it’s just not the world we live in. But it’s gratifying – I don’t mind saying that.
“We are really clear on what (Rohan) can bring to our team and the way we play. He’s absolutely an energy-giver. His teammates love playing with him and I’m just really proud of him today.”
Pushed on the topic, Scott said the Cats’ ethos was to “never step in the same river twice” as they prepare to face another hoodoo after losing five of their past six preliminary finals.
“We’ll do it differently to the last fortnight, for the simple reason that the players will need a little bit more volume than what they’ve had, playing a little less footy,” he said.
“But I think without detailing exactly how we’re going to go about it; we’ll get some work into them.
“We have a group of players who are certainly not afraid of hard work, so it’s nice to get a couple of days to decompress, including for the coaches, and then get back and attack it and look forward to some hard work.
“We certainly won’t be wrapping them in cotton wool.”
Scott was unsure of the severity of defender Jake Kolodjashnij’s knee injury that saw him subbed out before half-time and left the door ajar for Sam Menegola and Brandan Parfitt to return in a fortnight.
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