The less said about Collingwood’s Round Eight capitulation to Geelong the better. Having won four out five before hand expectations were high, perhaps a little higher than they should have been given the ‘get out of jail’ nature of the victory over Brisbane.
It was a dour old game, bit of cat and mouse in it, both defensive structures pretty strong. I thought they (Geelong) defended the ground really well.We didn’t use the ball very early and time ran out (on us in the end).
Nathan Buckley – Post Game
Even allowing for a modification of expectation in hindsight approach to the game, I will say, however, that the Cats dictated how the game was played and the Pies let them. It was like both coaches were Ross Lyon from 2008 and their aim was to NEVER score! Coupled with a first quarter of no reward for good tackling, as in, if you tackle a bloke for more than 360 degrees and given no reward for it, it really gives you a reason to not bother.
The entire game was difficult to watch. The Pies turned the ball over more than I’ve ever witnessed and it was horrible. It was like we’d been on the piss until 4am the night before. The efforts of both sides in this entirely forgettable Sunday afternoon affair are worthy of ‘Worst Game of the Year’ status. (Postscript – they couldn’t even hold on to this status long, with the ‘waterpolo’ match between Adelaide and the Bulldogs in Round Nine quickly stealing the title of ‘worst game of 2018’.)
Looking for positives, well, a case could be made that they did the best they could in the face of adversity. Four games in 20 days is never easy at the best of times, when you then lose two players from the rotation due to injury, it makes a difficult task even harder. Treloar still got his 34 touches but I reckon even he gave it up too often. Tom Phillips was our only multiple goal scorer and then it is hard to highlight anyone else given there were bugger all else worthy of a mention. ‘Needs improvement’ could be awarded to the club as a whole.
Thankfully the Saints await in Round Nine, the one team in 2018 more capable of burning opportunities than Collingwood and Geelong were in Round Eight. At the same time, like Essendon learned against Carlton, taking any side lightly can lead to trouble. If we play to our best though, we should have enough to get past them and the Bulldogs and Dockers who follow after.
ROUND EIGHT
COLLINGWOOD 1.3 1.6 4.11 5.15 (45)
GEELONG 2.4 4.7 7.10 9.12 (66)
GOALS
Collingwood: Phillips 2, Hoskin-Elliott, De Goey, Grundy
Geelong: Menegola 3, Ablett, Horlin-Smith, Dangerfield, Crameri, Thurlow, Ratugolea
BEST
Collingwood: Scharenberg, Howe, Treloar, Sidebottom, Mayne, Grundy
Geelong: Menegola, Stewart, Kelly, Duncan, Dangerfield, Ablett
INJURIES
Collingwood: Pendlebury (ankle) replaced in the selected side by Crocker, Moore (hamstring), Phillips (concussion)
Geelong: Bews (corked thigh)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Nicholls, Findlay, Wallace
Official crowd: 44,602 at the MCG
Related posts:
Five things we are looking forward to Saturday: AFL 2019 Round Six
AFL 2019: Allies State of Origin Team Midseason
AFL 2020: Melbourne v Gold Coast - Round Six Knee Jerk Reaction
Top Five Kangaroos Wins of The 21st Century
AFL 2020: Gold Coast v GWS - Round Nine Knee Jerk Reaction
Saints Summary: Fast start, standstill finish
AFL 2020: Round 16 Predictions
AFL 2020: Round Two - What are we looking forward to?