Cats' Big Finish Grounds Magpies

The Age

Monday May 5, 2008

Carley Jellett

GEELONG piled on seven unanswered last-quarter goals to trample Collingwood by 56 points in their VFL clash at Princes Park yesterday.

The Cats shocked the home side early and led by as much at 29 points midway through the first term, before Collingwood kicked four goals to drag the margin back.

Although Collingwood was competitive for most of the first three quarters - Geelong's three-quarter-time lead was only 10 points - its last-quarter fade-out allowed the margin to blow out.

Magpies' coach Gavin Brown lamented the last-quarter effort, saying his players had allowed teams to run over them several times this season.

"It has happened to us a couple of times now where we've had solid three quarters against pretty good opposition - and they are really good opposition - and then in the last quarter, again, we just got blown out of the water," Brown said.

"Some of our boys were, I guess, a little underdone. Some of them, a bit of inexperience. I guess that is making a few excuses but also certainly our concentration and our want just dropped as well.

"That was probably the most disappointing thing . . . also our effort wasn't there really in the last quarter."

Geelong coach Leigh Tudor praised his side's last-quarter effort, having heeded his three-quarter-time instruction to play more accountable football.

"They worked really hard and it was a good result in the end," Tudor said.

"We really focused on winning the contested ball and also just playing on our direct opponents. We found when they got free, they ran us around a little bit, but when we played really desperate one-on-one football, we seemed to play a bit better than them."

Geelong ball-magnet Brent Prismall was outstanding with 44 possessions, while Kane Tenace gathered 33. Young Cat forward Scott Simpson kicked three goals, as did Simon Hogan.

Collingwood's AFL-listed players John Anthony, Chris Bryan and Sharrod Wellingham stood out, while Jaxson Barham was impressive after missing two months through injury.

Another highlight for the Pies was the performance of Liam Jurrah, who impressed with strong marks and two goals. Former Collingwood player Rupert Betheras is working one-on-one with the 19-year-old from the Northern Territory, spending time with Jurrah voluntarily. "That is just off his own bat, that is the sort of person Rupert is," Brown said.

© 2008 The Age

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