Pies take advantage of a tentative Geelong to post second win of season

GEELONG: 3.1     5.4       8.7       11.12      (78)

GOALS – Collingwood:  Fasolo 2,  Moore 2,  Treloar,  Maynard, Wells,  Crisp, Elliott, Cox,  Pendlebury,  Sidebottom, Broomhead, Phillips,  Hoskin-Elliott. Geelong: Cockatoo 2,  Parfitt,  Lang,  Taylor, Bews, Blicavs,  Duncan, Dangerfield,  Motlop, Hawkins. 

BEST – Collingwood: Pendlebury, Hoskin-Elliott, Greenwood, Howe, Grundy, Treloar, Sidebottom, Crisp, Varcoe.  Geelong: Tuohy, Mackie, Lonergan, Duncan, Cockatoo, Motlop, Menegola.

UMPIRES: Jeffery, Mollison, Fleer.

CROWD: 46,457 at the MCG.

It has to be about psychology not football. It is the psychology that says "we have beaten you five of the last seven times, we know how to play you, we will win".

It is the psychology that says that on the basis of that record we can shrug off the lethargy of a five-day break. 

It is the psychology of the yips. The psychology that whispered in Alex Fasolo's ear that he should ignore his set-shot goal-kicking record this year and take a shot from 50 metres out on the boundary. And so he kicked the goal. Maybe it was helped by the one on the run he took just earlier. His dander was up.

The psychology extended to the coaching box. It had the discomforted figure of Nathan Buckley deciding to simplify the game. He tasked Levi Greenwood to Joel Selwood, mindful that he has done extremely well on him before with a game that is as much nag as tag. Selwood did not have a clearance in the entire first half, had no impact on the game throughout.

It was a psychology that had a cascading effect for if Selwood was quiet then maybe too they could quieten Paddy Dangerfield. Jack Crisp was not exclusively his man but did put a lot of time into him,

It was a shift of thinking in the box that was prepared to rest Ben Reid and introduce maligned Linden Dunn. Trust was rewarded for Dunn won his position and was creative by foot.

It was a shift in thinking too, that Buckley demanded of his players to be daring and take a risk. There was after all nothing to lose for losses have accumulated like dandruff on a collar this year.

The difference meant there was a determination to not only move the ball to the centre but to move it at speed. The consequence was some haphazard movement but forwards welcomed the arrival of a ball that offered them a better chance of getting a good look at it without three opposing bodies all around.

After the chastising they received after Anzac Day, Collingwood offered a spirited reply that might have been anticipated. Their first quarter they were more involved around the ball and moved it with a more controlled mindset that said head to the corridor.

They were able to get at Geelong for a run on the outside of the contest for three-quarters of the game until the five-day break began to tell on their legs.

That was not helped for Collingwood by Travis Varcoe having a hamstring complaint midway through the third that kept him out of the rest of the game. It was an injury that looked far less troubling than Brandan Parfitt's hamstring injury in the last that had him helped from the ground.

Darcy Moore played his best game for the year, which is not coming from a great height, but he looked purposeful in his run at the ball and his kicking.

In keeping with Collingwood's season the half-time siren blew as Moore was a step away from kicking the ball. He did kick it. It went over the goal umpire's head. Denied a goal by a step. 

The Cats played a tentative game. The first half was as flat as they have been and they seemed at a loss when they were not getting the supply from clearances they have come to expect from Selwood and Dangerfield. It meant they were relying on the counter-attack and so to that end they had pleasing run from behind the ball with Zach Tuohy, Andrew Mackie and, surprisingly, Tom Lonergan.

Steven Motlop carried on his early season form and was creative, while Nakia Cockatoo was a threat who didn't convert as many chances as he created.

The Cats had their chance to stage an unlikely comeback from 42 points down in the last quarter but it was their inability to convert goals – maybe borrowing the psychology of Collingwood – that hurt them. They had more run than Collingwood but failed to punish. They kicked two goals in a minute but when the moment demanded they kept the pressure on set shots faded away.