2010 Preliminary final
Collingwood 7.2.44 13.7.85 16.11.107 18.12.120
Geelong 1.1.7 3.5.23 6.10.46 11.13.79
VENUE: MCG
DATE: Friday 17 September
CROWD: 95,241
UMPIRES: Ryan, Chamberlain, Rosebury
PRE-MATCH
With a list improving in quality and depth, Collingwood set its sights high in 2009. New captain Nick Maxwell wasn’t afraid to boldly mention the ‘p’ word (premiership). Trouble was, Geelong and St Kilda were clearly a step ahead of the ‘Pies – as emphatic losses to both in the 2009 finals demonstrated. Again The Club talked up its chances in 2010, but this time the off season recruitment of accomplished Sydney ruckman Darren Jolly and former St Kilda captain Luke Ball provided a greater sense of conviction. Soon it was also clear the game plan had taken on a new dimension. And aside from attaining the fitness base to execute the physically demanding ‘forward press’, a raft of exciting young guns combined with the accomplished senior troops at the peak of their powers to create something of a ‘perfect storm’.
So the class of 2010 was driven to achieving the ultimate goal and uncompromising in its quest for perfection. The whole Malthouse-Buckley succession plan imbroglio was largely forgotten, winning being the irrefutable answer. As the season progressed Collingwood was clearly a serious contender, and when the St Kilda and Geelong bogeys were slain in the latter part of the season, the media and supporters could barely keep a lid on expectations. For the first time since 1977 Collingwood headed the ladder. But if the dominant yet unfulfilled Saints of 2009 weren’t a cautionary tale, the weight of Collingwood’s modern history equated to many a sleepless night.
Collingwood and Geelong had appeared destined for the Grand final until a late free kick propelled St Kilda into a Preliminary final, along with the Magpies who easily accounted for a depleted Western Bulldogs. Fremantle provided Geelong minimal resistance in the Semi, so the ‘Pies’ 2007 and 2009 Preliminary final tormentor again stood in the way of the big dance.
Uncharacteristically, coach Mark Thompson went down the mind games route in the media. Whilst his phenomenal team had the runs on the board, it could be construed that it was actually Geelong searching for a psychological edge. For this superbly drilled and disciplined Collingwood team was on a mission, the Round 19 win over the Cats fresh in their minds.
THE GAME
Very quickly the Magpies settled into the kind of rhythm that spelled danger for opposition teams throughout 2010. When Cloke took a big contested mark and slotted the first goal from his least favoured range some 30m out, the signs were promising. Cloke was involved in the next goal, causing a spillage that resulted with Pendlebury in the clear for an easy finish running into open goal. The next one came courtesy of a free to Wellingham at close range, crudely spoiled in attempting to mark. A nice handball by Chapman put Varcoe into space for a fine long goal to the Cats. It was to be a blip on the radar, for Leigh Brown caused a seismic reaction when his sublime pick up on centre wing was outdone by a monster bomb that bounced 
sideways past the goal umpire. Another unorthodox kick by Brown fortuitously pinpointed Didak, who calmly finished off. Typically, Scarlett tried to generate run from half-back in tandem with Ling, but a wall of Collingwood players converged on Scarlett whose attempted handball back to Ling ended up with Beams, whose give to Pendlebury amounted to a goal on his non-preferred foot from 40m. Three minutes later, a hapless Ling was again made to look ordinary by Ben Johnson, who easily ran around him and slotted another from 50m. By the end of the first term the Magpies led the inside-50 count 22-8, which equated to an unbelievable 43-point lead.
At the resumption, the Magpies took up where they left off. Ablett’s too-cute handball missed the mark, putting Corey under pressure. He too sent a handball backwards to no-one, Didak running onto and cleverly chipping the ball off the ground to Cloke who made the quick give to Sidebottom for an easy snap. The Cats then at least found a path forward, culminating in a strong mark and goal by Mooney – but their confidence had been zapped. Some missed opportunities denied any real momentum as Collingwood’s score kept ticking over; Cloke’s strong contested mark in the square was followed by Beams, courtesy of a skilfully weighted pass by Cloke. As luck would have it, a free against Thomas was overturned because of an interchange breach, the subsequent 50m penalty gifting yet another six points. Byrnes broke the monopoly for Geelong, but a classic chain of forward pressure and another turnover enabled Swan to snap a fine goal across his body from 35m out, despite being met strongly by Ling. Dawes’ long set shot extended the margin which stood at an inconceivable 62 points at the long break. Just as damning was the forward 50m entries standing at 35-18. Given the occasion and the opponent, a strong case could be mounted that this was the best first half of football executed by a Collingwood team in its 2344 game history.
After the break the Magpies continued to pour on the pressure, and goals. Swan found space to mark and Ling’s frustrated body punch on Leigh Brown handed the ‘Pies another. Another crowd pleaser followed when Swan accepted the ball in the centre from a long pass and pirouetted around an opponent before sending a long drop punt into the hands of Macaffer, whose opponent Hunt completely misjudged the ball’s flight. Wellingham’s strong bodied mark from point blank range epitomized the ‘Pies’ authority. From here the Magpies slipped back a gear, enabling a proud Geelong team to restore some respectability to the scoreline via Stokes, Johnson and Varcoe.
Cloke kickstarted the Magpies in the final term with a confidence lifting shot from a notoriously tricky distance. Byrnes, Stokes, Podsiadly and Ottens all extracted consolation goals before Sidebottom dribbled through the ‘Pies final goal, set up by a slick sequence of teamwork. Bartel pinched one back for the Cats just before the siren, but by then the only matters to considers were who Collingwood’s Grand Final opponent would be and how to get a ticket.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Really, the game was to all intents over in the first quarter when Leigh Brown hoofed the ball some 65 metres with a mongrel punt that bounced like a wrong‘un through the goals. As it was, Collingwood had found a level rarely seen in AFL football, but with this moment of sheer, spectacular luck, the Cats’ hopes took a greater dive than Spain’s Fernando Torres at the 2010 World Cup. And to emphasise the point, moments later Brown again produced a kick where the result far outstripped the dodgy execution, finding its way into Didak’s arms before his set shot found the target.
Such had been the strength of Geelong, and their ability to ramp up the gears and put on a devastating burst, Collingwood could not afford to slacken an inch in the second quarter. Immediately Ablett swooped in the middle but sensing pressure, his aberrantly panicked handball backwards to no-one led to Sidebottom stretching the lead to 43 points after just 36 seconds. There would be no slackening the rope until the Cats’ carcass was swinging in the breeze.
AFTERMATCH
A force of nature. That is probably the best way to describe what transpired from the first bounce until halfway through the third quarter, by which time Collingwood had blasted their way to an unassailable 81 point lead.
The Cats’ intention to increase their kick to handball ratio in reaction to the breakdown of their high possession game in round 19 amounted to nothing. The Magpies’ ‘swarm’ simply had Geelong digging a deeper hole by way of instinctively handballing their way into inevitable strife. In fact, the Cats wound up recording just 163 kicks to 205 handballs anyway. By contrast, Collingwood disposed of the ball 228 times by foot and just 101 occasions by hand.
The power of the Magpie army was something to behold, and was reflected by the players’ frenzied approach. One fed off the other in a game memorable for the slow soccer-style ‘Cooo-liiing-woo-ood’ chant going viral, a spine tingling din that personified the Club’s ‘side by side’ mantra.
The fitness of Luke Ball was about the only concern after the star recruit suffered what appeared to be a left hamstring injury during the third quarter.
THE HERO
Dane Swan (Collingwood)
Swan refused to make excuses at the time, however a painful hip injury played a large part in his relatively quiet finals series of 2009. Any remaining doubts Swan wasn’t worthy of a place amongst the AFL’s elite bracket were silenced by the great Dane. His 2010 season continued right through the finals and beyond (also winning the gong for best player in the post season International Rules competition). As he had so many times, Swan broke the 30 possession barrier with 25 kicks and 8 handballs, plus four tackles and a couple goals. The footballer’s footballer, Swan simply covered more ground and got to more contests than most. And whilst not blessed with Judd-like grace or Ablett-esque skills, for sheer efficiency and effectiveness, he has few peers. In terms of Collingwood champions, the third Copeland (in a row) won in 2010 has Swan up there with the all-time greats in a career that underwent one of the most unlikely transformations.
POSTSCRIPT
The lid on expectations threatened to blow on several occasions as the season progressed, but there was no reservation in anyone’s minds now; Collingwood was the best team in the competition and anything other than a Premiership would be an unmitigated failure. No one could have predicted the drama that would follow against St Kilda in the Grand final, but given the chance to atone, the team blasted their way to the Club’s 15th flag playing an intense style best described by Age football writer Greg Baum as ‘total football’.
For Geelong, it was a case of ‘how the mighty have fallen’. Collingwood’s whirlwind performance caught everyone by surprise, but on the back of several recent losses against the Magpies and Saints, it was clear the reigning Premier had to find a plan B – or rebuild. An even bigger shock was the extent of the fallout; Gary Ablett Jnr finally confirmed what everyone had suspected, an apparently tired Mark Thompson also departed and similarly key assistant Brendan McCartney was also poached by Essendon in an aggressive bid to restore their lustre.
WHAT THEY SAID
“We won the game by the pressure and the systems that we created and that was for the full four quarter. We dropped off at certain times but we still managed to keep most of it in place.”
Coach Mick Malthouse could not be anything else but pleased.“I’ve never heard anything like it – it put a shiver up my back.”
Eddie McGuire on that chant.“They just annihilated us early and we were a bit shell-shocked. I’ve played for a while and I’ve never seen a side (apply so much) pressure. They just swarm you and it’s like they’ve got three or four extra players out there. I’ve never seen anything like. They’re a great side and they’re going to be very hard to beat next week.”
Geelong full back Matthew Scarlett effusive in his praise of the Magpies.“I’m not trying to kid you here. I’m not trying to make out anything. He came off with a cramp. The first thing I asked the medical staff was about that and they said it was cramp. I’m very confident that he will play. He is as well and there was no point whatsoever in putting him back on.”
As it turned out, Malthouse wasn’t kidding.
COLLINGWOOD
B Maxwell N Brown Toovey
HB O’Brien Reid Shaw
C Johnson Swan Wellingham
HF Didak T Cloke Ball
F Beams Dawes Sidebottom
FOLL Jolly, Pendlebury, Thomas
INT Macaffer Blair, Davis, L Brown
COACH Malthouse
GEELONG
B Taylor Scarlett Hunt
HB Corey Lonergan Enright
C Bartel Ling Kelly
HF Johnson Mooney Varcoe
F Chapman Podsiadly Stokes
FOLL Ottens, Ablett, Selwood
INT Hawkins, Miburn, Byrnes, Wojcinski
COACH Thompson
BEST
COLLINGWOOD – Swan, Didak, Wellingham, Pendlebury, Cloke, Brown, Johnson
GEELONG – Ablett, Varcoe, Selwood
GOALS
COLLINGWOOD – Cloke 3, Swan, Pendlebury, Sidebottom, Wellingham 2, Didak, Johnson, Macaffer, Dawes, Beams, Thomas, Brown
GEELONG – Stokes, Byrnes, Varcoe 2, Ottens, Mooney, Bartel, Podsiadly, Johnson
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