CTV > Post-match with Alan Didak
CTV > Mick Malthouse's post-match press conference
CTV > Watch the boys sing the song

COLLINGWOOD’S brilliant forward Paul Medhurst rates the stunning win over Geelong as the best team effort he has been involved with since joining the club at the start of 2007.

“It would have to be,” he said.

“If you beat the reigning premiers by 80-odd points you have to be doing something right. It was a great feeling and really even across the board.

“Just everything went right. For them, not a whole heap went their way even with the bounce of the ball. It’s one thing to create the chances, but another to finish it off.”

Medhurst, Alan Didak and Dale Thomas caused headaches for the Geelong coaching box as they tried to juggle match-ups to quell the constant flow of attacks.

“It’s a great strength of our team that we can really swing things around in the forward line,” Medhurst said.

“Geelong has got such a capable defence and they really do play it as a team. They are always zoning off and helping each other out so we thought we would have to change things up if we were going to be any sort of show, and we did it well.”

In particular, Geelong captain Tom Harley seemed to lurch from one bad situation after another, but Medhurst was magnanimous in his comments.

“Harley has picked me up a few times,” Medhurst said.

“He’s such a good player that because I was quiet early in the game they took him off me and put him on to the guys that were a bit more dangerous. He shut them down and then I bobbed up again. So it was a hard night for him because of the supply and the numbers of opportunities that were created.”

Medhurst said that it was a game where Collingwood “got a lot right and unfortunately for them, they had an off day.

“Conditions, with a greasy ball, probably suited us too because they have got a higher skill level and it brought it back to basics.”

The key to Collingwood’s success was tackling and pressure, an emphasis in the lead-up.

“I think it had to be good against Geelong because they are such good users of the ball through the middle,” Medhurst said.

“If you let them steady they hit their targets nine times out of 10. We just thought if we could pressure their good ball-users. That was our focus and they would turn it over and we would hope for the best.”

The Magpies were not afraid to leave their man and run hard at the ball-carrier.

“You can’t go in half-cocked against them,” Medhurst said.

“You’ve got to bite the bullet and roll the dice. It came off most of the time. That gave us a bit of a break and a bit of confidence and we hammered it home at the end.”

Medhurst said that momentum for the Geelong game started against St Kilda.

“We came off a pretty bad loss going into the St Kilda game, three and four. And even though we only just got across the line, a win is something to build on. This (the Geelong game) was just a massive night for the footy club.”