A hungry-looking Collingwood side, showing no signs of any post grand final hangover, is just one win away from its first ever appearance in an AFL pre-season grand final.

The Magpies set up a semi-final showdown against Geelong at the Telstra Dome next Saturday night after running away from an undermanned Hawthorn in the final quarter of their Sunday night clash at Docklands. The Magpies won 1.15.13 (112) to 1.9.9 (72).

With their forward line again in devastating form, as was the case in their first round mauling of Carlton – the Magpies have now established themselves as clear favourites to win this year’s Wizard Home Loans Cup.

Since the old night series competition reverted to a pre-season competition in 1988, the Magpies have never made it to the premiership decider while their last appearance in the final of the old night series competition ended in a controversial after the siren defeat at the hands of North Melbourne in 1980.

Now they will meet a young and inexperienced Geelong side coming off a gutsy win over reigning premiers Brisbane in the heat and humidity of Cairns for a place in the final.

The other semi-final of the Wizard Cup will also take place next Saturday night – at 8.40pm (AEST) in Adelaide between the Crows and the Kangaroos immediately following the Pies-Cats clash which will begin at 6.10pm.

However Adelaide recruit and former Kangaroos premiership captain Wayne Carey is not expected to play in that match in what would be an eagerly awaited first appearance against the club he quit in controversial circumstances last year.

Collingwood meanwhile has shown in its two Wizard Cup matches to date that rather than being satisfied with last year’s shock grand final appearance – it is desperate to make amends for that narrow loss to Brisbane.

After a tight battle for three quarters against a Hawthorn side missing a host of key players including skipper Shane Crawford, Nick Holland, John Barker, Nathan Thompson, Luke Hodge and Richard Vandenberg – the Magpies’ potency in attack overwhelmed the Hawks.

Spearhead Chris Tarrant and goalsneak Alan Didak, who kicked 62 goals between them last year in the club’s rise to the grand final, look capable of far more this year as they again dominated as they did in the first round win over Carlton.

With seven goals between them the pair proved matchwinners against the Hawks and were ably assisted by Leon Davis, who kicked two and created several others.

Such was the dominance of that trio it allowed Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse – who will be aiming for his first appearance in the grand final of the pre-season competition as a coach next week – the luxury of playing Anthony Rocca all over the ground for most of the night.

Rocca even took several strong marks in defence before finally moving forward to kick one of his trademark long goals in the dying minutes.

The Magpies also dominated in midfield with Tarkyn Lockyer clearly best afield with 20 kicks as he and skipper Nathan Buckley controlled the game as Hawthorn badly missed skipper Shane Crawford, who was a late withdrawal.

However it should be noted the Magpies were also without their best midfielder in dual Copeland Trophy winner Paul Licuria.

Despite their defeat there were plenty of positives to emerge from the game for Hawthorn – who battled valiantly for most of the night.

Veteran midfielder Daniel Harford showed he is gradually returning to his best with 16 possessions, after his 2002 season was ruined by a lingering stomach muscle problem, while boom recruit Peter Everitt showed glimpses of his best.

However as is so often the case with the former Saint his performance was a mixed bag as he scored the Hawks’ only nine-pointer of the night with a fine running goal in the second quarter before later handing a goal to Magpie midfielder Scott Burns after a poor kick across goal.


COLLINGWOOD: 0.4.5, 1.7.6, 1.10.9, 1.15.13 (112)
HAWTHORN: 0.3.2, 1.6.4, 1.8.5, 1.9.9 (72)

NINE POINT GOALS: Collingwood: Molloy 1.
Hawthorn: Everitt 1.
SIX POINT GOALS: Collingwood: Tarrant 4, Didak 3, Davis 2, Burns, Williams, Rocca, Lockyer, J Cloke, McGough.
Hawthorn: Williams, Barlow 2, Harford, Ladson, S Cox, Hunter, Lekkas.
BEST:Collingwood: Lockyer, Tarrant, Didak, Buckley, Williams, Rocca.
Hawthorn: Harford, Everitt, Lonie, Rawlings, Ries.
INJURIES: Collingwood: Nil
Hawthorn: Nil
REPORTS: Nil
UMPIRES: McBurney, McClaren, McKenzie
CROWD: 19,556 at Telstra Dome