The Cats started and finished the match well, but were held goal-less during the second and third quarters to go down to last year’s AFL grand finalists by 37 points - 5.8.10 (103) to 1.8.9 (66) before a crowd of 24,000.
The Cats dominated to lead by four goals at the first change with Cameron Mooney scoring both a nine pointer and a six pointer.
However Mooney was forced off with an ankle injury at the 17 minute mark of the first term and without him the Cats’ attack disintegrated to such an extent they were goalless in the second and third terms.
The Magpies only goal of the first quarter produced the most controversial moment so far in regards to the AFL’s experimental rules when Josh Fraser’s long bomb was wrongly adjudged to be a six pointer rather than a nine pointer.
Considering that Fraser kicked the goal from inside the centre square – it was a mistake of the most blatant kind and when a replay of the goal was shown on the big screen at Docklands – the Magpie fans roared their disapproval.
However sensing that an injustice had occurred – field umpire Scott McLaren quickly overruled the original decision and awarded the Magpies the extra three points.
To that stage that was all the Magpie fans had to smile about but all that changed after quarter-time as the young Cats appeared to run out of legs following their gruelling win in the heat and humidity of Cairns last week.
And with Nathan Buckley starring and Shane Woewodin not only playing his best game since joining Collingwood but one his best games since his 2000 Brownlow Medal win – the Magpies became nigh on unstoppable.
The Cats did not help their cause through poor discipline with former skipper Ben Graham giving a way a free kick downfield which enabled Buckley to score one of his two nine pointers during the second quarter.
And when Woewodin produced a superb piece of roving off the pack and produced another nine pointer on the run from 55 metres in the third quarter – the Magpie Army had a new hero.
Such was Buckley’s dominance he had 15 kicks, six marks and had contributed a total of 31 points to the Pies’ score by the time he was given a rest by coach Mick Malthouse at three-quarter-time.
And as the last quarter got underway Malthouse could even afford the luxury of also having Tarkyn Lockyer – who starred yet again – as well Paul Licuria, Jarrad Molloy and Anthony Rocca on the bench.
As a result the Cats were more competitive in the final term but it could not stop the Magpies from not only advancing to their first ever pre-season grand final but their first in the AFL’s secondary competition since a controversial after the siren loss to North Melbourne in 1980 when the competition was played during the season.
Geelong: 1.4.2, 1.4.5, 1.4.8, 1.8.9 (66)
Collingwood: 1.0.2, 4.2.3, 5.7.6, 5.8.10 (103)
Nine-point goals: Geelong: Mooney Collingwood: Buckley 2, Fraser, Woewodin, Didak.
Six-point goals: Geelong: Ablett 2, Mooney, McCarthy, Riccardi, Kelly, Graham, Chapman. Collingwood: Buckley, Lockyer 2, Fraser, Tarrant, Woewodin, Davis.
Best: Geelong: Corey, Riccardi, Sanderson, Scarlett. Collingwood: Buckley, Woewodin, Lockyer, Fraser, Didak, Clement, Wakelin.
Umpires: Allen, McLaren, McBurney.
Injuries: Geelong: Mooney (ankle)
Crowd: 24,728 at Telstra Dome
