COLLINGWOOD forward Scott Pendlebury admits he was pretty nervous when youngster Ryan Cook was shooting for goal in the last term in Saturday's elimination final at AAMI Stadium.

Cook hit the post but the Magpies still won by 31 points, and play the loser of the Geelong/St Kilda match next weekend.

Pendlebury said he was happy with the way the 20-year-old coped with the miss.

"When Cooky hit the post? I was pretty nervous when he had the set shot," Pendlebury said with a laugh.

"I watched it and saw it was going to hit the post, and I just said 'get on with it, Cooky'. He did well, and you can't get down on stuff like that because it's going to happen.

"If you do get down it could have cost us, but he stayed up and got a lot of the footy in the last quarter.

"But I might do some set shots with him this week."

The Crows have a reputation for holding onto a narrow lead, but the Magpies refused to follow the script, not only erasing the deficit but going on to post a substantial win, despite the match being played at the Crows' home ground.

"It was a bit of a weird game, I suppose – everyone thought it was going to be a low-scoring game, but we got a couple of goals up and looked like we might have been able to hold it, and then they got a couple of goals up.

"I suppose both teams went on a few runs throughout the day, three-or-four-goal runs, but I think it showed great character by the boys to come back in the third quarter and hold on in the last."