COLLINGWOOD has surrendered top spot on the AFL ladder with a 36-point loss to Geelong at the MCG on Friday night.
In their first match since the Cats' hammering of the Pies in last year's preliminary final, Geelong fell 11 points behind Collingwood but kicked the last eight goals of the game to win 12.14 (86) to 6.14 (50).
Watch Nick Maxwell speak to CTV in the MCG rooms after the match.
James Kelly, returning from a calf injury, was the Cats' best with 32 possessions while Gary Ablett (32) and Jimmy Bartel (30) were also prominent before the massive crowd of 88,115.
Playing his 200th game, Cameron Mooney kicked three goals and Mathew Stokes (three) continued his solid return from a club-imposed suspension.
Harry Taylor and Tom Lonergan eventually shut down key Collingwood forwards Chris Dawes and Travis Cloke, who failed to kick a goal between them.
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Cloke finished with 14 possessions, but not one of them was inside his own forward 50.
However, Dayne Beams lifted where his teammates couldn't, kicking four of the Pies' six goals - three of them in the second quarter - while Ben Johnson had 28 possessions.
The game started with a bang with Dane Swan and Ablett kicking classy goals for their respective sides within the first three minutes.
But both forward lines struggled and those goals weren't added to until Beams and Geelong's Steve Johnson found some spark early in the second term.
The Cats crept to a 16-point advantage -which could have been greater if not for errant kicking - but two late goals to Beams, including a long bomb on the half-time siren, reduced the margin to just five points.
When Beams intercepted a Mark Blake handball to snap his fourth almost three minutes into the third quarter, the Pies had all the momentum.
But misses to Leon Davis, Dale Thomas and Johnson would prove costly as the Cats again burst into life with five goals in 10 minutes to hold a commanding 22-point lead at the final change.
Watch Mick Malthouse address the media after the loss.
The Pies pressed early to kick five behinds but ran out of answers as the Cats claimed their seventh win of the season.
Geelong coach Mark Thompson played down the significance of the win, but was pleased how his side responded to the challenge after Collingwood had pushed ahead 17 minutes into the third quarter.
"I'm not sure if that [win] means that much to us. The best part of tonight and every week is that we didn't play a perfect game and we had to change it up halfway through and that worked," he said.
"I thought it was a good contest. I like competing in games like that, not that you want to do it every week but it was a really physical game and there was a lot of pressure out there and it was close for a lot of the evening. It was certainly good to win."
The Magpies were left to rue poor kicking in the second half, converting 2.12 compared to the Cats' 8.7.
"We certainly had control of the ball and the period of play at which really you just have to put the score on the board," a disappointed Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse said.
"And if it's a shot on goal, a set shot at goal, you have to kick the goal."
Collingwood travels to Brisbane next week to take on the Lions, while the Cats host Melbourne at Skilled Stadium.
Collingwood 1.2 4.2 6.8 6.14 (50)
Geelong 1.3 4.7 9.12 12.14 (86)
GOALS
Collingwood: Beams 4, Swan, O'Bree
Geelong: Mooney 3, Stokes 3, Ablett, Hawkins, Johnson, Varcoe, Podsiadly, Wojcinski
BEST
Collingwood: Swan, Beams, Johnson, Shaw, Thomas
Geelong: Kelly, Bartel, Ling, Scarlett, Mooney, Taylor, Mackie, Stokes
INJURIES
Collingwood: Nil
Geelong: Nil
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Ryan, McBurney, Pannell
Official crowd: 88,115 at the MCG
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
