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Elliott soars but Magpies crash to earth

GEELONG has broken its two-season victory drought against Collingwood by scoring an 11-point win over the Magpies in a high-pressure clash at the MCG on Saturday night.

The Cats were 20 points up late in the first quarter, surrendered the lead by half-time, then survived a gripping battle of attrition in the second half, prevailing 12.15 (87) to 11.10 (76).

It was their first win over Collingwood since the 2011 Grand Final, and it ensured they remain unbeaten in 2014.

Five talking points: Collingwood v Geelong

"Yeah, we're three and zip, but it doesn't really feel like it at the moment," Geelong coach Chris Scott said.

"So the positive is that the win-loss looks good. But we've still got a lot of work to do on our game."

Key forward Tom Hawkins was the hero of a tense last quarter.

Having been well held by young Magpie Jack Frost, Hawkins came to life in the final term, booting three team-lifting goals, including the last of the match after Jamie Elliott had put Collingwood within five points.

Hawkins finished with four majors and was the Cats' only multiple goalkicker.

"He was very important," Scott said. "Got the ball, kicked the clutch goals. But we had to get the ball down to him."

Elliott, who was Collingwood's outstanding contributor, produced the most spectacular feat of the match when he soared over Jimmy Bartel and hauled in a screamer during the second term.

He also finished with five goals, including three in the last quarter as his team fell agonisingly short.

"In the end, we lost the midfield battle across the four quarters quite convincingly," Pies coach Nathan Buckley said.

"(We were) minus-12 inside 50s, about the same in contested possessions, and the weight of ball just ended up counting against us."

Key defender Tom Lonergan was a star for Geelong, using the new umpiring interpretations to his advantage in holding Travis Cloke goalless, while Joel Selwood and Mitch Duncan were prolific in the midfield.

Selwood was flattened by Collingwood sub Taylor Adams early in the last quarter in an incident that is sure to attract the attention of the Match Review Panel.

Though he was involved in a number of heated exchanges with Adams late in the contest, the Cats' skipper was not badly injured and was able to play out the game.

Sealed with a kiss: Tom Hawkins celebrates one of his four vital goals against Collingwood on Saturday night. Picture: AFL Media

In the absence of five-time All Australian Corey Enright, who was a late withdrawal after failing to recover from an ankle injury, James Kelly stepped up, providing cool and calm leadership across half-back.

Of the Cats' emerging youngsters, Cameron Guthrie did an impressive tagging job on Scott Pendlebury.

Although Pendlebury was able to amass 26 disposals, Guthrie made him accountable by gathering 18 touches of his own, kicking a goal and taking a great pack mark late in the game.

Steele Sidebottom did all he could to haul the Magpies over the line. Sidebottom was electric during the second quarter, during which he gathered 10 of his 29 disposals.

Dayne Beams and Heritier Lumumba also continued their good form, while Brent Macaffer held Steve Johnson to just 20 touches. Johnson had averaged 34 disposals in rounds one and two.

In his first game since round five last year, Alex Fasolo made a solid contribution down back.

Geelong had a comeback kid of its own, with George Burbury tallying 12 disposals in his first game since breaking his jaw against Collingwood in the opening match of the NAB Challenge.

The Cats will be aiming to continue their unbeaten start when they host fellow unbeaten side West Coast at Simonds Stadium next Saturday night.

Collingwood's next outing is a Friday night game against Richmond at the MCG. With the Magpies and Tigers slumping to 1-2, it shapes as a must-win clash for both sides.

COLLINGWOOD         0.4   6.7   8.9    11.10 (76)
GEELONG                   3.5   6.7   9.12  12.15 (87)

GOALS
Collingwood: Elliott 5, White 2, Blair, Toovey, Goldsack, Sidebottom
Geelong: Hawkins 4, Varcoe, Horlin-Smith, Murdoch, Johnson, Guthrie, Stokes, Mackie, McIntosh

BEST
Collingwood:
Elliott, Beams, Sidebottom, Macaffer, Maxwell, Lumumba
Geelong: Selwood, Kelly, Lonergan, Hawkins, Guthrie, Stokes

INJURIES
Collingwood:
Dwyer (lower leg)
Geelong: Enright (ankle) and McCarthy (team balance) replaced in selected side by Sheringham and Simpson; Varcoe (head)

SUBSTITUTES
Collingwood:
Taylor Adams replaced Sam Dwyer in the third quarter
Geelong: Mark Blicavs replaced Mitch Brown in the third quarter

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Donlon, Hay, McInerney

Official crowd: 63,152 at the MCG

Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol

Cox 'one of the best I've seen', says Eagle

Highlights: West Coast v St Kilda The Eagles and Saints clash in round 3

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Dean Cox celebrates a goal in his record-equalling game

DEAN Cox is one of the best players of the modern era, West Coast teammate Jamie Cripps says. 

Cox equalled West Coast's games record in Saturday night's 25-point win over St Kilda at Patersons Stadium, joining four-time Eagles best and fairest Glen Jakovich on 276 matches for the club.

Cox had 15 disposals and 34 hit-outs but the highlight of the night was his goal on the run in the last quarter to seal the win. Cripps had the chance to kick the goal after receiving the ball 25m in the clear on the wing but handed it to Cox as he loped inside 50.

"I thought I'd better give him the goal," Cripps said.

"It's an awesome feeling around the club. The boys are up and about. It was (Chris Masten's) 100th as well and we had Brant Colledge's first game so it was a big night for us and a good win."

Cripps, who played 16 matches with St Kilda before joining the Eagles ahead of the 2013 season, is in awe of Cox's all-round ability as a footballer.  

"He's an awesome player," Cripps said.

"He's nearly got the best skills at the club kicking both left and right foot really well. Coming in from outside I didn't know he was this good but he's one of the best footballers I've seen."

Eagles coach Adam Simpson says the publicity surrounding the milestone had been low-key due to Cox's attitude but also the fact that he will likely break the record outright against Geelong in round four.

"He breaks the record this week if he gets a game. He's in the mix," Simpson joked.

"We haven't made a massive deal of it [because] that's Coxy's nature.

"I was really happy with how he played tonight and in the end he contributed well."

Unbeaten Cats still level below frontrunners

Post-match: Cats Watch Geelong coach Chris Scott's post-match press conference

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Steve Johnson (l) and Tom Hawkins combined to perfection at times at the MCG on Saturday night

GEELONG coach Chris Scott has played down his team's form, despite the Cats opening the season with three straight wins.

Scott's men continued the impressive start to their 2014 campaign when they edged out Collingwood by 11 points on Saturday night.

The victory propelled them to third place on the ladder "without playing that well", according to the coach.

"We're really aware, especially after watching (Hawthorn beat Fremantle) last night, that we need to improve a lot," Scott said in his post-game press conference.

"I don't think this game was anywhere near that one. Even the team that lost last night was probably better than us, I thought.

"Yeah, we're three and zip, but it doesn't really feel like it at the moment.

"So the positive is that the win-loss looks good. But we've still got a lot of work to do on our game."

Scott was relieved rather than elated that his team was able to battle its way to victory in a contest that featured plenty of pressure and plenty of mistakes from both sides.

"I didn’t think we were playing that well for the majority of the game," Scott said.

"So when you're just trying to scrap and find a way through the first three quarters, the message really at three-quarter time was to just keep it a bit more simple.

"I know there were some complex things happening off the ball. Both sides were trying to get the game on their terms to an extent.

"But, really, it was the simple stuff. We had a bit of space, kicked the ball forward and won contests from there."

The heroes for the Cats were key forward Tom Hawkins, who kicked three goals in the last quarter, and key defender Tom Lonergan, who held Travis Cloke goalless.

Lonergan's physical tactics against Cloke enraged the Collingwood supporters, but they were deemed legal thanks to the umpires' more lenient interpretations of contact in marking contests.

"I'm only prepared to talk about Tom, not Travis or the umpires," Scott said. "I thought he was outstanding. I won't elaborate any more than that."

A number of the Cats' young players stood up in the heat of battle, with Cameron Guthrie playing a particularly valuable tagging role on Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury.

"The thing we love about Guthrie is he's very good in that negating role but he wins contests as well," Scott said.

"Some of those contested marks towards the end – there's almost no safer player in our team in that situation, which is a big rap."

Geelong hosts fellow unbeaten team West Coast at Simonds Stadium next Saturday night.

With big men Dean Cox, Nic Naitanui and Callum Sinclair working well together for the Eagles, the Cats are likely to play their own trio of ruckmen – Hamish McIntosh, Dawson Simpson and Mark Blicavs – for the fourth game running.

"It makes sense, I think," Scott said. "The most logical thing is to take in the big guys, given we've done it in every game so far this year, but (it's) not a fait accompli."

Gun defender Corey Enright, who was a late withdrawal from the team that beat Collingwood after failing to recover from an ankle injury, is only a 50-50 chance to line up against West Coast.

"We're confident it's not a long-term thing," Scott said. "We're anticipating he'll be right to play, but (the medicos) can't guarantee it."

Twitter: @AFL_AdamMcNicol

Cloke not the problem

'Not enough supply' Watch Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley's post-match press conference

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Travis Cloke continued his poor record against Geelong, going goalless on Saturday night

COLLINGWOOD coach Nathan Buckley denies Travis Cloke needs more assistance from his teammates, despite the key forward's slow start to the season.

For the second time this year, Cloke was held goalless as Geelong defender Tom Lonergan once again negated the 27-year-old's impact on the scoreboard.

Cloke has scored just two goals for season 2014, both of which came in the Pies' round-two win over Sydney at ANZ Stadium.

As he did in the round-one loss to Fremantle, Cloke failed to register a score during Saturday night's 11-point loss to Geelong.

Click here for full match coverage

Games against the Cats haven't been happy hunting grounds for Cloke, who has now kicked just four goals in the past four such encounters.

But Buckley said the supply to Cloke was the issue and not necessarily Cloke's form, with Geelong winning Saturday night's midfield battle comprehensively.

"Clokey was beaten," Buckley acknowledged post-match.

"We don't rely on him to kick the winning score, we expect the rest of our forward line to tip in and get that done. We're not going to win many games with 11 goals but you're not going to kick many winning scores with just 42 entries.

"I thought our defence held up really well, I thought we were nutted in the midfield and I thought our forwards lacked supply in some way. We scored at about 50 per cent which is OK. We just didn't get enough supply."

One forward who did stand up for the Pies was the high-flying Jamie Elliott.

The 21-year-old leaped over Geelong star Jimmy Bartel in the second term, almost certainly earning him a nomination for mark of the year – an honour he won last season.

Elliott's five goals included three in the final term to put the Pies within five points of the Cats with three minutes remaining.

"Jamie's work rate was excellent," Buckley said.

"He kept putting himself in the spots, took his chances and won his one-on-ones when the time was there. The rest of our forward line could learn a little bit from that. He's a dangerous match-up. He's hard to stop."

Several of Collingwood's star midfielders struggled with only Steele Sidebottom (29) and Dayne Beams (28) in the Pies' best players for the match.

Scott Pendlebury was tagged heavily by Geelong youngster Cam Guthrie and despite gathering 26 disposals was far from influential.

Collingwood's doctors were kept busy with Beams, Nick Maxwell, Sam Dwyer and Heritier Lumumba all hobbling off during the match and receiving treatment in the rooms.

Beams, Maxwell and Lumumba all played out the game, while Dwyer was subbed off for Taylor Adams in the third term.

The coach said he was confident all four would be available for selection for Friday night's crucial clash against Richmond at the MCG.

"We've had casualties from the game. We probably had three or four blokes who were pretty sore throughout," Buckley said.

"Sammy [Dwyer]'s no worse than a couple of others but [his substitution] was to inject some run through the midfield and get Taylor into the mix.

"Richmond played today. A six-day break – it's going to be the same for both of us. We're pretty confident we'll field a really competitive, fit side ready to go."

LeCras 'to miss weeks'

'We were in a bit of strife there' Watch West Coast coach Adam Simpson's post-match press conference

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Mark LeCras has hurt the same arm that hampered his 2013 campaign

MARK LeCras will 'miss weeks' after injuring his right forearm in West Coast's 25-point win over St Kilda on Saturday night. 

LeCras was subbed off during the opening term after having the arm assessed by the Eagles medical staff. 

It is the same arm he broke in round one last season against Fremantle. LeCras missed just one game but was hampered for the rest of the year.

West Coast coach Adam Simpson said the outlook wasn't good but LeCras will be sent for scans on Sunday to determine the severity of the injury. 

"It could be the same issue he had in the past with his arm," Simpson said. "We don't know yet. It doesn't look great.

"He'll miss weeks."

Simpson said the loss of LeCras so early in the match exposed the Eagles' structure.

"It probably tells you a bit about playing so tall sometimes," Simpson said.

"If you lose someone like LeCras, the balance goes out of whack a little bit.

"(Will Schofield) came on and did a serviceable job but he's not a forward so we had to adapt to the game."

Simpson said Josh Hill could be an option to replace LeCras after kicking three goals for East Perth in the WAFL on Friday night.

"He's dying for a chance so you'd assume he'd be in the mix this week," Simpson said.

"He had a really good performance at East Perth last night. We'll see how it all settles tomorrow and we'll go from there but we've got some options."

The Eagles suffered further injury troubles in the match. Chris Masten suffered a nasty cork that diminished his running capacity while Scott Selwood rolled his ankle.

"He couldn't feel his right foot after half-time," Simpson said of Selwood.

"You probably noticed he kicked one out on the full and pulled a few kicks on his left as well so we thought it was a really brave effort from Scooter."

Sharrod Wellingham was replaced by Will Schofield before the match after complaining of groin soreness but Simpson said he will be fine for next Saturday night's clash with Geelong.

"He's just a bit sore and we left it right until today and he just wasn't quite right and these days you can't play at 90 per cent," Simpson said.

"We considered making him sub but we thought the best way forward was just to give him a rest so he'll be available next week." 

'It was pretty brutal'

Pies v Cats: Watch the last two minutes It was a thrilling finish on Saturday night at the MCG

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Key forward Tom Hawkins dragged Geelong over the line against Collingwood

KEY FORWARD Tom Hawkins struggled to impose himself during the first three quarters of Geelong's clash with Collingwood at the MCG on Saturday night.


At the final change, having been well held by young Magpie Jack Frost, he had just eight disposals and one goal to his name.


But when the four premiership points were on the line in the final term, Hawkins stepped up with a commanding performance, booting three late goals and propelling the Cats to an 11-point win.


"It was nice personally to finish with a couple," Hawkins said afterwards. 

"But I felt like I worked relatively hard in the game, so it was a good result personally and fantastic for the team.


"As a lot of supporters of the Cats know, we're not about individual performances, so it was a great effort by the team.


"The pressure came on and we dug deep as a side. The whole 22 of us were fantastic. It was a really good result.


"It was a tough one. There's a lot of sore boys. It was pretty brutal."


But whether he wanted to talk about himself or not, Hawkins was the story of the night.


He started the last quarter by drilling a set shot from a relatively sharp angle in the right pocket.


He then turned to the Collingwood supporters who had been heckling him – "rightly so, I hadn't had much of a kick," he admitted – and put his hand over his mouth.


A minute later, Hawkins snapped another goal, which gave the Cats a 16-point lead.


Then, after the Magpies closed to within five points with three minutes to go, he showed nerves of steel by slotting a 40m set shot that proved to be the last goal of the game.


"I don't think for any moment that I've mastered (kicking goals under pressure)," Hawkins said.


"It's something that just develops. I'm a really nervous person by nature. I get nervous before games.


"But it's just being in those positions that you learn how to deal with those things."

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