COLLINGWOOD BELTS GEELONG; IS GEELONG'S SEASON OVER?
Ben Jensen 21 May 2006

By Ben Jensen ASK ANYBODY with the slightest football brain and the answer to the question must be "probably" if not a "yes". A week after being the Saints, Geelong was comprehensively thrashed by Collingwood at the MCG tonight, in what was universally described as a 'disgrace'. A near full strength team, albeit with one or two coming back from injury but with no real excuse, was no match for a resurgent Magpie outfit from the word go.

It was a very poor display in a what should have been a tribute to coach Mark 'Bomber' Thompson, who is now Geelong's second longest serving coach for games coached. After the game Thompson was asked if it was the worst game he'd presided over:

"For sure, we have had big defeats before but we had our best 34 players available tonight. We are not a young team any more and the team we put out tonight is more than capable of being a good team. We performed poorly, it was a bad loss and I came to the ground tonight thinking we would play good footy - I didn’t see it coming at all."

About the only match report appropriate is to list the result with goal kickers and, for what it's worth, the best players from either side.

Geelong host Richmond at Skilled Stadium next Saturday afternoon, desperate to improve their record of three wins five losses after eight rounds. Richmond had their forth win of the season today, over Adelaide at Telstra Dome.

COLLINGWOOD: 6.0, 12.3, 18.10, 22.14 (146) DEFEATED
GEELONG: 2.1, 2.4, 3.6, 6.8 (44)

GOALS COLLINGWOOD: Davis 4, Rocca 4, Swan 4, Tarrant 3, Shaw 2, O'Bree, Johnson, Burns, Holland, Licuria
GEELONG: Kelly 2, Kingsley, Steve Johnson, Corey, Ablett

BEST COLLINGWOOD: Swan, Fraser, Clement, Davis, Lockyer, Johnson, Shaw, O'Bree
GEELONG: Kelly, Milburn, Egan