Ever the perfectionist, Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley was left wanting more as the Magpies downed GWS to set up a blockbuster AFL preliminary final against Richmond.
The Pies were too good for the depleted Giants on Saturday night, prevailing by 10 points to continue their resurgence after finishing 13th last season.
Buckley’s men came flying out of the gates at the MCG, kicking three goals to none in a dominant first quarter.
But the Pies squandered opportunities and allowed GWS to get within a kick at three-quarter time before Jordan De Goey lit the spark to put the result beyond doubt.
“I did say in the box at the end, ‘can you possibly be dissatisfied with a finals win’?,” Buckley said after the game.
“I don’t think you can but we can play better than that.
“We dominated the game tonight but there were areas that we didn’t do well that meant that we needed to win it a couple of times.
“It showed a little bit of maturity to be able to plug away and to continue trying to impose what we were trying to do.”
De Goey (three goals) stood tall for the Magpies despite rolling his ankle early in the game while big guns Brodie Grundy and Steele Sidebottom both made outstanding contributions.
The Pies also had winners down back with Brayden Maynard comfortably beating All-Australian forward Toby Greene and Jeremy Cameron well-held by Tyson Goldsack.
Friday night’s showdown with Richmond will be the first final between the traditional rivals and powerhouse Victorian clubs since the 1980 premiership decider.
The Tigers will head into the preliminary final having not played for 15 days while the Pies will be coming off a six-day break and a trip to Perth.
“They might be a bit dusty … too long without playing,” a deadpan Buckley said of the Tigers.
“It’s not something we worry about too much. I reckon the boys are looking forward to playing.
“There are games that are taxing and wearing but I thought we had actually enough control of the game tonight that we didn’t have to run our guts out necessarily.
“We still worked hard but I thought we were relatively efficient with what we did.”
