Good Round 3 so far, with one game still to go today.
I reckon it was a pretty disappointing round for would-be contenders Collingwood and North Melbourne. Both had a chance to send a message that they are fair-dinkum about challenging for a premiership, and both blew it.
The Pies were at least in the game, but blew through bad finishing rather than a poor effort. As Malthouse said, they are not as good as Geelong, and therefore to beat them they have to play a near perfect game. Missing 10 or 11 set shots is not a perfect game. Collingwood dominated play for good periods of Thursday night, but could not capitalise on their weight of possession in the first and third quarters. The Cats were the opposite, scoring heavily for the quarter and a half they had control, and that was the difference.
I think North was more dissappointing than Collingwood, as they had an out of form and injured Hawthorn as an opponent, yet were blown off the park. Laidley is right to be angry at his leaders, for as a group they failed to stand up. The Roos actually had a lot more experience on the ground than the Hawks, so had a chance to exert some physical dominance over the younger bodied Hawks, but again missed this, or ill-directed it when the opportunity arose.
These are the types of games North can't afford if they really want the respect they always say they deserve but don't get.
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