Watch Paul Medhurst speak to CTV in the rooms after the 27-point loss to Geelong Watch Mick Malthouse speak to the media after the loss
POSITIVES will be taken from Thursday night's 27-point loss to Geelong, says Collingwood midfielder Shane O'Bree.
The Magpies didn’t get closer than 14 points after half time but had earlier stormed to a 20-point lead as they dominated the opening exchanges.
Consider too that the Pies broke even with the Cats in many vital statistics – something O’Bree says his team can take heart from as it tries to rebound from its 1-2 start to the season.
"I suppose when we look over the stats tomorrow (Friday) and go through the game, I think we scored as many times, we had as many inside 50s and it’ll be all fairly positive," he said after the match.
"It’s just a few little things [we need to improve] … we know we can compete with the best teams.
"Hopefully it puts us in good stead for the rest of the year."
Collingwood certainly started the clash better than it did its previous encounters against Adelaide and Melbourne, but allowed Geelong to boot eight unanswered goals in the second term to regain the ascendancy.
And O’Bree has a reason why the Cats were able to claw their way back into the contest.
"We got a couple of injuries which sort of cost us a little bit with our set-ups," he said.
"I reckon that came into play a little bit in that second quarter when we had to restructure things.
"With Ben Johnson going off in that first quarter it sort of threw us out a little bit.
"In today’s game I think if you do have an injury early, I think there could be something in the idea of being able to bring on an emergency. That’s my personal opinion anyway."
Goalkicking yips also hampered the Magpies' cause.
They only found the target seven times from 19 set shots, meaning that straighter kicking would have spelt a far different story.
"We sort of let ourselves down there in the second quarter with scoreboard pressure," O’Bree said.
"We should have really kicked a few more goals and put that added pressure on which is what you’ve got to do to good teams like Geelong.
"We had our chances there … even the third quarter if we just had have kicked a few more goals it would have really put a bit more pressure on the Cats."
O'Bree said the conditions were dewy but wasn't sure whether that had any effect.
"[It was] a bit tougher than what it looked and felt," he said.
"I don’t know if that was a factor. But I suppose players, in big games, have just got to kick those goals."
