That’s one to savour: Mackie

GEELONG defender Andrew Mackie says the Cats will look to draw on the positives from a remarkable come-from-behind victory against Fremantle yesterday.

The Dockers led by as much as 34 points during the second quarter, but Geelong fought back to steal an unlikely victory with three goals to none in the last term.

Mackie said while there would be a thorough review of how his team got to that point, the Cats were happy to take the win after playing the last quarter with just one player on the bench.

“It wasn’t the prettiest match from our point of view but the final siren was nice,” Mackie said.

“We were out on our feet, which shows a lot of character to be honest. You learn a bit about a few players and to walk away with a win given where we were at half time is really significant for us.

“I’m not denying the fact that we were pretty poor for a lot of the game but it’s an AFL game of footy, the opposition is going to be quality, their good players were involved and they were up and about. We were a few down on the bench so you’ve got to draw some positives.”

Mackie had another superb game in defence, cutting off several Fremantle forward entries and rebounding with plenty of dash to create scoring opportunities at the other end.

The Cats had an average winning margin of 17 points in last quarters this season heading into the Fremantle clash, and needed to draw on every bit of resilience they had to ensure they walked away with the four points.

Mackie said it was a nice feeling knowing there were players within the side who thrived on playing in such conditions.

“You just draw on everything and see what we can do as a club when our backs are against the wall,” he said.

“Over the last little bit of the journey it’s something (where) we’ve been lucky enough to have some players who really enjoy that situation.

“Today was really positive from that point of view that it wasn’t going our way and sometimes you’ve just got to get it done.”