Pies no pushovers, Cats coach declares

CHRIS Scott says Collingwood’s start to the season isn’t a fair reflection of what the Magpies are capable of.

The Pies are 1-4 and have been under extreme heat after suffering an upset loss to Essendon on Anzac Day, but Scott said the Cats were preparing to face Collingwood’s best at the MCG tomorrow.

“We think that their natural level is higher than what they’ve shown so far this year, and our preparation has been geared around expecting that level, and making sure we do everything we can to counter it,” the Cats coach said.

“It’s not hard to find the strength of areas in their game, particularly within their personnel. Their midfield would be rated among the best midfields in the competition and, early in the year, the results, I don’t think they’re really a fair reflection of the way a team can play. It’s a pretty small sample size.

“The challenge for us is we make sure that we pressure them enough so they can’t play their best footy against us.”

The midfield battle shapes as particularly interesting with the likes of Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood and Mitch Duncan going head to head with Scott Pendlebury, Adam Treloar, Steele Sidebottom and Daniel Wells.

“There’s virtually not a team in the comp that would have multiple run-with players so, given that, if you were going to chose one (to tag), it’s almost a case of throw the balls up in the air and see which way they fall,” Scott said.

“Pendlebury is a gun — one of the best players in the competition, has been a little bit down but we wouldn’t expect that to continue.

“Treloar, Adams, Wells is a champion at his best, they’re very, very deep. Sidebottom (too), it’s almost crazy that he doesn’t get mentioned in the first sentence, so you can’t sit on all of them — you need to respect all of them, though.”

The Magpies upset Geelong in Round 9 last year on the back of seven unanswered goals in the opening term.

Scott said his side would not be relying on its strong final quarters to get the win tomorrow. We can’t make it a game of their fast start versus our fast finish.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re up for the contest early and we expect it to be pretty fierce.

“They’re coming off a short break but again if you reference some of the things their players have said, they’re pretty keen to get back out there and improve on the performance of last Tuesday.

“We expect it to be hot and if we’re off our game, we’ll be chasing again.”