Malthouse unfazed by Magpies' inaccuracy - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Malthouse unfazed by Magpies' inaccuracy

By Adam Cooper 08/08/2010 01:48:02 PM Comments (0)

Collingwood coach Mick Malthouse says he's unfazed by the Magpies' lingering problem of inaccurate goal kicking.

Saturday night's 22-point win over Geelong at the MCG should just about seal the AFL minor premiership but wastefulness was again evident, as it prevented the Pies stitching up a game they controlled for most of the night.

Collingwood were magnificent at turning midfield dominance into scoring attempts but were again wayward with their finishing in the 14.23 (107) to 12.13 (85) victory, their seventh straight.

The Magpies paid the price for their inaccuracy (6.14) the previous time they played Geelong, and wastefulness was also costly in the round-three defeat to St Kilda and round-12 draw with Melbourne.

Key forward Travis Cloke, who typifies Collingwood's uncertainty in front of goal, booted 2.1 on Saturday night and one out on the full but did dob an important set shot during the third quarter.

Malthouse took a glass-half-full approach to his side's inefficiency.

"We hit the post, what, five, six times?" he said.

"Half a foot either side it's a dead-set point or a goal and 17.20 looks a lot better than our 14.23.

"I'm not overly concerned.

"I don't want it to bite us though, so we'll be working towards it as we have done every week of this year, contrary to what a lot of people may suggest."

Malthouse said he was unsure what sort of psychological edge Collingwood could gain in beating Geelong so close to the finals.

But he said the Magpies would be worthy of their spot high at the top of the ladder given they had now played the Cats, St Kilda and Western Bulldogs all twice (for a combined four wins, two losses).

"I said to the players at the beginning of the season 'Make the top four with that (draw) and you thoroughly deserve to be there'," he said.

"Now we can say we're pretty close to making the top four, but we've still got to ... make it waterproof and keep working towards (improving) our game."

Collingwood will monitor defender Ben Reid (ankle) ahead of Friday night's game against Essendon.

Collingwood skipper Nick Maxwell said the Magpies would take a quick trip away after the game against the Bombers.

"That was something we planned about six weeks ago given we've got that eight-day break, just to get away and freshen our minds up," he told the Seven Network on Sunday.

"We're just going to go away for a couple of nights and play a bit of golf and just relax a little bit."

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