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How many hamburgers did Tom Hawkins eat today?

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  • A million

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  • This pole triggers me

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  • Total voters
    7

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Crazy to think if big Tommy didn't eat the Pies in the '11GF we'd be sitting here today and Geelong wouldn't be the most successful club of the 21st century.

In Tommy we trust.

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Beaten by the better club in 2011: McGuire​

GEELONG's ability to beat Collingwood three times this year made it easier for the Magpies to accept yesterday's negative grand final result, club president Eddie McGuire said.

The mood of the Magpies' change rooms was downcast but not despondent following the failure to notch back-to-back premierships to farewell coach Mick Malthouse.

''If you went out there and mucked up chances or you were unprofessional in the build-up, or there was more left in the tank, then you gnash your teeth. But I stand being beaten by a better team and better club in season 2011,'' McGuire said.

''I'm very proud of our boys that we did as well as we did this year. At three-quarter-time we were in [contention to win] the grand final but the Cats deserved to win because they were the best team on the day, and they've beaten us three times this year so we have no issue whatsoever with Geelong having the cup.

''They've just been a mighty team and they deserve all their successes.''

McGuire said the Magpies were ''30 minutes short this year, just as last year Geelong might have been a game short when we played them, and St Kilda a week short in the [grand final] replay''.

''We've had a couple of great finals games this year - West Coast and Hawthorn were fantastic wins for our club - but against the best team in the competition we fell short.''

Collingwood captain Nick Maxwell said he believed the Cats were helped by the necessity to replace key forward James Podsiadly, due to injury, with nimble substitute Mitch Duncan in the second quarter.

''I thought it did have a positive effect in the end for them. It threw me out of position - there wasn't a match-up for me so I had to go up on to a wing and try and play a role there,'' he said. ''They restructured. They had a heap of quick guys so there was no match-up for me … it just threw us out everywhere.''

Maxwell sought to rally the team by highlighting the imminent departure of Malthouse during an impassioned three-quarter-time address.

''We were obviously behind so I tried to draw on some emotion. I grabbed Mick in and mentioned him, and 'Taz' (Chris Tarrant) and those guys [yet to play in a premiership]. But the game was probably shot to pieces by then,'' he said.

''The hardest thing's knowing … we let him down. We can't make amends for that.''

Midfielder Scott Pendlebury, arguably the Magpies' best player in defeat, said he and his teammates were not daunted by entering the last quarter with a seven-point deficit.

''That last quarter we went in with confidence. We'd run over Hawthorn last week. I don't know what happened … we were doing everything we could to try and peg it back, but they just ran away. It's going to hurt,'' he said.

Maxwell lamented that the Cats had ''a smoother run into the finals''.

''A lot of things didn't go right for us all year. We had a lot of guys injured, a lot of guys who had suspensions, a lot of guys not playing their best footy at the end of the year,'' he said.

''I think you just need to have your best team available - and they did. Obviously [Daniel] Menzel was a big loss to them, but apart from that [nothing]. Even Stevie Johnson showed today that he was 100 per cent.

''We had guys who had interrupted runs through the finals, but it's no excuse. They took their chances … they were the better team today, and that's when it matters.''
 

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