Monty bounces back

When Brodie Holland cannoned into Brett Montgomery at the opening bounce of Sunday's elimination final at the MCG, the 33-year-old's outlook for the rest of the afternoon appeared bleak.

But to his credit - and the amazement of everybody who saw the hit - Montgomery hauled himself up off the canvas to play a pivotal role in the thrilling win. He kicked four goals - including three in the first half when the game was still hot - but don't ask him to recount any of the action that took place before the half-time siren.

"I don't really have too much memory of the first half in general. It's hard to explain, I can (remember) bits and pieces, but I'm sure I'll enjoy sitting back and watching it," Montgomery said in the rooms after the match.

"I spoke to Gia at half-time and told him to just keep talking to me because I had the tendency to float in and out and he did a great job, he kept me honest."

Rodney Eade said Montgomery's bravery to bounce back after being crunched so emphatically was exceptional.

"It's enormous courage isn't it? To be hit like that … the AFL will have a look at the tape and see whether that's too far off the ball, but he was knocked out for five or 10 seconds - most players would come off - he didn't want to come off," Eade said.

"And then to kick 4.1 and have another one on the siren at the second quarter that didn't quite make the distance, just shows what a good player he is. He should've marked that one in the goalsquare that he tried to shepherd through, so he could've easily had six goals today."

It's probably safe to assume that Monty won't enjoy watching the incident Eade was referring to; a misguided effort to shepherd a Matthew Robbins shot on goal through the big sticks in the second quarter.

The ball took a diabolical bounce back over his head and the Collingwood defenders swept the ball out of the danger zone. A smiling Montgomery says that he certainly doesn't remember that occurring and he also made it clear that he had no problem with Holland's big challenge.

"That's fantastic, someone coming out and playing hard tough footy in a final. I said to him after the game, 'that's just what finals footy's about'," he said.

"Going into a final, you go in expecting you're going to get a hard hit early or you can get involved in some nice, rough stuff early - that's the mindset you go in with."

After an even first half, the match appeared destined to go down to the wire before a six-goals-to-nil third quarter broke the game wide open.

"We ran in the second half like we were running in the first and perhaps they didn't; I don't think anything changed, I think we just kept going the way we were going," Montgomery replied when asked what sparked the surge.

"We kept the pressure on. We get a lot of credit for our skill and our pace and our run, but hopefully now we'll start to get a bit of credit for the pressure that we do put on - it's probably taken 12 months for people to realise that."

Montgomery is one of the few Dogs to have played in finals prior to this one - a large part of why he was brought back to Whitten Oval - and he hopes to be able to put that experience to good use in the coming weeks.

"It was definitely an element of that when I came across and when I interviewed with Rocket he was looking to get that finals experience," he said.

"If I'd come over here and had been in and out of the side all year and then didn't pop up in September it would have been a waste of time.

"But the way it's worked out, I've had an up-and-down year - it hasn't been too bad - but hopefully I can come good when it counts."