With his side trailing by 37 points, getting smashed all over the field and looking every bit as shell-shocked as it did late last season, the Doggies looked gone.
Callan, a former Cat, braced himself for one of coach Rodney Eade’s infamous tirades for which the grapevine has made him famous. It never happened.
“Rocket (Eade) came down at quarter time and I was expecting one of his famous sprays and just thought we were going to get ripped to pieces, but he was really positive,” Callan said.
“He just said we had to change a few things and if we did then we could get back into the game.
“Even though you try to stay positive at quarter time it was one of those things where we were just shell-shocked and to fight back from something like that showed real character,” he said.
Change a few things was the understatement of the night.
In the next three quarters the Dogs outscored the Saints 18 goals to six, won the inside 50s 42-32, had 96 more disposals and 28 more handball receives.
Callan said the key to the turnaround was the midfield, highlighting the efforts of Adam Cooney (28 possessions and two goals) and Ryan Griffen (25 and three goals).
“Our defenders were getting isolated a lot in the first term but after the heat went off we were able to get the ascendency back and take it from there,” he said.
“The midfield was awesome with how they responded.
“If you don’t have 22 blokes playing good footy then you’re not going to win too many games, especially against good sides like St Kilda.”
While quick to espouse the upside of 22 contributors, Callan was already looking to stretching the Dogs record to 4-0 next Friday in what looms as a danger game against Essendon.
Despite its unbeaten record Callan doubted the Dogs would start hot favourites.
“I don’t know about that because the Bombers absolutely smashed us in the NAB Cup by about 12 goals, so they’ll have a little bit of confidence going in,” he said.
“We’ll just focus on that and see what happens.”
After five years with Geelong netted just 15 games Callan said he was relishing the chance to play regular senior football.
He missed the side’s round one win over Adelaide but a fortnight ago held Melbourne livewire Aaron Davey goalless and last night had 18 possessions off half back to be a key contributor in the 38-point win.
“They’re a great bunch of blokes and it’s great to be a part of it,” he said.
“Now we just have to keep it going.”
