AFL round 10 match review: Geelong v. Port Adelaide at Geelong

Another week, another win for the mighty Cats, who must now be considered a serious premiership contender. This week’s victim was Port Adelaide, as the New Kardinia Park witnessed a Thursday night thriller. In the end, two points was all that separated the sides, as a wasteful start by Geelong was followed by a thrilling middle half and a tense final term.

The Cats’ pressure from the previous week carried over into the opening of this match; it took nearly two and a half minutes for the ball to leave the hosts’ attacking half, yet their first thirteen inside fifties yielded only four behinds. Port went into quarter-time up three goals to one and signalled their intentions early in the second term when Charlie Dixon laid a ferocious hit on Joel Selwood.

Geelong drew level through a Patrick Dangerfield goal, and pulled ahead when the same player majored from a fifty-metre penalty. Two more lead changes followed, Geelong taking a narrow eight-point buffer into the long break despite Paddy Ryder’s domination of the rucks. The fiercely-contested match kept see-sawing, with more changes of lead, Dixon’s checkside goal and Robbie Gray’s diving mark the highlights of the third quarter.

The Power had regained the ascendancy late in the fourth quarter when Dixon, taking more than the allowed thirty seconds to take his set shot and forced to play on, kicked the ball into the man on the mark. After Tuohy won a free at the other end, Geelong won the ball from a stoppage at the top of the square, Selwood (with his nineteenth and last contested possession of the match) and Dangerfield combining for the winner.

Next up in the three-game home stand in the Pivot City is Port’s noisy neighbours, the Crows, in what could be a preview of September with the added twist of Danger going up against his old side.

Geelong 11.15.81 (Dangerfield 3, Blicavs, Hawkins, Menegola, Menzel, Motlop, Parsons, S. Selwood, Tuohy) – Port Adelaide 11.13.79 (R. Gray 3, Ah Chee, Dixon, S. Gray, Polec, Powell-Pepper, Ryder, Westhoff, Young)

AFL round 9 match review: Geelong v. Western Bulldogs at Geelong

After a few disappointing results, the pressure was on as Geelong played host to the Western Bulldogs at the new and improved Insert Sponsor’s Name Here Stadium Kardinia Park. Four quarters and a club record 134 tackles later, the Geelong show was back on the road, as the Cats ran out 23-point winners.

Channel Seven’s telecast began to notice the tackle count shortly before the midpoint of the first term, and despite two goals from Patrick Dangerfield and a stunner from Mark Blicavs, the Bulldogs went into the first change with a nine-point lead, a figure which might have been higher had Lin Jong and Marcus Bontempelli been less wasteful in front of goal.

Harry Taylor opened the second quarter with the first of his five goals, but Geelong were dealt a blow with the withdrawal of Nakia Cockatoo with an injury to his right hamstring. Dangerfield, Taylor, and Zach Tuohy all majored before the hosts cruised into half-time with a 26-point lead, their Taylor-less defence having conceded just four inside 50s in the quarter.

But the reigning premiers were far from beaten, having entered the sheds with their own club record for most first-half tackles. Mitch Wallis, straight outta the VFL, kicked two of his side’s six goals for the term, the second coming from a set shot as the young midfielder won a sensational holding-the-ball free in his attacking fifty. The margin was back to nine in favour of i tricolore, and the sight of Jason Johannisen’s hair marauding from the half-back line was starting to unnerve the Geelong faithful.

Joel Selwood got the Pivotonians back into the contest with a set shot from outside fifty, and then assisted his brother Scott to give Geelong the lead. The Dogs held on until late in the final stanza, but the door was slammed shut when Marcus Adams was pinged for holding the ball, Taylor converting the resulting free kick. With 134 tackles (71 of them in the first half) and 12.0 from set shots, this was a footballing masterclass, although Footscray by no means performed badly.

The three Brownlow votes, the first awarded in front of the new Charles Brownlow Stand, seem destined for the boy from Moggs Creek: thirty-six disposals, twelve tackles, ten clearances, four goals.

Next up on Thursday night at the same venue is Port Adelaide, fresh off a bye after their Big Win in Little China. With los porteños known around the League for their intensity and athleticism, this could be one hell of a game of footy.

Geelong 16.8.104 (Taylor 5, Dangerfield 4, Menzel 2, Blicavs, Hawkins, J. Selwood, S. Selwood, Tuohy) – Western Bulldogs 12.9.81 (Boyd 2, Dickson 2, Redpath 2, Smith 2, Wallis 2, Cloke, Webb)