Cats show heart to

FOR three quarters yesterday, Geelong was unable to figure out a way to play without Joel Selwood.

The inspirational skipper, who had gone down in the first minute of the game with concussion, would usually have been the one player the Cats turned to in a situation like the one they found themselves in at three-quarter time. But alas, he was not there. So, down by 19 points and seemingly powerless to stop a Fremantle side minus Nat Fyfe and Aaron Sandilands, Geelong instead found that the way to overcome these circumstances is for the collective to rise as one.

This win — built on the back of a last quarter full of courage — wasn’t reliant on any one individual.

With Tom Stewart and Darcy Lang also done for the day, it was instead borne out of the run of Mitch Duncan and Zach Tuohy, the strength of Sam Menegola, the poise of Tom Lonergan and Jake Kolodjashnij, the pressure of Patrick Dangerfield and Andrew Mackie, the will power of Jed Bews and Cam Guthrie, and the finishing touch of James Parsons.

It took the heart of 19 men to hunt, chase and harass their opponents — the Cats laid 30 tackles to 21 and won the disposal count 95-74 — and the determination not to succumb in the dying stages.

The final quarter inside-50 tally of 19-6 in Geelong’s favour could have seen them lead by an even greater LACHIE YOUNG’S VOTES amount, but poor kicking for goal had been the order of the day and that was one thing that did not change.

Earlier it had looked as though the Cats would again fall victim to their poor run of form against teams sitting between ninth and 13th on the ladder.

Last week’s loss to West Coast meant they were 4-8 from 12 games since the start of last year, and in the second term Fremantle was on track to deliver another upset.

It kicked seven consecutive goals to race away to a 34point lead, with Geelong unable to slow the Dockers’ ball movement in the same manner it had in the first quarter. Fremantle had also noticeably changed its mindset and approach, playing on far more often when it marked the ball.

In the first quarter the Dockers played on after only five of their 22 marks, but that changed dramatically in the second quarter, with the visitors playing on 12 times from 25 marks as they successfully looked to move the ball quickly on the narrow Simonds Stadium.

Geelong’s defenders, who had been superb in the opening term and stopped everything that came their way, could not cope with the barrage of inside-50s, nor the quality of Fremantle’s execution.

The Cats on the other hand were turning the ball over too frequently and not making the most of their opportunities in front of goal — on countless occasions Geelong players had handballs and kicks, particularly through the middle of the ground, intercepted or smothered, making scoring particularly difficult.

But as they have done so often this season, Geelong found something extra when it mattered most. The Cats could have been forgiven for not getting to every contest in the last quarter such was the toll of being down to one man on the bench. They could have been excused for not quite being able to get to an opponent to lay a tackle or put on a bump. But they did not give in. Dangerfield started the ball rolling with a tackle on Lachie Weller that allowed Parsons to goal, and the recentlycontracted forward had two in the space of a couple of minutes when he gathered a loose ball soon after.

A dashing run from Steven Motlop was then capped off by a spectacular mark and goal from Tom Hawkins, and despite that being the end of the goal run, the drama was just beginning.

But this is a proud group that showed enough character to suggest it will do whatever it takes to get out of any pickle they find themselves in.

Had Michael Walters shot at goal with two seconds on the clock gone through instead of sliding to the left of the goalpost, Fremantle would have equally deserved victory.

It had done so much right, but sometimes it’s a game of centimetres. Yesterday, the ball went Geelong’s way, resulting in a win that it will undoubtedly draw upon for a while to come.