No reward for effort

O’Bree full of praise for rising youngsters

YOU could hear a pin drop in the Geelong rooms.

Shane O’Bree’s men were gutted after a five-point loss to Northern Blues on Saturday.

Players on both sides slumped over at the final siren after a gruelling final half-hour where 10 goals were kicked.

But it was the Blues who were celebrating, with the Cats suffering a fourth straight loss.

“That’s probably the first time all year you could see the boys were flat,” O’Bree said.

“They gave their all and just needed that reward, and you never know what can happen from there because they’re the real momentum swingers in your season, the games you get up for after a tight tussle or close win.

“I’d hate to know how long it was in our forward half in the last quarter, but we couldn’t get that extra goal or extra score to break them a bit.”

They trailed by four points at the final break in what had been a dour match to that point.

But it turned into a shootout in the closing stanza, with Geelong dominating time in forward half yet failing to hit the front.

The Cats drew level at one stage before the Blues got back out to a seven-point lead.

Two more shots on goal would prove fruitless as the Cats fell short by five points.

“The boys really were consistent in effort all day,” O’Bree said.

“All the focus areas we went into the game with, I thought we implemented pretty well.

“We changed a lot of things during the last quarter; the boys just kept coming, finding a way to find a goal and be in the game.

“Previous weeks we might have allowed the opposition to get that extra goal and get three goals up. But this week we found a way to stay in touch.”

James Tsitas amassed 31 touches — 21 of them contested — and his game was symbolised by a courageous mark going back with the flight in the third term.

Tsitas was collected by an oncoming Blues player who was put on report, but he left the ground on his feet with the assistance of trainers before returning soon after.

Sam McLachlan was huge with 29 disposals, as was Dan Capiron (24), while Ben Moloney logged 31 touches while playing a crucial tagging role.

“There’s a real spot for Benny in the team there,” O’Bree said.

“He played on (Billie) Smedts early, stopped him, then went to (Thomas) Wilson, stopped him. Then (Nick) Graham got on top of us in the third quarter and I think he nullified him fairly well in the last quarter.”

Aaron Black nailed three goals, while O’Bree also praised small forward Jamaine Jones.

“Really lively early, I thought his pressure was fantastic in the first half,” he said.

“He won some critical contests with the ball, too. He’s come a long way with that and he’s just got to keep doing the work to be an even better player.”