Reward for effort after opening blitz
MOST people would have been left impressed with Geelong’s third-quarter domination of GWS at Simonds Stadium on Saturday night, but returning utility Mark Blicavs said his team was equally pleased with how it started the match.
The Cats kicked five goals to three in the opening term to set up an early 14-point advantage over the Giants — just Geelong’s second quarter-time lead since Round 18.
But the visitors fought back and reduced the margin to seven points at the main break.
Geelong then flexed its muscle with a six-goal-to-one third term, with Blicavs admitting it was a good feeling to get some reward for effort after a tough first half.
“I thought we were just consistent with our setups and our intent around the ball, and I felt we played pretty well in the first half but didn’t quite get rewarded with a few of our misses and inside-50s with the way we were attacking,” Blicavs said.
“To get that reward in the third quarter was really pleasing, but we were really happy we started the game well.
“And then to come out after halftime, where sometimes we’ve lacked in the past as well, to start that well again was really good. We felt we played really well against them up there so we were confident coming into this match and we just wanted to be aggressive from the start and try to improve our slow starts.
“We thought we did that, which was great, and credit to them it was a fantastic hardhitting contest.
“There was a lot of running out there, but it was a really pleasing performance.”
It was Blicavs’ first game back after fracturing his fibula in the 21-point loss to Adelaide last month.
The big man finished the night with 16 disposals, four tackles, two inside-50s and four rebound-50s. More importantly, though, he got through the match unscathed, and said he had achieved what he set out to do when he started his rehabilitation.
“It felt really good out there, I felt pretty fresh and I’ve obviously had the month off with the rehab to get it right so physically I felt good,” Blicavs said. “I was tested a little bit with a few changes of direction and jumps, but the last couple of weeks it has come along really well at training.
“I set a goal to get back and have one hit out pre-finals and I got that, so I couldn’t have asked for a better rehab.”