WHAT WENT WRONG IN TOWNSVILLE >> SPORT
Scratchy Cats have lots to work on, says Enright
GEELONG assistant coach Corey Enright says the Cats will not read too much into their patchy and scrappy performance in last night’s JLT Community Series loss to the Gold Coast.
The Cats went down to Gold Coast by 56 points in Townsville, putting in a rusty performance typically seen in pre-season matches.
With Gary Ablett, Joel Selwood, Patrick Dangerfield, Harry Taylor, Lachie Henderson and Nakia Cockatoo all absent from yesterday’s team, a youthful Cats team lacked polish and were brushed aside by a ferocious Suns 12.13 (85) to 3.11 (29) who showed plenty of promise in their first outing under new coach Stuart Dew.
And while Tim Kelly, Charlie Constable, Lachie Fogarty, Esava Ratugolea and Gryan Miers showed impressive signs, senior players including Tom Hawkins, Mitch Duncan, Cam Guthrie and Zach Tuohy needed the match to blow out some pre-season cobwebs.
“I thought they (senior players) played OK in parts, patches,” Enright said.
“At times they played OK, at times we were pretty poor as a unit.
“It’s one of those things, the first practice game. We had lots of rotations and guys not playing their normal positions for long periods of time.
“Obviously it was tough conditions for the players. In the end it was a hard-fought game.
“We will take some positives away from it, but also some things we will have to look at in review and see what we have to do better.”
Geelong rotated and experimented heavily in steamy conditions at Riverway Stadium.
Mark Blicavs and Guthrie spent a lot of time in defence, while Kelly and Constable both scored periods in the middle of the ground.
Kelly was the standout of the debutants with 13 touches, while Constable accumulated 22 disposals. Ex-Falcon Miers kicked Geelong’s first goal of the game, while Fogarty and Ratugolea were all serviceable in their first games.
“I thought one positive was those guys,” Enright said of the debutants.
“They played really well and showed they understand the game and they want to be out there and play footy the right way. It was impressive to see our youngsters come out and show something.”
GEELONG got a glimpse into what life without its stars looked like yesterday after falling by 56 points to Gold Coast in its opening JLT Community Series clash in Townsville.
With Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood, Gary Ablett and Harry Taylor all rested or unavailable, the Cats experimented with several match-ups and put valuable game-time into a host of young players.
But the Suns were simply too strong in Stuart Dew’s first match in charge and looked slick with the ball and aggressive without, applying pressure at every opportunity.
Zach Tuohy (24 possessions and eight rebound-50s) and Sam Menegola (21 possessions and three inside-50s) were both prolific, and Cory Gregson (15 disposals, three marks and three tackles) looked lively and got through the game unscathed.
Dew would have been left impressed with what he saw of his young side, but there were enough positives for the Cats to take out of the contest despite the lopsided margin.
While both teams will come away with plenty to work on, Chris Scott has the advantage of being able to bring back at least 982 games of experience into his team in the coming weeks with the aforementioned quartet.
MAKING A MARK DOWN BACK
WITH no Lachie Henderson, Ryan Gardner or Taylor, Mark Blicavs started deep in defence and was given one of the toughest jobs in footy playing on Tom Lynch. The Gold Coast skipper kicked the first goal of the match but Blicavs didn’t look completely at sea, and with Taylor back in the side he could easily take the opposition’s second best- forward. His run and carry was a feature, which is something his direct opponents will struggle with, and given his aerobic capacity there were several times where he pushed forward or on to the wing and found a mismatch to create a marking option. Jed Bews was steady as usual, but it’s fair to say the ball use from some of his teammates in the back half left a lot to be desired.
DUNCAN SHOWS YOUNG CATS THE LEVEL
THERE was also a shortage of Geelong’s best options in the engine room with no Dangerfield, Selwood or Ablett, but Mitch Duncan showed no signs of slowing down from his superb 2017 season and found able support from fellow West Australian Tim Kelly.
Duncan’s numbers — 17 disposals, three marks and five tackles — were one thing, but he was also doing the work at both ends of the ground and stood up as captain for the second time this pre-season. For Kelly, the first clearance of the game got him going and he looks like a player with whom Cats fans will fall in love. He was sharp by foot and has elite pace.
IT might have been because Gold Coast continually pushed numbers back but the Geelong forward line didn’t appear to have much structure to it for most of the afternoon.
It was only the first hitout of the season so there is time to fix it, and when Stewart Crameri comes into the side it will help ease the pressure on Tom Hawkins. But there needs to be improvement because despite having only five fewer inside-50s, the Cats struggled to hit the scoreboard. At the other end of the ground the Suns were manic with their pressure on the ball carrier in their forward half but at times it was just a little too easy for them to run the ball out of their defence.
DRAFTEES MOUNT CASE FOR ROUND 1
THERE is not much more you can say about Tim Kelly, who pencilled his name into the senior team for Round 1 with a brilliant performance. Forget the fact the ‘big three’ have to return, he will be there, and it’s hard looking at him running around for Geelong to see why it took recruiters so long to give him a shot.
The efforts of Gryan Miers early were encouraging and his liveliness around the goals is just what the Cats need this season.
Along with Gregson, his tenacity inside-50 will be vital. Miers reads the play extremely well, which makes up for his lack of size, and because he is always on the move it makes him dangerous even when he doesn’t have the ball.
Charlie Constable (22 disposals and two clearances) found plenty of the footy, and even if his disposal efficiency (50 per cent) wasn’t always a highlight, both he and Lachie Fogarty will be better for the run.