Time for team effort
Loss to Bombers reveals cracks in Cats strategy
LET’S get things clear from the outset: every single bit of praise heaped on Geelong’s defenders in the opening two months of this season has been thoroughly deserved.
They have stood up in the absence of Harry Taylor and Lachie Henderson, and players such as Tom Stewart and Jack Henry have emerged from their shadows to become automatic selections.
So much so that Stewart is in All-Australian form and Henry is one of the early fancies for the NAB Rising Star award.
But what Saturday’s clash with Essendon reiterated was that even the greatest defences are only as good as their teammates allow them to be.
The hallmark of the Cats in recent weeks has been their all-over ground pressure and preparedness to work hard for teammates.
That doesn’t just mean defenders leaving a man to help out in a one-on-one contest, it means midfielders and forwards hunting opponents like madmen, gut running, blocking to create space for a mate and doing absolutely everything within your power to ensure the ball does not enter the opposition’s inside-50 — and if it does, to safeguard it going in with ease.
You have to have a thirst for that sort of behaviour, though, and the Cats had hitherto been relentless in that pursuit.
As a result, they had climbed to third position on the ladder heading into the start of the round.
But on Saturday there was very little evidence of any of those qualities they had previously exhibited.
The 14-8 clearance count in Essendon’s favour at quarter-time clearly contributed to the 21-12 inside-50 tally, but the 36-21 tackle count spoke volumes of its intent.
Geelong had ample opportunity to respond and go toe-totoe with the Bombers but it didn’t.
That’s not to say that it couldn’t have if it had dug in, for Chris Scott’s side has shown it can play in that manner when challenged, but on this occasion there was just no fight.
Geelong’s inability to win the ball at stoppages has been of some concern on several occasions this season and on Saturday it put more bodies around the contest in an attempt to stop Essendon getting its hands on the footy first.
But as Chris Scott said, because his side couldn’t win the ball, ultimately it left Stewart, Henry, Harry Taylor, Jake Kolodjashnij, Jed Bews, Mark Blicavs and Zach Tuohy exposed.
“There were a number of occasions where we had them outnumbered and when you get beaten when you’re outnumbering (the opposition) around the ball (they) obviously have numbers in space elsewhere,” Scott said.
“You could strip it right back to that and say, ‘If you don’t win the crucial contest, you’ve got to be good in other places to win the game’.
“It wasn’t just the weight of numbers but 37 inside-50s is a pretty heavy number against in the first half. But it was actually coming down with some system as well, so I didn’t think our de- fenders let us down. For the most part I actually thought the guys in the back half were OK under extreme pressure, it was the overall system of defence that let us down.
“They had 16 scores from turnovers, which is unlike us, and not many of those will be slated back to the defenders.”
So, quite simply, the responsibility rests with players further afield, and no matter how many credits you have in the bank, nobody is exempt from criticism.
On the back of Saturday’s showing a few players may well be on the end of a fervent message during the week: stop putting yourself above the team and start playing team-first football. EDDIE Betts. The Western Bulldogs kicked two goals on Friday night. Five of Betts’ teammates kicked one. Betts kicked four. But it wasn’t just the Betts goals that made you smile, it was his class, which in torrential rain stood out. The veteran small forward sent a reminder to those who had written him off after a couple of quiet matches earlier in the year that he is not a spent force just yet, and with his haul from Friday he now has nine majors in his past three matches. Friday night also happened to be his 100th game in Adelaide colours, and provided he stays fit and the Crows play finals, he may even notch his 300th career game this season. SOME of the discussion around the size of the crowd in Tasmania for the North Melbourne and GWS Giants clash. In isolation the 7194 crowd is small, but the Giants are hardly a huge crowddrawing side. Nor for that matter are the Kangaroos, and maybe, just maybe, this was the locals’ way of saying to the AFL ‘Stop giving us dud matches and give us a team of our own’. If even half of the money spent on investing in China was used to help fund grassroots football in Tasmania it wouldn’t be a waste, and it is hardly fair to expect people to continue to show support for a governing body that has taken it for granted for far too long.