FLAT GAZ COPS FLAK
Gary Ablett admits he is stinging from his poor performance in Geelong’s shocking loss to Essendon on Saturday night. “I just didn’t have a good night tonight. That happens, we all have bad games of footy.” Ablett was not alone as the Cats delivered one o
‘I CAN’T DEFEND ANY ACCUSATION LEVELLED AT US FOR THAT PERFORMANCE’
INEXPLICABLE is right.
Who would have thought that by the halfway point of the final quarter on Saturday night the Cats were on track for their lowest score since the infamous 2001 match against Carlton when Darren Milburn ironed out Stephen Silvagni?
That match is widely regarded as one of the darkest days in the club’s modern history when it managed just 3.9 (27) and a procession of reports for crude acts in Garry Hocking’s farewell match.
On the surface, Saturday’s performance is bewildering: how can a team boasting three of the greatest midfielders of the modern era kick only three goals in more than three quarters of footy? Against a side that was such a rabble it made a key assistant coach redundant after losing to a previously winless Carlton only a week ago?
Geelong was fielding its strongest team of the year, according to Champion Data’s ranking system, while the Bombers, already missing Joe Daniher and Michael Hurley, were weaker on paper than the team that got rolled by the Blues.
This AFL season is even. But it’s not that even. Geelong should not be losing these games. And certainly not this pathetically.
Too often, the Cats seem to rise and fall their output on the perceived strength of the opposition.
On this occasion, the Cats appeared caught out by an Essendon side that changed the way it played inside a week. Or were they caught out because they just expected the script to write itself?
Turn up, beat up on the Bombers like everyone else has done, prepare for another walk in the park against Carlton next week, lock away a top-four spot? How easy’s this? Wrong.
Where sideways and stagnate ball movement was a trademark of the Bombers’ poor start to the season, they amplified the pressure to levels Geelong couldn’t cope with. They sliced the Cats with slick ball movement (remember the corresponding game last year?) and punctured holes in whatever zone the Cats tried to build.
The Bombers recorded a pressure rating of 233 in the opening quarter, according to Champion Data, the seventhmost by any side in a quarter this season.
They scored 56 points from turnovers. From Rounds 4-8, Geelong conceded just 32 points every game from turnovers, ranking it second in the competition.
All plans were clearly out the window when Patrick Dangerfield went into the ruck. Worth a try, but, more accurately, it was a window into the desperation the Cats were facing and the lack of options with Zac Smith off the ground.
But still, when the Cats lose, it is often when the opposition gets the jump in the pressure department. Think Sydney, Richmond and Adelaide in recent history.
At least in the past, Geelong often found a way back into the game. Not this time though, which is a worry.
Geelong conceded 120 marks and 104 uncontested marks on Saturday — the most marks it has conceded in a game this season. It was the fifth-lowest score under Chris Scott. A very bad loss. The Cats had a clump of three last year — this cannot be the start of another rut.