Suns crash as Cats put foot down

WE’VE all met that cocky Pplater that sits at the lights and revs his engine. You know, the one that is in his mum’s Hyundai, rubbish techno blaring when a Ferrari pulls up next to it. On Saturday night Gold Coast was that Hyundai and Geelong was the Ferrari.

It revved its engine, challenged the Cats to a drag race by allowing the game to be so open and was left with smoke in its face.

After testing Geelong in the first quarter, the Suns were caught in second gear as the Cats raced away after quartertime to record an 85-point mauling at Metricon Stadium.

The win was set up on the back of a run of nine unanswered goals from late in the first quarter to half time, keeping the Suns to just one point in the second term.

The Cats thrived in an opening half played with very little physical pressure. The game was open and we all know how good Geelong is with time and space.

When you’ve got guys like Mitch Duncan, Gary Ablett, Patrick Dangerfield, Tim Kelly, Joel Selwood and Sam Menegola under your bonnet and in-form, you’d lick your lips at a free-flowing contest.

The first half numbers told the tale. Gold Coast laid just 18 tackles, while just 45 of its 141 possessions were contested.

The Cats laid 20 tackles and 58 of its 211 touches were contested. Geelong managed to work the Suns out into space and then cut them open through the middle with the room they had created.

Duncan had 22 first-half touches, Selwood and Ablett 17 each and Kelly and Dangerfield 13 each.

It was almost like Gold Coast read the blueprint titled ‘how not to beat Geelong’, rather than the one executed so well by Essendon and Sydney in that final quarter at GMHBA Stadium.

That openness may not have been intentional on Geelong’s behalf, but it certainly made the most of the opportunity.

“(I was) probably surprised the game opened up the way it did,” coach Chris Scott said after the 17.19 (121) to 4.12 (36) win.

“It wasn’t exactly how we set it up. I thought the first couple of minutes of the game they (the Suns) were on top. They use the ball well, their kicking skills can be really penetrating if you’re defence is not on.

“Early on they looked intent to control the ball. When you combine that intent to control the ball with good kicking skills, it can be difficult to defend.

“I didn’t think it was too bad around the contest. We had some big, strong players around the contest that were able to stand up in tackles.

“Watching the Suns play, they play a contested style of footy, all the numbers reflect that. It doesn’t always work for them at the moment.

“We didn’t watch it thinking we were just so dominant around the contest and that’s why we won.”

The Cats took a 54-point lead into halftime and the game was over at that point.

The rest was just icing on the cake. Gary Ablett put in a vintage performance to finish with 37 touches, three goals and what should be three Brownlow Medal votes.

Selwood had 33, Duncan 22, Menegola 30 and Dangerfield 28.

Tom Stewart continued his brilliant season with 28 touches, while Mark Blicavs kept Tom Lynch to just one goal.

The Cats forward fired too, as you’d expect in an 85-point win. Tom Hawkins was superb up the ground and closer to goal, finishing with three goals.

Lincoln McCarthy also brought serious spark with 2.3, but that could easily have been five goals straight.

In a season filled with incomplete performances, this was about as complete as you could get from a Geelong perspective.

“It was more than patchy,” Scott said of Geelong’s recent form. “As is the case with every game that I’ve been involved in, there’s always things to work on post-game.”