Cats get going
Young Henry a Jack of all trades
HE is six centimetres shorter than Esava Ratugolea, but Jack Henry will get another chance as a forward and second ruckman behind Rhys Stanley after Saturday night’s win over Melbourne.
Henry, 191cm, had just two hit-outs and one mark for the match, but laid seven tackles to highlight his impact when the ball hit the ground.
The St Mary’s product was told during the week that he would be swung forward, with Lachie Henderson to assume his defensive post.
“Based on tonight, there’s good evidence to suggest we should (persist),” coach Chris Scott said.
“I thought Henderson was really solid and Jack did what we asked of him, gave us a really strong contest in our forward half.”
It is a role not unfamiliar to Henry, who played a little bit of ruck as a junior and a lot forward in the VFL last season.
While the 19-year-old has held his own in defence, he’s ready to adapt into a mobile forward.
“Being able to have versatility in your game is always good, whether being thrown down back as a plus one if you need support down there, or being able to push forward in the dying moments if we need to attack and just being able to chop out for the team wherever I can, I guess that’s a good thing,” Henry told the Geelong Advertiser.
“I found out during the week and trained it there. I spoke to ‘Knighta’ (midfield coach Matthew Knights) and had to do a little bit of ruck craft to chop out with Rhys.
“It came pretty naturally; I did a fair bit of vision and stuff to refresh my brain but it was fairly natural.”
He kicked his first goal in AFL football at a critical moment in the third term, when the Demons looked like they were running away with the contest.
“I was pretty excited, it’s a great feeling kicking goals,” he said.
“Hawky gave me a nice handball, I had a little glance around to see if anyone was there, but I just took the shot with no one in the goal square.”
Hawkins, meanwhile, produced his best performance for the season on his 30th birthday to nail seven goals straight including four in the last quarter.
The veteran looked extremely dangerous on the lead, clunking eight marks for the game, three on the lead and four contested.
Arguably his most important mark was in the dying seconds when Daniel Menzel squared the ball into the corridor for Hawkins to mark and dish off to Mitch Duncan on the run, who in turn put the ball in space for Zach Tuohy.
Hawkins’ form is vital for Geelong if it’s to have an impact in September.
It might seem an obvious statistic, but the Cats have won 35 games and lost just seven when Hawkins has kicked four or more goals.
Hawkins’ past 10 games read: four goals, three, three, three, three, three, three, two, four and seven — a level of consistency on par with his best-and-fairest year of 2012.
Equally important on Saturday night was Stanley, who played a vital role in curbing Max Gawn’s influence.
Stanley effectively finished even with Gawn at the stoppages, compiling 31 hitouts to Gawn’s 38 and 13 centre hit-outs to Gawn’s 12. But around the ground, the former Saint had 22 touches, five marks, five inside 50s and three rebound 50s, working over his All Australian counterpart to lock away Geelong’s No. 1 ruck mantle.
“He’s fought his way through it and he’s been really good for us now for at least a month now, maybe longer,” Scott said.
“I thought he was very good. If Gawn’s not the best ruckman in the competition I’m not sure who is, and Rhys went head to head with him basically the whole game.” GEORGE Horlin-Smith could spend an extended stint on the sidelines after injuring his AC joint in Saturday’s VFL loss to Casey. The 25-yearold, who’s out of contract at season’s end, came to the bench using his jumper as a sling for his left arm. Meanwhile, electric midfielder Nakia Cockatoo underwent his second knee surgery this year on Friday, posting a photo of his reinjured PCL on social media, below. While the Cats won’t know for a while whether Cockatoo can return this season, it seems unlikely considering the 21-year-old missed at least three months of footy earlier this year. The usually kick-happy Cats turned to handball in the fourth quarter to help them get out of trouble against a controlling Melbourne outfit. The Cats averaged 36.3 handballs received across the first three quarters, but lifted that to 50 in the final term as they played on at all costs and ran over the Dees. It saw them kick eight goals straight in the last term, with fast ball movement key to the comeback. Geelong also won the centre clearances 8-1 in the final half-hour after Melbourne led 14-5 at the final break.