STEW PENDOUS
Cat tops meteoric rise with All-Australian cap
NEWLY named All-Australian defender Tom Stewart says Geelong is embracing the challenge of taking on an inform Melbourne team in next Friday’s elimination final and is confident the Cats can outscore the Demons in the event of another shootout.
Stewart was rewarded for his stellar second season at AFL level last night, earning a spot in the starting 18 of the All-Australian side as a backpocket.
Patrick Dangerfield was also selected in the side and was given the honour of being named vice-captain.
Stewart’s selection came just 24 hours after the 25-yearold was named as the AFL Coaches’ Association young player of the year, and he said he was still pinching himself at the thought of being named in the league’s best 22. “It is surreal,” Stewart said. “I find some days when I go into the footy club I pinch myself because of the blokes I’m playing alongside, let alone being given the recognition of being named in the All-Australian team.
“It has been a whirlwind 24 months and I’m just loving every minute of the ride.
“I don’t know if I’ve changed too much, I’ve just tried to help my teammates out as much as I can.
“But I can’t put it down to just me, there have been an enormous amount of people that have backed me in.”
Stewart’s focus will now quickly turn back on to next week’s clash against Melbourne, which has got within a kick of Geelong on both occasions the two teams have met in 2018.
He said given that the Demons were such an attacking side, fans could expect another high-scoring encounter.
But he said there was no great need for the Cats to alter how they approached the match.
“Our form and our system is working at the moment and you don’t have to look back too far to see that we had some success against them.’
“While it was a high scoring affair and a bit of a shootout I expect us to take a similar sort of method into the game and try to create a contest.
“They are the No.1 attacking team in the competition so we know they are going to take the game on. They get a lot of inside-50s and they score quite heavily from that, so the midfield battle is going to be mouth-watering with our boys going up against some of their superstars.
“It will be won and lost in the middle but we have got to do our job behind the ball and try to limit their scoring opportunities when they do get the ball inside-50. They are lightning quick when you give them the opportunity to, so if we can slow them down as much as possible it will go a long way to us getting the win.”