Defence falls short

O’Bree looks to add height down back for semi-final

GEELONG is likely to recall Sam Siggins or Callum Mitchell for Sunday’s do-or-die semi-final with Box Hill after being dismantled by Casey in Saturday’s qualifying final.

The Cats were exposed for their lack of height in defence, with Timm House (194cm) and Jackson Thurlow (191cm) outnumbered by Casey’s tall forwards.

Experienced forward Cam Pedersen had a field day, taking eight marks and kicking four goals in the 91-point win, while Esava Ratugolea (four disposals, two marks) and Ryan Gardner (seven disposals, two marks) kicked one goal between them at the other end.

“We knew going into the game we were a bit undermanned from a height point of view down back,” coach Shane O’Bree said.

“This week at selection, we definitely need to get talls down back. Obviously our pressure up the ground didn’t help either, so defensively we were really poor.

“Sam Siggins and Callum Mitchell are the two who have played tall defence for us over the year; they’ve got local footy finals as well, but they’ll come into contention this week.”

Tom Atkins (21 disposals, 12 tackles, seven clearances, one goal) and Lachie Fogarty (18 disposals, five tackles, 12 clearances) were Geelong’s only individual winners, as too much was left to too few.

“They jumped us early, took full advantage of the wind,” O’Bree said.

“We were a bit sloppy around the stoppages and getting set up. They were fiercer and a bit more desperate around the contest and they played their way from the start and all game. We didn’t really, at any stage besides 10 minutes in the second quarter, look like we were going to play our way, so it was pretty disappointing in the end.

“Overall, we would have only had a couple of winners on the day who, I felt, won their battle or tried to do what they could to impact the game, which is pretty disappointing in a big game.”

The Cats lost to Box Hill last week, but will meet the Hawks again on Sunday for a place in the preliminary finals.

“We learnt a lot from that game,” O’Bree said of the encounter only nine days ago.

“We’ve just got to do a few things a lot better than we did last time, with our defence against them and take more of our opportunities when we get the ball.

“We should be confident playing them this week that we can finetune a few things we learnt from last time.”

O’Bree said Jordan Keras, who has missed two weeks with a broken jaw, trained last week and would train again this week to put his hand up for selection.

Pedersen 4, Hannan 3, Collis 3, MacHaya 3, Smith 2, McKenna 2, Garlett, Smith, Hutchins. Gardner, Grace, Narkle, Jones. Keilty, Petty, Smith, Collis, MacHaya, Pedersen. Atkins, Fogarty, House, Miers, Tsitas, Reid.

Picture: MICHAEL KLEIN TOUGH GOING: Geelong's Quinton Narkle tries to fend his way through traffic against Casey Scorpions on Saturday. “He got tight (in the hamstring) before halftime,” O’Bree said. “He tried to come on in the third and was still pretty tight, so we took the conservative approach with him.” Finished the day early with only six touches. ZAC SMITH “Their rucks impacted more than Zac,” O’Bree said. “Obviously he got his hands to the ball, but I thought their rucks played really well, not just in the hitout area but around the ground.” Had 51 hitouts, but had just five disposals and one mark. ESAVA RATUGOLEA Quiet game in his second match back. Just four disposals and two marks, but spent more time in the ruck this week, claiming 18 hitouts and playing full game time. JORDAN CUNICO Was not the worst, with 18 touches, four marks, five tackles and four clearances. LINCOLN McCARTHY Quiet game with nine disposals, one tackle and two behinds. JACKSON THURLOW Had only one touch to halftime but finished with 14 disposals, five clearances and four rebound-50s. QUINTON NARKLE Thirteen disposals, one goal and two tackles in a quieter-than-usual game from Narkle.