Determined Bulldogs give Cats the slip
IT is easy to ask “what if” in the immediate aftermath of a loss.
But Geelong was rightly left to wonder what might have been had it taken advantage of its early dominance against the Western Bulldogs on Saturday night.
So often in 2019 the Cats have made the most of their inside-50s, but on Saturday they found themselves with two goals and four behinds from six entries at the 10-minute mark of the first term.
It seemed inevitable that they would turn things around and showcase why they sit on top of the ladder — a game and percentage clear of their next closest opponent — but the Bulldogs slowly began to get the game going their way and, due to Geelong’s inaccuracy in front of goal, were never more than three goals behind.
A tug of war battle ensued after quarter-time and a Sam Lloyd major late in the second quarter kept Luke Beveridge’s men within striking distance.
The Dogs continued to take the game on after halftime but, like the Cats, they struggled with their efficiency going forward, with turnovers at crucial moments hurting both sides.
Jack Macrae and Lachie Hunter lifted in the final term and when Marcus Bontempelli marked in the goalsquare and converted at the 11-minute mark, his team had hit the front for the first time.
It was one of five goals the Dogs scored in the last quarter, and with Geelong managing just one with only two minutes left to play it was too little too late as coach Chris Scott was left to rue the inefficient opening.
“Early in the game it felt as if we were in complete control — the first six entries we kicked two goals four,” Scott said. “So some of the things we have been really good at this year we weren’t very good at tonight.
“We missed some easy shots and I know as the game went on they missed some easy shots as well, but it seems to us that the way the game is played these days, if you are four or five goals up early the opposition is forced to change a little bit in the way they play.
“But unfortunately for us they were still in the game and were able to hang in even though it felt like things were going OK for us, except for the conversion and efficiency in our forward half, and then that bad patch in the last quarter was enough.
“The one real period of dominance in the game was when it counted in the last quarter and they took their shots and got out to a decent margin.
“And I suspect if we had have been able to do that when we had the ascendancy earlier that they wouldn’t have been able to pick us up.”
Geelong lost defender Jake Kolodjashnij to concussion in the first quarter, which forced Jack Henry — who had been playing as a second marking option in attack — to go back.
It left the Cats a man down with its rotations, but crucially they let themselves down with some uncharacteristic skill errors at key moments throughout the night.
Scott said it was a combination of factors that contributed to the indifferent ball use and admitted his team had probably failed to adapt to the match conditions as well as expected.
“It was a low-scoring game me and I think the defence was on top,” Scott said.
“We had 44 entries and da a really low score, albeit with th some inaccuracy, and some e were pressured and some weren’t, but the nature of the games at Marvel are that if you don’t take your chances inside your forward-50 the ball can bounce out really quickly.
“So that was another part t of our game that has been n good this year that wasn’t good od tonight. We understood the game would be played slightly tly differently here and we just ust weren’t able to adapt well enough.
“But the skill level, particucularly in front of goal — and there was a lot of pressure around the ball between the arcs (as well) — and inside-50, both teams had some chances they butchered that in a normal set of circumstances they would expect to take.”