Dangerfield denies slump but says Cats lacked polish
BROWNLOW medallist Patrick Dangerfield has shrugged off suggestions Geelong is in a slump, but admits his team’s uncharacteristic lack of polish in front of goals cruelled any chance of defeating the Western Bulldogs.
The loss was the second in the space of three games for the Cats but Dangerfield said poor execution when it mattered most was to blame for Saturday night’s defeat.
“I don’t think it’s a slump,” Dangerfield said on 3AW.
“I think we played some really good patches of footy, we just didn’t execute on those last two possessions of play during a run of play.
“So there were some really good parts of the game that we got right, but we probably played a bit into the frenetic pace that the Western Bulldogs play at different times, which is obviously their game style, and ours is a bit more of control.
“So we would have liked to have done that a bit better.”
Geelong has been one of the most efficient and accurate attacking teams in 2019, but butchered the ball when it went forward and wasted numerous opportunities in front of goal, allowing the Bulldogs time to get the game going their way late. For all of the improvement the Cats had made with increased pressure close to goal and around the ground, Dangerfield said it didn’t count when shots on goal weren’t converted.
“It is part of the game and as important as so many different statistical categories are when it comes to pressure, when it comes to the real pressure it is scoreboard pressure because that is the one you can constantly see,” he said.
“When you are not applying it when you really have the run of play it just gives the opposition a real sniff, that ‘OK, we haven’t got it right, but we’re right in the game so when we do we can turn the scoreboard and actually get in front’.
“That is what the Dogs did (tonight), they really halted the momentum when we had it at stages and then generated their own and executed really well.
“So that is the challenge for us, we have been excellent at it throughout the year but I think it’s only natural when you don’t quite execute and the next person doesn’t quite execute that it can catch on at different stages, and I think that is professional sport.”
Dangerfield split his time between attack and midfield and finished with 23 disposals, six marks, seven tackles and two goals. YOUNG midfielder Brandan Parfitt was a late withdrawal for the Cats on Saturday, with speedster Gary Rohan brought into the side after being named as an emergency. But as Geelong coach Chris Scott explained, despite the plan to rest Parfitt, AFL rules meant he had to be named as cover. “Sometimes it can be a bit confusing. Our VFL team played today and we were always going to manage Brandan, but we needed to name him in the team because if we named him out ‘managed’ he wouldn’t have been available as a carry-over player and if we got an injury in the warm-up he couldn’t play,” Scott said. “So we have got to work within the rules, and I think some people think we are playing ducks and drakes but I don’t know another way to do it. I think the rules are silly, to be honest, but that is what we had to do.” JOEL Selwood has backed his brother Scott to be ready whenever the call comes for him to make his way into the senior side after another strong showing in the VFL. The former West Coast vicecaptain is yet to play at AFL level in 2019, but along with a host of senior Cats continues to bang the door down. The Geelong captain said all of the club’s players running around in the VFL were putting themselves in the frame for a call-up. “We have got a few of them,” Selwood said on K rock Football. “Obviously Scott, James Parsons played another great game (on Saturday) and Lachie Henderson. So they are just playing great team footy back there and dragging the boys along and teaching them the game while playing good footy themselves, which is important so they are ready to come in when needed.”