Grounds for concern
GEELONG midfielder Sam Menegola made a sparkling return to footy against the Casey Demons on Saturday, but says the state of the Casey Fields surface made life tough for the teams to showcase their talent.
Menegola, who had not played at any level since May, showed why he would be a valuable AFL inclusion, finishing with 26 disposals, seven inside-50s and five clearances, as well as laying a team-high 11 tackles in a welcome display.
But his role in the ninepoint victory was overshadowed by injuries to key duo Nathan Kreuger and Zach Guthrie, with the playing surface coming under fire from Geelong officials due to the heavy nature of the track, which was filled with mud and large pockets of water on most of the ground.
Menegola said it was hard to implement what had been worked on through the week.
He also said it was disappointing for fans who had turned up to Casey to watch the contest, with only 10 goals kicked for the afternoon.
“It’s not ideal,” Menegola said.
“I guess for guys who are trying to play AFL it is a little bit disappointing to be honest.
“It makes aspects of the game you are trying to play hard because the conditions with a knee injury when the emerging key forward’s leg appeared to get stuck in the ground late in the first quarter.
Defender Zach Guthrie also just don’t let you do that.
“It is the same for the Casey guys, it is not just us, but as AFL-listed guys I just feel it does make it hard to practise some of the things we are trying to do.
“We have a lot of young guys and we are trying to teach them the right running patterns and when the game is not allowed to open up it makes it hard.
“And I think it probably makes it hard for the VFL to get crowds here because it’s not a great spectacle.
“So I was a little bit disappointed in it. I wasn’t worried about my safety, it was just more that it was so soft and so muddy on the whole ground.
“You understand at a lot of grounds you are going to get those patches, it was just the whole ground really.”
Menegola praised the efforts of Geelong’s array of emerging talent, citing their toughness as a feature of the hard-fought victory.
“I think you can read a bit into it,” he said.
“A lot of the guys here are young. We have some old guys obviously, but the stuff you want to see like the attitude, the effort and the resilience, that was probably the highlight for me playing alongside those guys.
“It was a really good win, and I hope they enjoyed it . . . we fought it out really well and to get a win was really nice.” lost his footing at the opposite end and was helped from the field by trainers with an ankle injury.
Neither player took part in Q. Narkle 2, S. Selwood 2, J. Jones. D. Keilty, J. Kennedy-Harris, J. Briggs, T. Smith, M. Lefau.
Q. Narkle, J. Jones, S. Menegola, R. Abbott, C. Constable, W. Buzza.
T. Freeman, J. Hutchins, J. Kennedy-Harris, J. Munro, O. Baker, T. Smith.