MITCH’S MILESTONE MOMENT
Duncan celebrates game 200 as Cats keep Roos to just one goal
Struggling for form and reeling from the shock injury to key youngster Jordan Clark, the Cats needed to find a spark and Quinton Narkle was happy to oblige. The livewire was electrifying on his return to AFL footy with 21 touches, five clearances and two brilliant goals to help the Cats trounce the Roos.
IF Geelong fans went to GMHBA Stadium on Saturday night seeking only a victory, they would have walked away with a sense of satisfaction after what turned out to be a comfortable 55-point win.
But for supporters hoping for answers as to where the Cats are in the bigger picture with just two matches before finals, it is not difficult to imagine at least slight frustration.
Because for all the positives that could be taken from the performance against North Melbourne, there was a familiar feeling after the match that Geelong still has plenty of questions it needs to address.
Wins such as the one the Cats enjoyed on Saturday have the potential to be confidenceboosting, but they can also give teams a false sense of reality.
Geelong is unlikely to be carried away with the result, despite significant corrections in key areas from the week before against Fremantle, but questions regarding this team will not stop on the back of a solitary outing.
For example, why have the Cats not managed to string two wins together since their midseason break?
In the eight weeks post-bye, they have recorded loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, loss and now another win.
How does a team preparing for a premiership campaign explain such consistent inconsistency?
Chris Scott attempted to outline one of the reasons in the wake of Geelong’s 15th victory for 2019.
“One of the biggest issues with the way we have been playing is that we have just had some players, some real Agraders, some All-Australianlevel players this year, who have been a bit down around the ball, and they weren’t (on Saturday),” Scott said.
“But if we put the names of the 18 teams into a hat and pulled one out, I could point to where they have been inconsistent throughout the year as well — every single team.
“It is very hard, especially in today’s competition, for your high-level midfielders to play at the same level every single week.
“I don’t know many that do it, so if you get a couple that are down at the same time, it makes a really big difference.”
Far from singling out his best players, what this points to is the fact that too often in recent weeks too much has been left to too few.
When an A-grader is down on any given day, it is paramount that the so-called second and third-tier players step up to fill the void, which is what was happening in the first half of the year to great effect.
So more alarming than a slight drop in form for players such as Tim Kelly, Joel Selwood or Patrick Dangerfield since the bye is that there have been fewer players consistently picking up the slack.
While that changed against the Roos on the back of handy inclusions such as Quinton Narkle and Brandan Parfitt, another not unsizeable question confronting Scott is what to do with Geelong’s ruck situation.
Mark Blicavs can clearly play the role, and while it remains to be seen whether the Cats will opt to use him there again, if nothing else it puts Zac Smith — a late withdrawal for the North clash — and Rhys Stanley, in particular, on notice that there are other options should they not step up as required.
The likelihood is that Smith or Stanley will still have to play come September because it is hard to fathom Geelong not using Blicavs in defence against forward lines consisting of names such as Josh Kennedy, Jack Darling and Oscar Allen at West Coast, Tom Lynch and Jack Riewoldt at Richmond, and Eric Hipwood and Daniel McStay at Brisbane.
But the lack of certainty regarding such a key position so close to finals has to be a concern, as is the Cats’ inability to kick 10 goals or more in a match — the fifth time it has happened in eight matches.
Of course, holding the Roos to a single goal is commendable, but the aforementioned attacks won’t be so easily contained, which means finding better avenues to goal becomes vital, and increasing the quality as well as the quantity of forward-50 entries imperative.
Ultimately, though, the win against North Melbourne came on the back of vast improvement in three strategic areas: winning the ball at stoppages, winning contested ball around the ground and winning the territory battle.
Geelong did all three, and its efforts to retain the ball when it had it, and then win it back when it didn’t, provided some optimism the Cats are edging closer to answering some of the questions they have faced in the past two months — even if several remain open with two weeks of the home-and-away season left to play.
‘Another not unsizeable question confronting Scott is what to do with Geelong’s ruck situation.’