Hot and cold Cats fall flat
ALASTAIR Clarkson was right … for the first three quarters. For most of Saturday night, Geelong was “not that good” in its shock loss to Carlton at GMHBA Stadium.
Clarkson described his team’s midfield last week as “second-rate, maybe third or fourth-rate” as he stewed on a 61-point loss to the Cats. And the same comments could have applied to Geelong until its last-quarter efforts.
The Cats didn’t show up and let four premiership points slip through their fingers.
We have seen this before from Geelong. Beaten for the majority of the game only to spring a last-quarter surprise.
The comeback against Melbourne in 2018 springs to mind, and one against Richmond two years earlier. Only this time the epic comeback fell short.
Slow starts have also cruelled its chances in many finals in recent years, and it’s a pattern Chris Scott will need to address.
Carlton was faultless for three quarters and ground to a halt in the final term as Geelong pushed for victory with blistering momentum and control. Geelong was never in front but had many chances in the last 15 minutes.
Chances went begging from Gryan Miers when he took advantage from close range only for the shot to be smothered on the line; Gary Ablett missed a
E. Betts, L. Casboult, M. McGovern, M. Murphy, P. Cripps 2, H. McKay, M. Gibbons.
G. Rohan, T. Hawkins 2, C. Guthrie, G. Miers, H. Taylor, J. Bews, J. Selwood, R .Stanley, T. Atkins.
P. Cripps, E. Betts, J. Weitering, L. Casboult, M. Gibbons, S. Docherty. M. Duncan, Z. Tuohy, P. Dangerfield, Q. Narkle, C. Guthrie.
GMHBA Stadium straightforward set shot that he would kick almost every single time; and Kade Simpson got his outstretched fingertips to a Mitch Duncan snap that was called a goal but overruled on review.
Maybe Geelong should have won, but it would have papered over the cracks. Many of its players could not replicate the efforts of Round 2.
Rhys Stanley was beaten in the ruck by Marc Pittonet until he came from the ground with injury in the third term.
He said on the eve of the game “one performance isn’t going to cut it”. He was speaking of his efforts and the team. How true those words were.
Recruit Jack Steven was rushed into the side for Brandan Parfitt and had no bearing on the contest. The former St Kilda midfielder had just six disposals, including just one touch after half-time. Questions will be asked if he should have played. The only positive was that Steven came through unscathed.
There was a lack of contest work from the Cats. Parfitt laid 10 tackles in Round 2 and his influence was sorely missed.
Carlton came with a game plan of controlling the ball and by half-time it had 55 marks to 20, not allowing Geelong the fast-flowing play that led to one-sided second half against Hawthorn.
Why was Carlton allowed so much space? This is a side that was 0-2 and had a combined score of 2.1 across opening quarters this year. By quarter-time the scoreboard read 5.3 to 1.2.
The Cats defence of Tom Stewart, Mark Blicavs, Jack Henry, Zach Tuohy, Harry Taylor and Mark O’Connor could not contain talls Mitch McGovern, Levi Casboult and Harry McKay.
The trio kicked five of Carlton’s nine goals in the first half and Casboult had a game-high six marks, clunking the ball whenever it came near.
The result continued a worrying trend of inconsistency for the Cats, who have not won consecutive games since halfway through last year when they demolished Richmond. Yes, there was a season shutdown in between, but that was 12 months ago. The Cats will finish nowhere above midtable if those results continue.
They were considered the ‘big winners’ of the revised fixture, but the two-point loss means Scott’s side will be playing catch-up for the foreseeable future.