Speed kills as Cats fall to first defeat
ROUND 4: GEELONG V GWS
TIME and space.
Give that to any AFL team — in particular a young, starstudded outfit such as GWS, with match-winners on every line — and you will be ripped to shreds.
Geelong learned that the hard way in the second half, with the Giants reeling in a 21point halftime deficit to win by four points at GMHBA Stadium.
The Giants were allowed far too much uncontested possession in the third term, fuelling their running game. The momentum proved impossible for the Cats to stop.
GWS had 77 uncontested possessions and 31 uncontested marks to Geelong’s 38 and 13 in the third term, kicking 6.4 to 3.2 on the back of their spread from the contest.
It put the Giants back in the game and allowed them to kick on in the final quarter, when the winning margin could have blown out further had they taken their chances in front of goal.
“They took our legs away, and we allowed them to have theirs. They had speed on the game, that’s the way they want to play. We didn’t execute from our point of view, but obviously they made us do that,” Geelong star Mitch Duncan said after picking up 26 touches in the loss.
“I think around the contest, that was one, and then their spread and run from there, getting the ball on the open side (hurt us).
T. Hawkins 3, G. Ablett 2, G. Rohan 2, G. Miers, H. Taylor, P. Dangerfield, T. Kelly.
J. Cameron 3, J. Finlayson 3, D. Lloyd 2, H. Himmelberg 2, M. Buntine
T. Hawkins, T. Stewart, G. Ablett, B. Parfitt, R. Stanley
S. Coniglio, J. Hopper, J. Kelly, L. Whitfield, P. Davis. J. Cameron Chris Donlon, Jacob Mollison, Justin Power 28,780 at GMHBA Stadium.
“Blokes like (Lachie) Whitfield and (Josh) Kelly; their legs and ball use is superior.
“If you can’t win the ball at the source against them, they’re hard to catch.”
Geelong’s prime movers all had down days in the middle of the ground.
Electric midfielder Tim Kelly was held to nine touches, copping the attention of tagger Matt de Boer for chunks of the match.
Joel Selwood had only 18 touches, while Patrick Dangerfield had 17. When the game was on the line late, neither was able to have a significant impact on the contest.
Dangerfield won two of his three final-quarter touches in defence, while Selwood won three of his four in Geelong’s back half.
Amazingly, it was the first time the duo have both had under 20 touches in a match since Dangerfield’s arrival in 2016.
It was only the second time Dangerfield had been limited to 20 touches or fewer in blue and white hoops. On the flipside, the Giants’ midfielders dominated.
Stephen Coniglio (34 touches,) Kelly (32), Whitfield and Jacob Hopper (both 31) and Tim Taranto (28) all won a stack of the footy.
That allowed Jeremy Cameron to get on top of his matchups with Mark Blicavs and Harry Taylor, while Jeremy Finlayson and Harry Himmelberg all made the most of GWS’s 50 inside-50s.
“They (GWS) were really good around the ball. Coniglio, Taranto, Hopper, they’re young guys coming through and they’re playing some good footy. If you can’t get a hold of them or nullify their influence it makes it hard,” Duncan said.
“I think they made us defend more in that second half. They took away our power and our legs.
“Teams are naturally going to do that to us, but we’ve just got to bring it back and make sure we can stay on top for longer periods.”