Too cool for Cats

ule in the months ahead because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but there were plenty of promising signs from the expansion club.

At times it was easy to forget last year’s grand finalists were playing without injured stars Tim Taranto, Zac Williams and Callan Ward, let alone the fact they were a man down on the bench.

Mitch Duncan was sensational for the visitors and Gary Ablett had a game-high 24 possessions, but the Cats couldn’t match the Giants’ goalkicking accuracy nor intensity across the four quarters.

“We just couldn’t convert the way they did. But not many teams can,” Cats coach Chris Scott said.

“At stages you just had to take your hat off to them, they nailed goals that not many teams do.”

It wasn’t Esava Ratugolea’s night. He was quiet in the first half and missed a relatively easy set shot in the second term before spilling an uncontested mark on the wing in the final minute of the quarter. From that turnover, the Giants ran the ball to half-forward and Stephen Coniglio kicked a crucial goal with two seconds left in the term. Ratugolea’s night got even worse in the third term when he copped a finger in the eye after a ruck contest.

After a summer of ribbing about Mark Blicavs being pulled out of the defensive half in last season’s finals series, it only took three quarters for the big man to be shifted again. With Geelong trailing by 26 points at the final change, Chris Scott and the coaching staff made the move to put Blicavs into the ruck.

In the first minute of play, his former opponent Jeremy Cameron marked uncontested and kicked a goal.

Geelong won’t press its case too firmly to play more home games at GMHBA Stadium when the AFL season resumes. A shift for the scheduled Round 4 home match against Hawthorn from the MCG was touted given crowd numbers will be irrelevant with the lockout in place due to coronavirus.

“We love playing in Geelong, but I’m going to stick to my guns and say the guys in at headquarters have about 500 things that are more important than that,” Chris Scott said post-match. “I don’t think we will be getting on the phone and saying, ‘Is it OK if we play a few more home games at GMHBA’? I don’t think we would get a very good hearing.”

Pictures: CAMERON SPENCER, PHIL HILLYARD ON THE RUN: Key Cat Patrick Dangerfield breaks away, while, inset, Giant Phil Davis doesn’t give Tom Hawkins an inch. With no fans in the stands, many wondered whether home sides would see any advantages in the free kick count. As the Giants pulled away at home, the numbers began to favour them. Losers are always quick to blame the umpires and Geelong had several sloppy moments, but as the game slipped away from the Cats, so did the free kicks. Midway through the third term, as GWS began to build its lead, the home side led 14-13. From there — without “noise of affirmation” — the Giants received 10 out of the last 12 frees. Through six completed games at the end of Saturday, Essendon was the only other home team to win the free kick count.