CATS STORM HOME
ACCURATE GEELONG MAKES WAYWARD SAINTS PAY
GEELONG gutsed out an early barrage from St Kilda to score a heartening 21-point win at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
But the Saints made it easy when they lived up to their reputation as the worst set shot team in the first half, with their three key forwards Max King (twice), Tim Membrey (twice) and Rowan Marshall missing easy set shots, three of them inside the opening eight minutes.
King ended with 1.5 — the most costly miss being a set shot in front late in the final quarter that could have cut the deficit to 11 points, but he hit the post.
Instead of taking an early 18-point lead, St Kilda led by three, and despite its superior pressure and territory dominance, that ultimately counted for nought as it failed to translate it on to the scoreboard.
After falling eight points behind late in the second quarter and absorbing all the Saints’ best shots, the Cats hit back hard, as top teams do, kicking six of the next seven goals to take a 23-point lead early in the final term.
Cameron Guthrie was the main reason the Cats were still in the contest during the St Kilda onslaught, continuing his spectacular season with another best-on-ground performance, registering 36 disposals (11 contested), six marks, seven tackles, four clearances, a goal, six score involvements and a goal assist to help ensure the Cats stayed in the top four.
FRAWLEY CLANGER
JAMES Frawley made a pretty good club debut for the Saints, keeping Tom Hawkins fairly quiet, but with the game in the balance in the last quarter, he came too close to the man on the mark deep in defence.
His kick was touched and ended with Sam Menegola, who kicked a ripping goal from 40m on a sharp angle to put the Cats up by 11 points.
Goals to Brad Close and Gary Rohan in quick succession soon after put the result beyond the Saints’ reach.
KING CAN’T COLLECT IT
LATE in the third quarter, with St Kilda trailing by six points, King was all by himself in the forward 50 but couldn’t gather the ball and Geelong’s Zach Tuohy pounced after the young Saint overran it to clear the danger for the Cats.
It was a golden opportunity to level the scores gone begging and those frustrations for the Saints were compounded seconds before three-quartertime when Membrey dropped a chest mark deep in attack, which denied his team the chance to take the lead.
GUTHRIE MAKES AMENDS
EARLY in the third quarter, Guthrie’s kick in defence was chopped off by Seb Ross, which allowed Jack Steele to gather the pill and break the Guthrie tackle before kicking a captain’s goal from close range, which he is making a habit of doing this year.
It gave the Saints a threepoint lead and Guthrie knew he owed his team a goal.
Three minutes later he scored just that with a lovely little snap from a tight angle to give the Cats back the lead.
ZACH BRINGS BACK BARREL
IN a throwback to yesteryear, Tuohy unleashed a massive torpedo punt from a kick-in early in the game that was so big it went past the centre circle and almost hit the roof. It ended up bouncing to the Cats’ half-forward line and actually set up a scoring opportunity for Quinton Narkle, who missed to the left on the run.