TOMAHAWK CHOPS DOWN THE GIANTS
GEELONG INTO PRELIM AS TOM HAWKINS AND FRIENDS CRUISE PAST GWS
Hawkins, Menegola, Tuohy, Gutherie, Smith, Blicavs. Kelly, Whitfield, Haynes, Hoppper, de Boer, Ward.
Hawkins 5; Cameron 2, Close 2, Rohan 2, Menegola 2; Ratugolea, Smith. Himmelberg 2, Stone 2; Haynes, Hill, Kelly, Lloyd, Mumford, Ward. Parfitt (hamstring) replaced by Z Gutherie, Hawkins (corked leg). Hogan (calf) replaced in selected team by Davis, Sproule (shoulder), replaced by Peatling.
Optus Stadium
Geelong will play in yet another AFL preliminary final.
The Cats took advantage of an undermanned Greater Western Sydney in Perth on Friday night, winning their Semi-Final clash by 35 points.
They held off an early final-quarter attack from the Giants, who kicked three goals in as many minutes at the start of the term to get the margin back to 20 points.
But Geelong steadied, Tom Hawkins adding two late goals to finish with five in the 15.13 (103) to 10.8 (68) win at Optus Stadium, where they will meet Melbourne in the Preliminary Final next Friday night.
It will be Geelong’s fifth appearance in the penultimate week of the season in six years and their sixth since they last won the flag, in 2011.
The Cats weren’t perfect, but their performance was noticeably improved to what they dished up in their 43-point Qualifying Final loss to Port Adelaide a week earlier.
They managed it without a massive input from Joel Selwood in his recordbreaking 333rd game in a Cats jumper. Nor from Patrick Dangerfield, who spent most of the night in the midfield, showing little sign of his broken finger.
The brave run of four consecutive wins from the Giants ends. They haven’t played in Sydney since 19 June, some 73 days ago.
And cruelly, the first goal on Friday night came from the boot of their former key forward of nine years, Jeremy Cameron.
It broke the initial arm went for almost 17 minutes. wrestle, that
Cameron looked dangerous throughout and finished with two. Along with Tom Hawkins and Gary Rohan (two) provided headaches for the Giants defence.
Hard way to goal
The Giants were forced to work a harder for their goals than the Cats.
That was inevitable before the opening bounce when key forward Jesse Hogan pulled out due to a calf injury.
His withdrawal compounded the loss of Toby Greene midweek to suspension. And Hogan was hardly replaced with a likeplayer, former skipper and defender Phil Davis.
With Hogan out, it left Harry Himmelberg the only one of the Giants top four goal scorers for the season on the ground – and he had his hands full with Mark Blicavs.
Return of the Irishman
The return of defender Zach Tuohy from three games out with a hamstring injury has come at a good time for the Cats.
He had 12 touches in the first term, running across halfback; left alone by the Giants who tried to run an extra player up the ground.
The Cats will probably need to play the remaining games of this final series without Brendan Parfitt, who injured his hamstring in the first term and was subbed out at halftime.
There was a nervous moment for the Cats midway through the third term when key forward Hawkins left the ground with a corked thigh after colliding with Giant Shane Mumford. Hawkins left the ground for a few anxious moments, but returned a few minutes later to provide a reminder of why he is such an important player. lot
Cats: