Geelong 2016
Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2016 1:05 pmNew year, new team, new thread.
What a relief it was to beat our nemesis in the now traditional Easter Monday Blockbuster. You don't have to like Hawthorn but you sure as hell have to respect them. Geelong were flogged twice by the Hawks last year and we knew we couldn't rely on the perpetually injured generation of Vardy, Menzel, Cowan and Smedts to fill the gap so we did a Hawthorn like plunder of experienced players to fulfill the gaps in our list.
The big worry for me is Hawthorn's small forwards. Small forwards have dined out on the Cats for the past couple of seasons and once again it was land of the giants all over the park for the Cats. The loss of Josh Thurlow is a big one for Geelong as we don't have a lot of depth of players of his type. The goal scoring power of Cyril, Bruest and Poppy was a genuine threat to Geelong yesterday.
The game began with something we haven't seen for some time...Geelong with a fit effective ruckman and winning the centre clearances. Despite kicking accurately though we weren't getting many scoring shots from our inside 50 dominance. Hawthorn hit back a couple of times in the second quarter but Geelong managed to quickly restore the three to four goal margin that we had for most of the second.
In the third quarter Hawthorn showed that they are still a champion team. Without it's spine and with a month's less pre-season than us they reeled in a five goal half time lead. Geelong have been very poor in the third quarter for some time now and the Hawks got the jump on us and changed the momentum of the game. It was during this quarter that the Hawk smalls began to impose themselves and Luke Hodge began to exert an influence.
In the last quarter Lang bobbed up with three goals and Dangerfield set the Cats alight. Murdoch of all players kicked he sealer and the Cats got the job done by the half time margin. This match obviously meant more to the Cats than the Hawks who were undermanned and short of a gallop. This was one we had to win but at Lemon time I thought we were cooked.
Best on was Patrick Dangerfield who had a brilliant Cat debut. We probably wouldn't have won without him. Sam Mitchell was Hawthorn's best player as once again we didn't apply a shut down role on the brilliant Hawk. Mark Blicavs continued his development and he was a constant threat to Hawthorn. Selwood and Duncan excelled in their 'secondary' roles and this is the true benefit of the Dangerfield acquisition. The recruitment of Zac Smith caused some giggles externally but his start to the season has relegated Nathan Vardy to the VFL and he dominated in the first half and set up or lead.
Other players to stand out was Langford for the Hawks who is hard at it and loves playing against the Cats. Jordan Lewis got a lot of the ball but burnt it a fair bit and Gunston made the most of his limited opportunities.
All in all a good start for the Catters who are off to the nation's capital to face the GWS Giants next week.
regards,
REB
What a relief it was to beat our nemesis in the now traditional Easter Monday Blockbuster. You don't have to like Hawthorn but you sure as hell have to respect them. Geelong were flogged twice by the Hawks last year and we knew we couldn't rely on the perpetually injured generation of Vardy, Menzel, Cowan and Smedts to fill the gap so we did a Hawthorn like plunder of experienced players to fulfill the gaps in our list.
The big worry for me is Hawthorn's small forwards. Small forwards have dined out on the Cats for the past couple of seasons and once again it was land of the giants all over the park for the Cats. The loss of Josh Thurlow is a big one for Geelong as we don't have a lot of depth of players of his type. The goal scoring power of Cyril, Bruest and Poppy was a genuine threat to Geelong yesterday.
The game began with something we haven't seen for some time...Geelong with a fit effective ruckman and winning the centre clearances. Despite kicking accurately though we weren't getting many scoring shots from our inside 50 dominance. Hawthorn hit back a couple of times in the second quarter but Geelong managed to quickly restore the three to four goal margin that we had for most of the second.
In the third quarter Hawthorn showed that they are still a champion team. Without it's spine and with a month's less pre-season than us they reeled in a five goal half time lead. Geelong have been very poor in the third quarter for some time now and the Hawks got the jump on us and changed the momentum of the game. It was during this quarter that the Hawk smalls began to impose themselves and Luke Hodge began to exert an influence.
In the last quarter Lang bobbed up with three goals and Dangerfield set the Cats alight. Murdoch of all players kicked he sealer and the Cats got the job done by the half time margin. This match obviously meant more to the Cats than the Hawks who were undermanned and short of a gallop. This was one we had to win but at Lemon time I thought we were cooked.
Best on was Patrick Dangerfield who had a brilliant Cat debut. We probably wouldn't have won without him. Sam Mitchell was Hawthorn's best player as once again we didn't apply a shut down role on the brilliant Hawk. Mark Blicavs continued his development and he was a constant threat to Hawthorn. Selwood and Duncan excelled in their 'secondary' roles and this is the true benefit of the Dangerfield acquisition. The recruitment of Zac Smith caused some giggles externally but his start to the season has relegated Nathan Vardy to the VFL and he dominated in the first half and set up or lead.
Other players to stand out was Langford for the Hawks who is hard at it and loves playing against the Cats. Jordan Lewis got a lot of the ball but burnt it a fair bit and Gunston made the most of his limited opportunities.
All in all a good start for the Catters who are off to the nation's capital to face the GWS Giants next week.
regards,
REB
