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June 09, 2006
Cats overrun by Eagles
Geelong has suffered a disappointing three-point loss to West Coast at Skilled Stadium on Saturday, after leading by as many as nine goals midway through the third quarter.Desperate to get their season back on track after six losses from their previous seven starts, the Cats looked well and truly headed for the four points when Cameron Mooney goaled during the third term.
But the Eagles staged a remarkable recovery from that point, booting five goals for the rest of the quarter and adding another seven in the final period, with Adam Hunter's goal in the final minutes sealing the 16.5 (101) to 15.8 (98) victory.
What made the Eagles' victory even more remarkable was that it was achieved without skipper Chris Judd, who missed his first-ever AFL game through injury, and it came on a ground where the Eagles have experienced nothing but misery in recent times.
In their last four appearances at the ground the Eagles had kicked a total of just 25 goals and they looked set to be humiliated again when Geelong totally dominated the first two-and-a-half quarters.
With Cameron Mooney the inspiration behind the Cats' early dominance, in what was his 100th AFL game for the club, the Cats slammed on seven goals to two in the opening term with Mooney kicking two and having a hand in several others.
The Cats' midfield was also totally dominant with Joel Corey (14 touches) and James Kelly (10) controlling the game as the Eagles appeared to badly miss Judd.
Still the Cats had the advantage of a strong breeze and surely the Eagles would respond in the second term when they had the breeze?
But instead it was the Cats who maintained their dominance kicking three goals to two to take a 39-point lead into the main change.
And when Mooney kicked his third at the 14 minute mark of the third term to extend the lead to a massive 54 points, there simply appeared no way that the Cats could lose.
While it was a couple of free kicks in front of goal that kick-started the Eagles' comeback - six of their first seven goals came from free kicks - suddenly the Cats just stopped running and such was their lack of confidence that they began to show signs of panicking even when the Eagles were still six goals behind.
A poor kick from Corey Enright at the 27-minute mark of the third term - which set up Matthew Scarlett allowing Daniel Kerr to intercept and set up a goal for Andrew Embley only worsened the Cats' problems - and suddenly allowed the Eagles to draw within five goals.
Not even a goal to James Bartel right on the three-quarter-time siren seemed to steady the nerves of the Cats' players or home crowd, even though it gave them a six-goal lead at the last change.
But the Eagles had their belief back and with the strong wind behind them, they simply steamrolled the Cats in the final term.
Players such as Andrew Embley and Adam Hunter, who had struggled all day - with Hunter having appeared out of sorts after being pushed into the boundary fence by Mooney in the opening minutes and suffering a nasty head wound as a result - came to life as they were thrown forward by Eagles' coach John Worsfold in the final term.
The pair responded by kicking three of the Eagles' seven goals for the final term while Tyson Stenglein was another to lift after half-time as he booted two second half goals.
Even the likes of Corey, Mooney and Kelly who had been so dominant faded out of the game as the Eagles, with Kerr inspirational, just kept winning the ball out of the centre.
Kerr had 11 touches in the final quarter alone and it was fitting he kicked the goal which finally put the Eagles in front at the 21-minute mark.
The Cats somehow managed to regain the lead through Nathan Ablett, who had barely had a touch against Darren Glass, but still the courageous visitors would not be denied.
Yet again it was Kerr who was involved in the winning goal when his handball over his head out of a pack went to Rowan Jones, who then handballed to Hunter who goaled from 40m at the 27-minute mark.
Cats coach Mark Thompson was still coming to terms with the fadeout after the game, while his Eagles counterpart John Worsfold admitted he thought all was lost at the final change.
"That's as about as bad as it gets. To play so well for a period of the game and lose it, not showing fight, missed tackles, opened up the ground to them. It was pretty tragic," Thompson said.
"We've got a game in seven days against Essendon. It's a pretty defining game. They just ran and work harder than us. I thought we had some good players out there today but just in the end the Eagles just overran us."
"At three-quarter-time I was hoping we would carry on and continue (the way we had played late in the third quarter) and maybe win the last quarter," Worsfold said.
"But after we kicked the first goal of the last quarter (in the first minute through Adam Hunter) I thought we were an outside chance if we could keep the pressure on them."
"We were still five goals down but the breeze was worth three so we thought we might have a chance."
GEELONG: 7.2, 10.4, 14.8, 15.8 (98)
WEST COAST: 2.1, 4.1, 9.2, 16.5 (101)
GOALS – Geelong: Mooney 3, Chapman 2, S Johnson 2, G Ablett 2, Bartel 2, Kelly, Mackie, Enright, N Ablett
West Coast: Stenglein 3, Jones 2, Embley 2, Hunter 2, Cousins, Graham, Rosa, Cox, Lynch, Nicoski, Kerr
INJURIES – Geelong: Harley (shoulder)
West Coast: Nil
CHANGES – Geelong: Nil
West Coast: Seaby replaced in selected side by Priddis
REPORTS - Nil
UMPIRES - Stevic, Quigley, McInerney
CROWD - 24,028 at Skilled Stadium
Geelongblog.com Player of The Year Votes
5. Joel Corey
4. Cameron Mooney
3. Corey Enright
2. Jimmy Bartel
1. Darren Milburn
Leaderboard
21 - Gary Ablett
19 - Paul Chapman
16 - Jimmy Bartel
15 - Joel Corey
14 - Darren Milburn
12 - Jarad Rooke
10 - Cameron Mooney
8 - Brad Ottens
6 - Corey Enright
5 - Kent Kingsley
4 - Josh Hunt
2 - Cameron Ling
2 - Matthew Scarlett
1 - Shannon Byrnes
1 - Steven King
Posted by Sammy D at June 9, 2006 12:47 PM