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August 07, 2007
Lucky number 13
Jimmy Bartel got back into some great form on Saturday against Richmond
GEELONG: 5.3, 9.6, 13.10, 21.13 (139)
RICHMOND: 2.1, 5.2, 7.3, 11.3 (69)
BEST
Geelong: Milburn, Corey, Ablett, Scarlett, S Johnson, Wojcinski, Stokes, Kelly
Richmond Foley, Tuck, Bowden, Richardson, Connors
INJURIES
Geelong: Nil
Richmond: Tivendale (concussion)
REPORTS
Nil
CHANGES
Ottens (Geelong) replaced in selected side by Varcoe
UMPIRES
Farmer, Hendrie, Goldspink
CROWD
21,951 at Skilled Stadium
A dominant 2nd half by Geelong has lead them to a crushing of the bottom side Richmond to seal top spot on the ladder and earn home ground advantage during the final series.
The 70 point victory was the Cats 13th win in a row and puts them 3 games & around 55% ahead of the Kangaroos who occupy 2nd spot on the ladder with only 4 rounds remaining until finals.
The Cats who incredibly came into the game as $1.02 favourites were anything but outstanding for the first two & a half quarters. In the first quarter the intensity from the Cats midfield seemed to be lacking, but as a blight on the young Tigers, the Cats still went into the quarter time break up by 3 goals.
Geelong lifted in the midfield as the game went on, but at times were sloppy & overused the football in the conditions & despite Geelong's defence being well on top, midway through the third quarter Richmond were only 4 goals behind. However, perhaps sensing the danger Geelong flicked the switch as Richmond conceded three soft goals in the space of 2 & a half minutes to Kelly, Corey & Blake. The latter of which saw the crowd erupt & saw players running from half back to the goalsquare to congratulate the big ruckman for his first goal in AFL football.
From that moment it was all over, Geelong added another goal through Strokes and then piled on 8 goals in the last quarter against the sorry Tigers outfit. Richardson & Brown kicked 3 goals between them in time on to cap of decent performances for both of them, but had little help except for Nathan Foley, Shane Tuck & Daniel Connors.
For Geelong Scarlett & Milburn were outstanding running out of the backline. Bartel, Corey & Ablett got a swag of possessions in the midfield. Corey despite having a good game allowed 26 possessions to his direct opponent Nathan Foley in the first half before Cameron Ling shut in down in the second. Meanwhile Ablett had one of his quieter games going by recent standards but still could snag a Brownlow vote.
Up forward it was the Steve Johnson show, kicking 5 majors and also having a few characteristic brain-freezes in the process. While Stokes was also lively with 3 of his own.
The umpiring was pretty chaotic at times, but that is part of the parcel with Darren Goldspink involved. A large amount of 50m penalties were handed out, but the main controversy surrounded the goal umpires. Twice the men between the sticks indicated a decision only to change their mind only seconds later (albeit both times they were correct in doing so) & one of them was subject to a Steven King hanger. Probably the rarest thing in football!
Now just a few player notes:
- Andrew Mackie's body has taken a beating over the past couple of weeks and there was no way he was running at 100% out there on Saturday.
- Cameron Mooney had large bandages on his calf & one of his forearms but seemed to be moving around freely in the 2nd half.
- Steve King returned. His first half was very ordinary with trademark lazy disposals but he improved as the game went on and he also contributed some good taps in the ruck. Probably give his game a C+.
- Shannon Byrnes & Travis Varcoe would seem to be battling for the one spot with Paul Chapman set to return. 'Monty' Byrnes had a good game by his standards getting a lot of the footy and surprisingly a decent marking option around half forward. However his poor foot skills & decision making still let him down. Varcoe was quieter than Shannon, although did join in the fun late in the game. He got a couple of scoring assists and doesn't need a lot of the ball to have a big impact on a match. He'd still by my preferred option at the moment.
Geelongblog.com Player of the Year
Round 18:
5. Darren Milburn
4. Steve Johnson
3. Matthew Scarlett
2. James Bartel
1. Matthew Stokes
Leaderboard:
1. Gary Ablett - 47.6
2. Jimmy Bartel - 38.3
3. Joel Corey - 19.5
4. Cameron Ling - 19.3
5. Joel Selwood - 17.5
6. Matthew Scarlett - 15.8
7. Steve Johnson - 15
8. Paul Chapman - 14
9. Darren Milburn 12.5
10. Corey Enright - 9
11. Andrew Mackie - 8.8
12. Nathan Ablett - 7
12. Matthew Egan - 7
14. David Wojcinski - 6
15. James Kelly - 5.5
16. Cameron Mooney - 5.3
17. Mathew Stokes - 5
18. Brad Ottens - 4
18. Brent Prismall - 4
20. David Johnson - 2.5
21. Travis Varcoe - 2
21. Max Rooke - 2
23. Kane Tenace - 1.5
24. Tom Harley - 1.3
25. Mark Blake - 0.5
Posted by Sammy D at August 7, 2007 03:32 PM
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