The crucial cogs of AFL's Round 10: Which players need to be the difference makers?
Bayley Fritsch should become an even more important player from a structural perspective, given key forward Jacob van Rooyen will be unavailable due to concussion.
A Patrick Dangerfield-led Geelong has defeated Hawthorn by three points in an absolute thriller at the MCG on Saturday afternoon.
Early in the first quarter, Dangerfield went down in what was a suspected leg injury, but made his way back onto the field. While he struggled to run, Chris Scott put the Cats’ best and fairest into full forward, which proved to be a masterstroke.
Dangerfield went on to score 5.6 from the position, and helped the Cats break open the game in the third quarter, before they kicked the first goal of the last term to put Geelong up by 17 points.
Hawthorn weren’t finished though, and with 20 seconds left on the clock, 300-gamer Luke Hodge kicked a goal from 50 meters out to put the Hawks only 4 points behind.
In the final passage of play, Isaac Smith had the chance to redeem himself for his miss in last year’s qualifying final, against the Cats, when he marked with five seconds left on the clock.
Instead, he chose to play on, and his following shot was offline, giving Geelong a famous 3-point win against their greatest rivals of the modern era.
For the Hawks, Tom Mitchell was outstanding, racking up 43 possessions and kicking two goals, in what has been a breakout season for the former Swan. Luke Shiels had 29 touches, and Ben McEvoy and Will Langford had strong games.
Geelong however, had Patrick Dangerfield, who put on one of the great performances in AFL history. Five goals on one leg, as well as 20 touches and 12 marks. Captain Joel Selwood was fantastic with 30 touches of his own, whilst Daniel Menzel kicked three crucial goals.
The extent of Dangerfield’s injury is yet to be found out, but this display will go down in AFL folklore, and adds to another classic between Geelong and Hawthorn.
Geelong will now travel to Adelaide Oval to take on the Adelaide Crows next Friday night, while the Hawks themselves will travel to Perth to face Fremantle at Domain Stadium on Saturday night.
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Bayley Fritsch should become an even more important player from a structural perspective, given key forward Jacob van Rooyen will be unavailable due to concussion.
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