Geelong Cats vs Gold Coast Suns highlights: Cats thump Suns by 120

Match result:

The Cats recorded the largest victory of the season with their 120 point drubbing of a disappointing but undermanned Suns team.

REPORT: CATS THUMP SUNS BY 20 GOALS

After a competitive first quarter the Cats dominated and outscored the Suns 20 goals to 4 in the last three quarters.

The Cats finished with 150 more disposals in which 13 players had 20+ possessions. They won the clearance count comprehensively 43-23. Selwood, Dangerfield, Caddy, Duncan and Bartel doing as they pleased as all had nearly 30 possessions.

They had winners everywhere. Their forward line set the scene early by applying excellent forward pressure all night. The Suns struggled to move the ball out of their defence and as the errors built it seemed to demoralise the young Suns, as turnovers spread across the ground.

Hall and Prestia tried hard as did Sexton. Gary Ablett started the first quarter with 11 possessions but was fairly quiet by his standards for the rest of the game.

This will be one game Rodney Eade should forget as soon as possible and try and get his team up for Melbourne next week. The Cats face a testing two weeks against the Eagles and the Crows. On this form, their opponents have a lot to worry about.

Final score
Geelong Cats 25.18 (168)
Gold Coast Suns 7.6 (48)

Match preview:

The Geelong Cats will be looking to make it four wins on the trot when they host the Gold Coast Suns on Saturday night at Simonds Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:25pm AEST.

The Cats are coming off a huge win in Adelaide last week over the Port Power. The Cats were jumped in the first quarter by a fired up Power outfit, but overran the Power in the last three quarters outscoring them 15 goals to three.

Led by superstar midfield duo Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood, the Cats dominated. They were fed a constant supply of the ball from their rucking trio of Mark Blicavs, Rhys Stanley and former Sun Zac Smith who dominated, winning the hit out count 62-28.

The Suns will need to find a way to curb the Cats’ rucks as last week the Suns were carved up by the Kangaroos’ All-Australian ruckman Todd Goldstein allowing North to dominate the centre clearances 20-10.

This will be even more important on Saturday as the Cats rank No.1 in the league for marks inside 50. The Suns are still missing their key position defensive duo in Steve May and Rory Thompson and last week the tall North forwards made them pay. With Tom Hawkins in their forward line, the Suns midfield will have to try and at least break even to prevent Hawkins and the Cats resting ruckman adequate supply.

Similarly the Cats will have their own worries down back trying to hold down the league’s leading goal kicker this season Tom J Lynch who has been a handful for defendes in 2016 and who also leads the league in contested marks.

The Suns also had good service up forward last week from their young 200cm former high draft pick Peter Wright who finished his first senior game of the season with three goals.

Former Blue Lachie Henderson makes a timely return to the Cats’ backline and he and Tom Lonergan will have their hands full dealing with the Suns’ two young tall forwards.

The Suns were competitive last week against the Kangaroos and got within three points in the third quarter before being overrun in the last quarter. Turnovers and poor disposal cost them dearly.

Prediction
The Cats at home are always very tough and they are building nicely this season. They look to have the edge in the ruck and therefore the midfield, and it’s hard to see an injury-hit Suns outfit being able to keep up. The Suns have lost Adam Saad and Michael Rischitelli this week to add to their long list of absentees.

Gary Ablett Junior will be back at his old stamping ground and showed last week that he may be regaining his old form but even with Dion Prestia back from injury it’s hard to see the Suns getting over the top of the Cats.

Cats by 35 points.