It was a tale of two sides on Friday night: Geelong shone brightly while the Dogs continued their topsy-turvy start to the season.
After a tumultuous week in which the Cats were blasted by experts, fans and even their own coach as being “disgraceful” – those are Chris Scott’s words, not mine – Geelong came out like a house on fire.
Despite trailing by nine points at the end of the first quarter, the Cats had laid 28 tackles on their opposition, sending a strong message to anyone who had doubted their intent.
In a match that resembled a finals game due to its intensity and hard-hitting nature, the Cats’ hard work began to pay off, and a five-goal blitz in the second half gave them a 26-point buffer going into the half-time break.
Despite the Bulldogs roaring back into the game in the third quarter, booting six goals to one, they were eventually overrun by the Geelong pressure in the last term, the Cats prevailing as 23 point victors, snapping their three-game losing streak.
It was in stark contrast to the previous week’s performance by the Cattery, with 100 more tackles than they had against the Bombers, and proves that Geelong aren’t done just yet.
Patrick Dangerfield was a class above the rest, finishing with 36 touches, ten clearances, 12 tackles and four goals, one of which came from a tight angle on the boundary.
The Selwood brothers also ran riot, with Joel collecting 29 disposals and Scott with 17 tackles, while Harry Taylor slotted five goals, continuing his fine start up forward.
It speaks wonders of the Cats, who responded strongly to Chris Scott’s plea to tackle harder and utilise the ball better. They tackled harder and bullied the young Bulldogs side at times, and their pressure was reminiscent of the Geelong of old.
It was the opposite side of the story for the Dogs, who were dominated in the second and last quarters.
They went scoreless in the second quarter, and while they fought hard to get back into the contest in the third, even managing to grab a nine-point lead, the Bulldogs looked exhausted in the last quarter, when the Cats eventually ran over the top of them.
Mitch Wallis was fantastic coming back from return, as was Lin Jong and Caleb Daniel, but it was the big names for the Dogs that went missing, which would be concerning for Luke Beveridge.
Marcus Bontempelli managed only 19 disposals and missed three goals, and recruit Travis Cloke only had one goal after returning from a rib injury.
The Dogs have now slid to eighth on the ladder with a 5-4 record. Their wins have come against struggling sides such as Brisbane and Collingwood, and they have defeated only one top-eight side so far.
Losses have been close against the Giants and the Eagles, but their wins have been as equally close against the Tigers and North Melbourne.
After the match Luke Beveridge described his side’s form as a “mystery show”, sort of like the X-Files, and he bemoaned the fact that the team had yet to find the consistency that it maintained through the 2016 finals series.
While the Cats are looking towards another game in front of their home crowd at Simonds Stadium against the Power, the Dogs will have to face another challenge against a young and up-and-coming St Kilda outfit.
With positions on the ladder being so hotly contested and only two wins now separating first and 11th, the Dogs will be hoping to find some consistent form in the near future.
Leonard
Guest
Or 'greatest sports white elephant' - various governments, especially State governments, have the mortgage on white elephants, with some of their efforts being more like white mastodons from the start. How about the Homebush Olympic Stadium having 'white elephant' status from the instant the NSW government rejected the SCG as the [logical] place for the Games? Poor transport links (despite the rail spur line), for a start. NRL fans have to be bribed, or dragged kickin' 'n' screamin' to it (except for State of Origin and GFs): over 350 H&A games at a sub-20,000 average in a 80,000+ stadium. Or [greater] Hobart's Bellerive Oval: on the wrong side of the Derwent estuary from the CBD, nowhere to park (it's surrounded on three side by housing, and by a nice beach on the fourth), and nowhere go after a game. Plus, it is 80% open to the weather - remember, the winter sun sets about 4.00 to 4.30 and even a nice autumn or spring day gets effin' cold by about 3.00; plus wind on some days straight off snow-capped Mt Wellington. Reckon it's set to become Tasmania's Waverley plus Football Park combined. If Cats fans don't run up a string of high 30,000s and a couple of 40,000s this season, you may be on the way to a 'You read it here first'!
mattyb
Guest
Good observation Leonard and that would be hugely disappointing for Geelong. I'm a bit worried about the new stadium but I wouldn't have thought it would begin so poorly. Kardinya Park could certainly be setting itself up to be the greatest white elephant in the the country.
Leonard
Guest
Fair enough!
Cat
Roar Guru
Considering the forecast was for rain all night and it was a Friday night game (not the easiest thing to work all day in Melbourne then fight commuter traffic AND game traffic into Geelong, nor ride the sardine can vline trains).
Leonard
Guest
Did anyone else reckon that a low 30,000 was a pretty poor crowd for the opening match in the penultimate stage of Kardinia Park's magnificent rebuild and upgrade? With two neighbouring clubs at either end of the 'Geelong Rd / Princes Hwy', and which were finalists last year and, despite some poor form, still in the running this year? You'd've reckoned at least 35,000, which would have set a new matchup venue record - or even 40,000. 30,000 - bloody Gold Coast got 30,000 to KP a few seasons ago. Have Geelong fans and members becoming complacent, and Bulldogs members fans finding it all too much of an effort? Or has the AFL's success in getting games broadcast widely on screens small, medium and mega-large had the perverse effect of reducing attendances? Or doesn't the Commission and its pee-cee CEO (and judging by some of the idiot late arvo starting times) just not care, reckoning that eyeballs on screens are far more important than bums on seats? WTF are we, the NRL already? Maybe KP is in a bad-timing situation, where 2007 would've been a far better time to have such a you-beaut venue? (Remember the BCG: all nice and shiny for 35,000 to 40,00 crowds just as the Lions were turning into lap-cats!)
Leonard
Guest
Your "Gillon desperately wants the game to become INTERNATONAL" has hit several nails on their heads: (i) "Tell 'im he's dreaming" is the politest response to this grandiose CEO 'vision'; our game (and, yes, it is 'our' game, Mr McLachlan, not yours) is NOT going to become 'international' in the ways that cricket, soccer, rugby union and basketball are, any more than India's Kabbadi, America's NFL, Ireland's Gaelic football & hurling are (which, of course does NOT mean that no-one outside Australia can become interested in this "game of our own"); (ii) our game does NOT need to become 'international' in order to thrive and prosper; nor, (iii) do we need to flagellate ourselves with a 'cultural cringe' on account of it's being mainly ours. Couple of other points for you, Mr McL: enough of the amateur hour social engineering, pee-cee preaching, and using your position and our game to push trendoid 'worthy' causes, and stop snafuing around with the essentials of our game before such meddling gets to fubar status - you're a paid executive, not a visionary or philosopher to tell all us schmucks how to lead our lives. If you really feel an irresistible urge to make a mark, do these: let the two clubs' fans into the MCG to see THEIR Grand Final, get rid of the increasingly designer-dumb and ugly looking 'special' jumpers, and do something about food & drink prices (while you are savouring your canapés and champagne with your toffs).
Cat
Roar Guru
Over the last few years the Cats have a bad habit of playing to their opponents level. This year is no different than last year when we lost to Carlton, Collingwood and St Kilda. The only difference is this year there was three poor teams in a row to lose to.
Cat
Roar Guru
It doesn't have anything to do with 'constant rules changes', the rules have been the same all year, yet the umpiring has been extremely up and down this year. In my opinion, the issue is with the AFL's and the umpires association 'focus of the week'. Every week they pick a rule to 'focus on' and increasingly it seems to be at the cost of ignoring blatant frees in regards to other rules. One week we see the umpires go hard on 'deliberate out of bounds' but miss all the throws. Another week the umpires go hard on throws but ignore all the in the back calls. Just stop shifting focus and call what you see. No need to 'clamp down on' any specific area each week if it means ignoring the rest of the rules.
George
Guest
Very impressive from both teams. Knockout blows from both teams, 2 QTR for Cats two for Bulldogs. I was surprised that Smith dominated ruck. Boyd looked not strong enough and playing Jong in ruck is just awful. Return of Roughead will help for sure. Just wondering why Cats did bring the same effort in previous rounds. Though people forget to mention that Simonds narrow stadium suits Cats perfectly. On wide fields likes MCG and Metricon their lack of speed was exposed.
Dylan Carmody
Roar Guru
Umpiring was fairly poor last night in my opinion, but that has more to do with the constant rule changes from the AFL, with the umpires having to figure out what the new ones are each year. I can't remember what radio station it was on, but somebody asked, what other sport continues to make various rule changes every year?
mdso
Guest
Thought the umpiring of the game left a lot of confusion for everyone, the players included. Would someone please, please, tell us what the rules are for this week? Is handball on its way out and rugby throws )passes) on its way in? Scrums and stacks on the mill are definitely part of AFL now. Some consistency from the Rules Committee would be great. Gillon desperately wants the game to become INTERNATONAL. Perhaps he can then lay his claim to fame as being the AFL's most inventive and daring CEO. Truly a legend in his own undies. The continual rule changes or not applying the rules which already exist, are bringing the wonderful game of AFL into disrepute. I thought the head was sacrosanct. Yet in this match, the number of head high tackles and the tackling coming over the top of the player while on the ground, front on not from the side, is surely a dangerous practice? I wonder how long it will be before someone is badly hurt from allowing this to occur?