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Geelong Cats vs Brisbane Lions: AFL live scores, blog

(Photo by Adam Trafford/AFL Media/Getty Images)
Roar Guru
28th July, 2018
83

Match result:

Tom Hawkins has feasted on a lacklustre Brisbane, claiming another seven-goal haul as Geelong boosted their AFL finals chances with a 42-point win at GMHBA Stadium.

» Click here to read the full match report

Final score
Geelong Cats 18.12.120
Brisbane Lions 11.12.78

Match preview:

We head down to GMHBA Stadium to see the Geelong Cats hoping to bounce back into the top 8 as they face up against a resurgent Brisbane Lions. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 2:10pm AEST.

It is hard to get a read on Geelong’s season to date, given that for all appearances they continue to look like a team that will win, and invariably do, however find themselves in 9th on the ladder with 5 matches to go.

And what can you make of their win over the Dees? For the second time this season, Geelong have come back from the dead against the Melbourne outfit, and last weekend snatched amazing victory from the jaws of seemingly inevitable defeat.

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The never-say-die attitude of the Cats lives on, and yet here we are, the Cats in 9th, but with an opportunity to jump back into the 8, and profit from the Swans’ profligacy against the Bombers overnight.

For what it’s worth, the Cats may want to be mindful of two things.

Firstly, while the teaming up of Joel Selwood, Patrick Dangerfield, and Gary Ablett was lauded at the start of the season as the greatest midfield to ever grace a sports field in Australian history, the bottom line is that, great as those three players individually are, they are yet to gel as a match winning unit.

If they are going to make finals, let alone make any damage in the finals, now is the time for those three players to start working with one another.

Secondly, the Cats are one of the top performing teams against top eight opponents, one of the few teams to have a superior record against top eight opposition met this year.

Which is a great statistic, but if you are not in the eight itself, that perhaps suggests that you are not performing as well against teams outside the eight.

Which brings us to Brisbane.

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The Lions have won three of their last five, and their two losses (to the Giants and Adelaide) have been tight affairs.

All five matches will have pleased Chris Fagan, who has also been given the long-term road mapakin to that which Brendan Bolton is navigating, but unlike Bolts, Fages has one or two more wins on the board to shown some tangible progress.

To see the likes of Cam Raynor, Eric Hipwood, and in recent weeks, Alex Witherden, Hugh McCluggage and Nick Robertson rising up in confidence and execution will give Fagan confidence himself not just for the long-term, but for today.

Brisbane should hold no fears here. They are playing a quality, fast, and precise brand of football, and only a lack of belief will hold them back. And coming up against a side that required a kick after the siren to win after being five goals down, why can’t the Lions spring a surprise of their own in Victoria?

Brisbane haven’t won in Geelong since 2003, when funnily enough Chris Scott was playing for them. Given the feats of the Bombers last night, in beating Sydney for the first time in a very long while, then perhaps this might be a round for drought breakers.

Prediction
The Cats will be pretty riled up about winning last weekend, but dropping positions. No doubt they will feel that the table simply does not reflect who they are as a team and a contender.

While the Lions should put up more of a fight than in recent years, given just how poorly the Lions have performed at this venue in recent years, it really is hard to go past the Cats.

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Geelong Cats by 34 points.

Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match from 2:10pm AEST.

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