North Melbourne
42
Match Complete
Geelong Cats
62
| Fourth Quarter | ||||
| 25:44 |  | T. Hawkins | ||
| 19:53 |  | T. Hawkins | ||
| 17:21 | | C. Guthrie | ||
| E. Ford | | 10:29 | ||
| 3:45 | | Q. Narkle | ||
| 2:36 | | Q. Narkle | ||
| 5.6 (36) | Third Quarter [+] | 6.11 (47) | ||
| 20:48 | | B. Close | ||
| Rushed | | 19:05 | ||
| 14:28 | | G. Rohan | ||
| N. Larkey | | 12:42 | ||
| Rushed | | 10:12 | ||
| 7:30 | | G. Rohan | ||
| 7:17 | | E. Ratugolea | ||
| 4:49 | | Rushed | ||
| 2:37 | | C. Guthrie | ||
| 4.4 (28) | Second Quarter [+] | 5.6 (36) | ||
| 19:27 | | G. Rohan | ||
| 17:44 | | Rushed | ||
| 13:56 | | M. Blicavs | ||
| J. Anderson | | 12:32 | ||
| C. Taylor | | 5:47 | ||
| 2:29 | | S. Higgins | ||
| 1:24 | | Rushed | ||
| Rushed | | 0:25 | ||
| 3.2 (20) | First Quarter [+] | 2.4 (16) | ||
| N. Larkey | | 26:46 | ||
| Rushed | | 22:38 | ||
| A. Bosenavulagi | | 21:10 | ||
| 20:08 | | S. Menegola | ||
| 17:45 | | C. Guthrie | ||
| 15:59 | | L. Dahlhaus | ||
| E. Ford | | 13:12 | ||
| 12:38 | | S. Higgins | ||
| 9:13 | | G. Rohan | ||
| 7:12 | | S. Menegola | ||
| L. Davies-Uniacke | | 3:12 | ||
The Geelong Cats are looking to make it eleven wins from their last twelve games when they travel to Hobart to take on the North Melbourne Kangaroos. Tune into events from Blundstone Arena with live scores on The Roar from 1:15pm (AEST).
The Cats are outright premiership favourites for good reason – after some near-misses in recent years, Chris Scott’s team are going full bore at a second flag in his time at the helm.
Last week’s commanding win over Richmond showed again that the Cats are the team to beat this year, even if they remain percentage behind the ladder-leading Western Bulldogs. With Jeremy Cameron set to return in coming weeks, pressure will be right on among forwards Esava Ratugolea and Gary Rohan to retain spots a spot in their best team.
The Kangaroos have improved out of sight following a dismal start to the year, with David Noble’s game plan and investment in youth already showing signs of paying off. Last week’s impressive 39-point win over Carlton might have been their best of the season, with emerging forward Nick Larkey’s seven-goal haul the highlight.
This week, though, they’ve been ravaged by injury, headlined by Ben Cunnington’s operation to remove a testicular tumour. Everyone in the footy world will be hoping the much-admired Roo will make a full recovery. In-form youngster Tarryn Thomas is also out with delayed concussion symptoms, while in a six-year first, veteran defender Shaun Atley has been dropped.
Game information
Opening bounce: 1:15pm (AEST)
Venue: Blundstone Arena, Hobart
TV: Fox Footy
Live stream: Kayo Sports, Foxtel Now, Foxtel Go
Betting: Kangaroos $6.50, Cats $1.11 (odds via PlayUp)
Teams
North Melbourne Kangaroos
B: 25 Robbie Tarrant, 23 Ben McKay, 28 Kayne Turner
HB: 7 Jack Ziebell (c), 19 Josh Walker, 43 Aaron Hall
C: 14 Trent Dumont, 12 Jy Simpkin, 11 Luke McDonald
HF: 2 Jaidyn Stephenson, 20 Nick Larkey, 5 Curtis Taylor
F: 40 Eddie Ford, 38 Tristan Xerri, 1 Jack Mahony
FOL: 22 Todd Goldstein, 9 Luke Davies-Uniacke, 29 Will Phillips
I/C: 3 Jed Anderson, 8 Bailey Scott, 13 Jared Polec, 15 Atu Bosenavulagi
EMG: 18 Shaun Atley, 35 Charlie Lazzaro, 36 Phoenix Spicer, 42 Tom Campbell
IN: Eddie Ford, Jack Mahony, Robbie Tarrant, Jared Polec (R19 medical sub)
OUT: Ben Cunnington, Cameron Zurhaar, Shaun Atley, Tarryn Thomas
Geelong Cats
B: 30 Tom Atkins, 46 Mark Blicavs, 42 Mark O’Connor
HB: 44 Tom Stewart, 38 Jack Henry, 8 Jake Kolodjashnij
C: 7 Isaac Smith, 29 Cameron Guthrie, 2 Zach Tuohy
HF: 3 Brandan Parfitt, 17 Esava Ratugolea, 4 Shaun Higgins
F: 45 Brad Close, 26 Tom Hawkins, 23 Gary Rohan
FOL: 1 Rhys Stanley, 14 Joel Selwood (c), 35 Patrick Dangerfield
I/C: 19 Quinton Narkle, 24 Jed Bews, 27 Sam Menegola, 40 Luke Dahlhaus
EMG: 6 Jordan Clark, 9 Max Holmes, 15 Nathan Kreuger, 39 Zach Guthrie
IN: Shaun Higgins, Quinton Narkle (R19 medical sub)
OUT: Gryan Miers, Lachie Henderson
Bangkokpussey
Roar Rookie
I thought this was a danger game for Geelong and it was. Credit to the shinboners they played well and supporters should be pleased with their progress. They are no longer a percentage booster game and will trouble good teams for the remainder of the season if they keep up their progress over the last four weeks. I expect them to be at least somwhere near knocking on the top 8 next year.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
:happy:
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
A man with some confidence. Completely wrong, but I can appreciate that.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Can’t wait to play your mob soooo looking forward to wiping the Cats out. Your clearly delusional.Keep up the amusement lots of laughs! Lots of respect regardless Disney let the games begin :stoked:
Chanon
Roar Rookie
Fiction is fun
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
Your boys are destroying my tips.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
Need to kick straight though.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
Dominated inside 50’s
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
I think Scott will see it as a controlled performance rather than average.
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
For once.
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
They played reasonably well, Geelong. I'll give credit to North, which I don't often do. They made life tough. It wasn't pretty, but I enjoyed the game. Cats' attack will need to be better against the top teams, but their defence is at 92-94 West Coast Eagles levels. They were the best defensive team I've seen...ever. They had to be to beat the best attacking team...ever!
Doc Disnick
Roar Guru
They got opened up in the corridor last year by the Tiges in the 2nd half. You could see the adjustment last week from Geelong's central cover defence to address this deficiency. The downside is less offensive counter-attacking ability on the outside, but players like Danger can counter on the inside with brute power running, breaking lines. I expect to see more of this from him. There was also a moment last week when Henderson left Lynch to bolt 40 metres and apply pressure at a central wing contest. It resulted in a turnover and an easy shot the other way, unfortunately, but it did highlight a change in their rolling deep cover defence. The downside is, they could see some easier scores out back, but we should see fewer snapshots from 30 out off packs, along with less drive through the centre from the likes of the Dogs, etc. Melbourne is still the team to beat for us. Perhaps Brisbane, but we may not run into them.
pablocruz
Roar Rookie
In retrospect! Lol.
Windrince
Roar Rookie
other guthrie was good too for once actually
Gary
Roar Rookie
Yeah. Was thinking this morning i should change my tip, but, i thought, whilst unlikely, North are pretty good atm, and Geelong might be a bit complacent and are in foreign surrounds... alas, no upset.
Peter the Scribe
Roar Guru
I’d say the mark of a professional outfit where you can have an average performance but never feel truly threatened.
Chanon
Roar Rookie
True mate getting closer to the big dance :stoked:
Yattuzzi
Roar Rookie
It is like he is practicing the hold, a clamp on the weaker teams. Like he could apply it in retrospect in the second half of the GF last year.
Dangersphere 10
Roar Rookie
Comfortable win today for both our mobs Chanon, reckon we've just about got top 2 sealed ;)
Dangersphere 10
Roar Rookie
Great win from the Cats, very professional, very defensively sound. No new injuries, and got to rest 4-5 players and blood a youngster, couldn't ask for much more. Not one for the replays though, bank the points and move on. Though both Guthries were excellent, alongside Touhy, Stewart and Rohan. Danger huge in the final quarter, and Krueger did well on debut. North were very impressive also, they certainly don't look a bottom of the ladder team to me, been good for weeks now. Defensively very solid and excellent in the clearances, their definitely going place, great effort from Noble to turn them around since the bye.