This was published 3 years ago
Thanks so much for joining us this evening as the Cats scored a win over the Bulldogs.
We will be back with our AFL Saturday blog so please join us in the afternoon.
Thanks for all the comments and interactions this evening.
Please have a lovely evening. Bye for now.
Cats coach Chris Scott spoke to the media post game.
Obviously, a great start. But with Tom Stewart missing, it was perhaps the composure one of the most pleasing aspects from your standpoint?
It was a really good win against a very good opposition who outplayed us for big parts of the night. Obviously, getting off a good start and getting a buffer there was very helpful. But on our side, the last four to six weeks, we’ve been pretty undermanned, and we’ve been really impressed as a coaching group and a club with the resilience of the guys that have been out there. Specifically, we were really going into this game with one key defender, with Jake Kolodjashnij going out, due to the health and safety protocols. So it was going to be a great battle no matter what against [Aaron] Naughton and [Sam] De Koning, we were always going to go that way.
When we lost our best player [Tom Stewart] at quarter time, it looked like being a real challenge for that back half. We knew throughout the course of the game with the quality the Bulldogs had around the ball that they were going to have their moments and the ball was going to go forward with some precision at times and it was going to put our defenders under pressure. So, not just the defenders, I thought we were outplayed but we were able to maintain our composure and hang in there enough to, I shouldn’t say give ourselves a chance, because I think we were in front the whole night but I think for big parts of the game it felt to us in the coaches’ box as if we’d lost control. So it was a stressful night.
Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge spoke to the media post game.
You just can’t give away a 40-point advantage, I guess. Is that pretty much the basic lesson from tonight?
It’s probably the obvious one. They were pretty good in the clinches early, and we took a backward step from what we’d been producing in that early part of the game. And I’m obviously really proud of the boys after that, the way that they dug in and we played some pretty good footy without capitalising. We created enough opportunities without connecting well enough, and even just kicking that extra goal or two just to get our noses in front. But to their credit, they steadied and held sway. I don’t think we ran out of energy. I don’t think we ran out of juice and we came back but we’ll learn a pretty harsh lesson from that first quarter.
Can you put your finger on why you started like that after such a great performance last week?
You probably give them a bit of credit for their vigour, and there is only small margins in the centimetres in the game, around the contest, and there were some loose footies at ground level. There were some aerials that we weren’t quite as good at, and it’s only just that game of inches, and just that extra intensity from them that gave them an advantage so when you’re able to then produce something like we did, it’s a shame that it wasn’t there right at the start. But as I said,they really challenged us on that front. There’s no doubt about it. So credit their way, and we’ve been a reasonably good starting side most of the year, and it’s one that we’ve definitely lowered our colours on, that first quarter.
Geelong star Zach Tuohy had done his best to talk down the impact of the headbutt from Bailey Smith which saw the Bulldogs’ midfielder reported on Friday night.
Tuohy spoke to Fox Footy post game with a red mark noticeably showing on his forehead but he said he was as much at fault as Smith was and they had made up post-game sharing a hug and a laugh.
“Nah, Nah it was just handbags,” Tuohy told Fox Footy.
“Emotions were getting the better of the both of us. I think I was pulling and dragging at him as much as he was at me. There was nothing in it.
“When the game gets so close and we had a big lead cut back to a small margin, emotions get high. It was all love at the end.”
Bailey Smith and Zach Tuohy embraced post game after their fiery clash at three-quarter-time which resulted in Smith being reported for what appeared to be a headbutt.
Smith appeared to apologise to Tuohy who warmly greeted his opponent.
But whether that is enough to avoid suspension for the Dogs star remains to be seen.
Jeremy Cameron kicked three goals in the first and three goals in the last as his embattled Geelong scored a win over the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium tonight.
The Cats had to fight to hold off the Dogs who got as close as five points in the final term before Cameron kicked two late goals to make sure of the win.
Tom Stewart’s concussion saw him subbed out of the game while Bailey Smith was among the Dogs’ best but was reported at three-quarter-time for what appeared to be a headbutt on Zach Tuohy.
Cody Weightman has kicked a running goal to bring the margin within 13 points but it will be too little, too late for the Dogs.
Cats 83, Dogs 70 with 22 seconds left.
Geelong is back and firing with Cameron taking a mark and kicking his sixth goal and third for this quarter.
You can’t write off the Bulldogs yet but the Cats have the momentum and time is running out.
Cats 83, Dogs 64 with five mins to go.
Jeremy Cameron has kicked his fifth goal and pushed the margin back to 13 points.
The Cats desperately needed him to lift in this last term and he has. Cam Guthrie won the ball from a throw-in and quick-kicked to Cameron.
Cats 77, Dogs 64 with six mins to go.
Tim English has snapped a key goal for the Bulldogs after winning a free kick in the forward pocket.
English went for the snap kick and just squeezed it through the goals.
This game is open to both sides.
Cats 71, Dogs 64 with eight mins to go.