As it happened: Undermanned Cats down Bulldogs, sizzling Suns overrun Crows, Pies thump Eagles, Power smash Hawks

Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge spoke to the media after the game...

Q: Luke, do you think it was just the inaccuracy in front of goal that really cost you tonight or were there other aspects you probably weren’t happy with?
A: That was part of it. But there were other aspects in the end. They brought out the ante in that last quarter and we couldn’t match it. That’s part of the deal. But, yeah, there was some telling opportunities to convert that we didn’t take care of and that’s a bit deflating. Always been pretty good with being able to weather that disappointment and can just stay in the game but, you know, you can’t keep...Geelong at bay for too long if you’re not making the most of those opportunities. It’s a big part of it. But, ultimately, got beaten by a good side who, as I said, found something in the last quarter that we...we couldn’t quite find.

Q: What went wrong in the second half? You kicked the first two goals of the second quarter, looked in control and then end up conceding the last six goals of the game?
A: I think it’s partly their intensity and we didn’t match it. And then it’s...look, you would have noted that we sort of blatantly gave the ball back to them too many times in their own front half. We fuelled a game for their high forwards who are great connectors via foot, in particular Gryan Miers, he’s the best in the comp at that. Give him opportunities to find his teammates with any and so on and so forth of time, he’s just so good at it. So they got some opportunity off the back of those turnovers. And, yeah, look, there were some things going that were in our favour but some of those missed opportunities would have given a little bit of breathing space here and there. But ultimately, yeah, it’s shown that we couldn’t...we couldn’t cover things. You know what I mean, you lose one player in Ed Richards and you should still be able to cover. It felt like the cascade of the roles within our team was...we found it difficult. Ed and JJ (Johannisen) had been influential or a period of time. I found at times our ball movement looked promising but it broke down. I asked the boys, ‘Was it greasy? Was there dew inside the stadium?’ I felt like in open field and taking the ball across the ground we didn’t execute well by foot. It was a real shame because we had some looks.

Q: How did you see the set-up with Tom Stewart as well, he wasn’t so much as the extra defender, their sixth defender and you had one extra around the ball. How do you see the way you used your extra around the ball and then having Stewart spare?
A: Usually, yeah, Stewart in particular, he’s a good interceptor, he’s quick. Didn’t feel like it was a major issue in the game. I don’t know what you felt like but if you look at the intercept marks with either team, I think we took a fair few more than them if we go back to those stats. So it wasn’t a big issue for us. We generally play with five forwards a lot. But then as the game wore on they really...they really pressed their backline up. So that sort of disappeared for a while. So it wasn’t a factor.

Q: Ed Richards, is it a standard hamstring? We know Jason Johannisen is 8-10 weeks. How serious is Ed?
A: We don’t think it’s near;y as serious. We saw him limping and then he didn’t come off. So he thought he had a cramp, which is unusual. Wasn’t that late in the game. And ran around for a bit longer. But our guys are hopeful that it’s not like JJ’s. So hopefully it’s just a post-bye thing.

Geelong coach Chris Scott spoke to the media after the game...

Q: Chris, how proud are you with the performance tonight with all the outs and what was on the line approaching the bye?
A: Really proud of the players. I thought it was a high-quality game and we didn’t feel like we had control of it for large periods but our less experienced players played with a kind of assertiveness and
positivity we’re after. There are lots of examples of that. That’s the exciting part of it. We were able to focus in on the way we wanted to play tonight. I’m confident - I can’t speak for every player or person within the footy department because everyone’s a little bit different - but I do have a degree of confidence that while there’s a bit of talk about what the future might hold, whether we win or lose, that we’re just not in that mindset. It might get boring when we keep talking about it but in a way it’s easier when you do have that optimism that if we get to our best you don’t have to look too far back to see what that looks like and see how dangerous we can be. The trap is thinking that that comes in hopefully four or five or six or seven weeks. We’ve got to do what we can do to do it now. The same goes when we get some players back as well. We’re far from in a position where we think we’re rolling after one win, because we’re getting some players back, Max Holmes will play, Mitch Duncan will play.

Q: You said you wanted your players to be less passive and be bolder. Who drove that, do you think?
Amongst the playing group? Or how did you get that response.
A: That’s complicated. Hopefully there were a lot of inputs there. I think it was put to me, was it yesterday in the press conference, that when you’re not playing that well, especially relative to what you can do...again, look back, whatever it is, six months ago and see what’s possible, and the question’s kind of logical. Is it that little bit of an edge that’s off because you had a good year last year? And sincerely, I don’t see that. I think it’s a little bit the opposite. I think still we have some guys who, in my mind, are A-graders. They may not be All-Australians but that’s how I think of them. That’s the kind of people they are and I love them for it. But we want to see a little bit more of that assertiveness, so the opposite of being passive, out on the field. I think we saw more of that today. So it’s a really good sign.

Q: You spoke about some of the younger guys. How important is Mitch Knevitt’s goal on half-time to get you back within two points?
A: I saw him really quickly after he kicked that goal and even more than the fact that he kicked it and he took on the pressure, like, he was excited a bit, he was up and about. That’s a good example of what I’m trying to explain, like, I’m...I don’t know how many games Mitch has played. I don’t even care. We’re not thinking of them as young players to find their way. He’s capable. It was nice in that little moment to see it and it builds his belief. I suspect that I think that some of these guys are better players than they think that are. That’s always a coaching challenge to inspire, hopefully, but at least make it clear how good they can be.

Q: How important was Tom Stewart’s night in terms of the leadership that you were policing in terms of the experience that wasn’t out there?
A: Yes, I still think that the cornerstone of being a good leader in the AFL context is making sure that you play as well as you can as an individual. And I thought ... Stewy played his game, it wasn’t perfect but it was excellent. Even him kicking that goal was it the start of the last, if you could pick a guy to kick it you couldn’t come up with one better than Stew. That can be a vague thing to observe. I think it comes in a different order I think. When they’ve played well you see they’ve led well. Stewy has led us well along with Pat (Dangerfield) from the pre-season into the season but we haven’t been playing well, through no fault of his.

Q: Tom Stewart is often by himself behind the ball, not as an extra player. How did you see it working out?
A: It is always a challenge with them. They were able to use that extra number well. They’re one of the best teams in the comp. Especially when ball handling is good and their midfield is so deep when they have that many guys I don’t blame them for pushing one up. That’s always a quandary. They were pretty tall in their forward half. The way the ground was set up sometimes it did look OK for them. I wouldn’t have said that it was just on our terms the whole night. But it is an interesting observation. That’s the stuff that takes up the coaching group at every single AFL club’s time during the week and in the review.

Irish Geelong recruit Oisin Mullin spoke to Channel Seven after the Cats’ impressive win over the Bulldogs...

Q: That looked fun out there but a lot of hard work. You’re a bit sore at the end, everything OK?
A: Yes, feeling it a bit towards the end. Game’s a bit longer than I’m used to. But, no, just so good to get the win out there.

Q: It’s game No.2 in the big time in the AFL but that was certainly the most intense and fastest compared to last week. Did you notice that difference?
A: Yes, in here, all the lads are saying it pre-game it feels like the ball travels further. You can really notice the intensity in it. It’s a lot quicker game. The ball moved very fast. Took us a small bit of time to adapt to that but it is enjoyable.

Q: We heard a story pre-game you might have run into a few of the boys at a stag party and they
convinced you to come over.
A: That story is doing the rounds. But, no, that was a pretty funny encounter. I’d never been to Dingle before and to find 13, 14 guys from Geelong in Dingle was happy considering me nearly coming out here for a year then postponing it. It was a bit reassuring them. But I kept in touch and it progressed from there.

Q: The big question, do you know the words to the song?
A: I do. I learnt it. I made the mistake of not knowing it for the first VFL game and I was called out on that one. I learned the words the next day.

G.Coast 2.4, 5.5, 11.10, 16.16 (112)
Adelaide 6.1, 8.4, 11.6, 13.9 (87)

GOALS
G.Coast: Lukosius 5, King 3, Anderson 2, Casboult 2, Humphrey 2, Jeffrey, Rowell
Adelaide: Fogarty 3, Walker 2, Keays 2, O’Brien, Dawson, Pedlar, Milera, Rachele, Murphy

DISPOSALS
G.Coast: Anderson 28, Powell 17, Humphrey 17, Holman 17, Fiorini 17, Davies 17, Atkins 17
Adelaide: Dawson 30, Smith 26, Keays 25, Laird 22, Milera 20, Sloane 17