Cats give Tigers an MCG belting

AFL 2019 round 12 Richmond Tigers v Geelong Cats, Ben Jensen GEELONG started off slow, held goalless in the first quarter, but certainly went on with it from there – belting Richmond by 67 points. A crowd of 65,214 filed into the MCG on a relatively mild June evening. Gary Ablett returned from his week suspension to pretty much have the ball on a string.

An undermanned Richmond had the better of Geelong in the first quarter kicking two goals and one behind to the Cats two behinds; the Cats rarely get back on track after being kept goalless in the first term. Despite missing at least half a dozen first choice players the Tigers appeared ready to deliver the Cats another MCG defeat. But the second quarter was all Geelong. The Cats kicked seven goals and kept the Tigers to three behinds. Esava Ratugolea, Gary Rohan, Tom Hawkins, Gryan Miers and Patrick Dangerfield all kicked goals.

Geelong continued their dominance into the third quarter, completing eleven goals in a row before Richmond finally pegged one back; Hawkins, Ablett, Miers and Ratugolea slamming home the majors. The final quarter was a bit of a non event, the Cats kicking just the one more goal, the Tigers two. It was Richmond’s lowest score against Geelong ever at the MCG. The match may come at a cost with Esava Ratugolea who was one of the Cats’ best leaving the field in the third quarter with a hamstring complaint.

The Cats head into their round 13 bye on top of the ladder with a percentage of just over 150%. The injury list is one of the shortest in the AFL with arguably only Sam Menegola a first choice player kept out of tonight’s match. Jed Bews is yet to play this season and after being named an emergency the last two weeks, continues his comeback in the VFL tomorrow. All three Cats & Tigers sides play this weekend; the VFL men and women play at Punt Road Oval (known commercially as Swinburne Centre) on Saturday. The Cats have 19 AFL listed players in the VFL side, the Tigers only a handful.

AFL 2019 – ROUND 12
RICHMOND TIGERS V GEELONG CATS
FRIDAY 7 JUNE 2019, 19:50 AEST
MCG  MATCH PREVIEW

GEELONG CATS: 0.2, 7.4, 15.8, 16.8 (104) DEFEATED
RICHMOND TIGERS: 2.1, 2.4, 3.6, 5.7 (37)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Hawkins 4, Miers 3, Ablett 2, Ratugolea 2, Duncan, Dangerfield, Rohan, Stanley, Kelly
RICHMOND TIGERS: Butler, Castagna, Lynch, Martin, Naish

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Dangerfield, Duncan, Ablett, Kelly, Miers, Hawkins
RICHMOND TIGERS: Prestia, Cotchin, Martin, Houli

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Esava Ratugolea (apparent hamstring)
RICHMOND TIGERS: Nathan Vlastun (ribs)

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: –
RICHMOND TIGERS: –

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: –
RICHMOND TIGERS: –

CROWD: 65,214 at MCG, Melbourne

UMPIRES
FIELD: Matt Stevic, Hayden Gavine, Alex Whetton, Shaun Ryan
BOUNDARY: Chris ‘Thunderbird’ Gordon, Chris Esler, Lachlan Rayner, James Scully
GOAL: Chris Appleton, Matthew Dervan EM: Michael Palm

3:28 remaining, Q3: Kelly goals
3:05 remaining, Q3: Duncan goals
2:45 remaining, Q3: Ablett goals

Three goals in less than a minute of game time 😳 #AFLTigersCats pic.twitter.com/7y5kcQ3y7o

— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 7, 2019

Townsend was involved in an incident with Clark behind play.#AFLTigersCats pic.twitter.com/hiDOQHpzrE

— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 7, 2019

GEELONG CATS TEAM
IN: Gary Ablett, Rhys Stanley
OUT: James Parsons, Zac Smith
NEW: –

B: Zach Tuohy, Jake Kolodjashnij, Mark O’Connor
HB: Mark Blicavs, Harry Taylor, Tom Stewart
C: Patrick Dangerfield, Tim Kelly, Mitch Duncan
HF: Luke Dahlhaus, Esava Ratugolea, Tom Hawkins
F: Gary Ablett, Gary Rohan, Jordan Clark
FOLL: Rhys Stanley, Cameron Guthrie, Joel Selwood
INT: Jack Henry, Gryan Miers, Tom Atkins, Brandan Parfitt
EMER: James Parsons, Zac Smith, Lachie Fogarty, Jed Bews

RICHMOND TIGERS TEAM
IN: Daniel Rioli, Jacob Townsend, Jack Graham, Patrick Naish
OUT: Brandon Ellis (groin), David Astbury (hamstring), Shai Bolton, Nathan Broad
NEW: Patrick Naish (Northern TAC Cup/under 18)

B: Ryan Garthwaite, Nick Vlastuin, Dylan Grimes
HB: Noah Balta, Shane Edwards, Bachar Houli
C: Liam Baker, Dion Prestia, Kamdyn McIntosh
HF: Daniel Rioli, Jason Castagna, Dan Butler
F: Dustin Martin, Tom J. Lynch, Jacob Townsend
FOLL: Ivan Soldo, Trent Cotchin, Josh Caddy
INT: Sydney Stack, Jack Higgins, Jack Graham, Patrick Naish
EMER: Mabior Chol, Maverick Weller, Riley Collier-Dawkins, Connor Menadue

Gary Rohan 😤

Three in a row to the Cats #AFLTigersCats pic.twitter.com/ilQd3bQNKz

— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 7, 2019

The two champs! Ablett and Dangerfield combine for a goal right on the halftime siren.#AFLTigersCats pic.twitter.com/KmdDeJm8ey

— AFL (@AFL) June 7, 2019