Cats make amends, defeat reigning premier by 20 points en route to preliminary final

AFL Finals 2019 first qualifying final; MCG, Friday 13 September 2019 19:50 AEST Ben Jensen GEELONG defeated West Coast by 20 points last night. The Cats dominated the first quarter kicking five goals to the Eagles’ one but faced stiff resistance in the second and third quarters, going into the half time break just 10 points ahead, and trailing by four at the final change.

But Geelong blew West Coast’s season up in the final quarter kicking four goals to the Eagles’ solitary behind, to go into a preliminary final against Richmond at the MCG next Friday night. They may be without full forward Tom Hawkins who has been ‘offered’ a one match suspension for his strike on Eagle and former Geelong boy Will Schofield. In contention to return from injury should they be declared fit are Gary Rohan and Mitch Duncan – the latter probably more doubtful.

AFL FINALS 2019 – FIRST SEMI FINAL
GEELONG CATS V WEST COAST EAGLES
FRIDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2019, 19:50 AEST
MCG
MATCH PREVIEW

GEELONG CATS: 5.2, 7.3, 9.9, 13.10 (88) DEFEATED
WEST COAST EAGLES: 1.1, 5.5, 10.7, 10.8 (68)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Hawkins 4, Ratugolea 3, Kelly 2, Atkins, Selwood, Bews, Dahlhaus
WEST COAST EAGLES: Darling 3, Gaff 2, Petruccelle, Ryan, Hickey, Masten, Kennedy

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Dangerfield, Narkle, Ablett, Stewart, Dahlhaus, Stanley
WEST COAST EAGLES: Gaff, Hurn, Darling, Naitanui, Yeo, Jetta

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Nil reported
WEST COAST EAGLES: Nil reported

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: Nil
WEST COAST EAGLES: Nil

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: –
WEST COAST EAGLES: –

CROWD: 51,813 at MCG

UMPIRES
FIELD: Mitchell, Nicholls, Stephens

Take a bow, Joel Selwood

A true captain's game against West Coast 💯#AFLCatsEagles pic.twitter.com/hKdzijuwD4

— 7AFL (@7AFL) September 13, 2019

GEELONG CATS TEAM
IN: Rhys Stanley, Cameron Guthrie
OUT: Mitch Duncan (knee), Gary Rohan (knee)
B: Jake Kolodjashnij, Mark Blicavs, Jack Henry
HB: Mark O’Connor, Harry Taylor, Tom Stewart
C: Cameron Guthrie, Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood
HF: Gary Ablett, Esava Ratugolea, Tom Atkins
F: Luke Dahlhaus, Tom Hawkins, Gryan Miers
FOLL: Rhys Stanley, Brandan Parfitt, Tim Kelly
INT: Zach Tuohy, Sam Menegola, Quinton Narkle, Jed Bews
EMER: Scott Selwood, Zac Smith, James Parsons, Lachie Henderson

WEST COAST EAGLES TEAM
IN: Jack Petruccelle
OUT: Willie Rioli (drug-related suspension)
B: Tom Barrass, Will Schofield, Brad Sheppard
HB: Shannon Hurn, Jeremy McGovern, Lewis Jetta
C: Jack Redden, Elliot Yeo, Andrew Gaff
HF: Jamie Cripps, Jack Darling, Chris Masten
F: Jack Petruccelle, Josh J. Kennedy, Liam Ryan
FOL: Nic Naitanui, Luke Shuey, Dom Sheed
INT: Jake Waterman, Tom Hickey, Jackson Nelson, Mark Hutchings
EMER: Oscar Allen, Liam Duggan, Nathan Vardy, Brendon Ah Chee

"It's reasonably clear cut."@tombrowne7 says Tom Hawkins will cop a one-week suspension.#AFLCatsEagles pic.twitter.com/I5bN1pPaac

— 7AFL (@7AFL) September 13, 2019