Cats fall over the line against Demons

AFL 2020 round 4; MCG, Sunday 28 June 2020 Ben Jensen GEELONG picked up their second win of the season in unconvincing fashion, defeating Melbourne by three points at an empty MCG on Sunday afternoon. The Cats led all match besides a brief period in the third term when the Demons got in front by a solitary point, but nearly lost it as the Demons fought their way back during the final quarter.

Tom Stewart had his collarbone in a pointless yet seemingly innocuous incident with Tom McDonald in the first quarter in the Melbourne goal square. McDonald ran into Stewart who braced for the impact at the last moment, an incident seen dozens of times a game but on this occasion Stewart immediately left the field and the broken shoulder was diagnosed.

Next weekend Geelong captain Joel Selwood will play his three hundredth game and Gary Ablett his three hundred and fiftieth, the dual milestone match to be played at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday with a 4:45PM start. The match may well be the Cats’ last in Geelong for some time with the round six fixture at Marvel and the Cats heading to the West for matches with Collingwood, Fremantle and West Coast. After that all bets are off with the Coronavirus/Covid-19 crisis making Victorian teams persona non grata at the moment.

.@GeelongCats‘s Tom Stewart will sit the rest of #AFLDemonsCats on the bench after this incident in the first quarter. pic.twitter.com/GccnT55vMh

— AFL (@AFL) June 28, 2020

AFL 2020 – ROUND 4
MELBOURNE DEMONS V GEELONG CATS
SUNDAY 28 JUNE 2020, 15:35
MCG
MATCH PREVIEW

GEELONG CATS: 2.1, 2.2, 6.4, 7.5 (47) DEFEATED
MELBOURNE DEMONS: 0.1, 2.3, 3.5, 6.8 (44)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Hawkins, Fort, Duncan, Ratugolea, Dangerfield, Parfitt, Guthrie
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Brayshaw 2, Fritsch, Petracca, Hunt, McDonald

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Guthrie, Menegola, Dangerfield, Selwood, Parfitt, Duncan
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Oliver, Viney, Petracca, Gawn, Brayshaw, Tomlinson,3

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Tom Stewart (broken collarbone)
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Nil reported

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: Nil
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Nil

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: –
MELBOURNE DEMONS: –

CROWD: 0 at MCG

UMPIRES
FIELD: Nick Foot, John Howorth, Shaun Ryan, Paul Rebeschini
BOUNDARY: Ian Burrows Adam Coote Joshua Mather Damien Cusack
GOAL: Chelsea Roffey Simon Plumridge EMERGENCY: Matthew Dervan

GEELONG CATS TEAM
IN: J.Kolodjashnij, D.Fort, B.Parfitt
OUT: H.Taylor (managed), R.Stanley (injured), Q.Narkle (omitted)
B: J.Kolodjashnij, M.Blicavs, J.Henry
HB: M.O’Connor, T.Stewart, J.Bews
C: S.Menegola, P.Dangerfield, J.Selwood
HF: T.Atkins, G.Rohan, M.Duncan
F: E.Ratugolea, T.Hawkins, G.Miers
FOLL: D.Fort, G.Ablett, C.Guthrie
INT: Z.Tuohy, B.Parfitt, J.Steven, L.Dahlhaus
EMER: L.Henderson, J.Parsons, J.Clark, Q.Narkle

MELBOURNE DEMONS TEAM
IN: M.Hannan, A.vandenBerg, M.Hibberd, K.Pickett, J.Lockhart
OUT: H.Bennell, N.Jones, L.Jackson, N.Jetta, A.Neal-Bullen (all omitted)
B: T.Rivers, S.May, C.Salem
HB: J.Smith, J.Lever, J.Harmes
C: E.Langdon, C.Oliver, A.Tomlinson
HF: M.Hannan, J.Melksham, A.vandenBerg
F: B.Fritsch, J.Hunt, T.McDonald
FOLL: M.Gawn, C.Petracca, J.Viney
INT: , A.Brayshaw, M.Hibberd,J.Lockhart,, K.Pickett
EMER: N.Jones, L.Jackson, N.Jetta, A.Neal-Bullens

When @melbournefc are caught sleeping, @dangerfield35
will pounce 😺#AFLDemonsCats pic.twitter.com/Nu2uOVyu7Q

— AFL (@AFL) June 28, 2020