Cats escape with five point win over Hawks

Geelong Cats v Hawthorn Hawks, AFL 2021 round 3 Ben Jensen GEELONG once more avoided catastrophe this time holding off the Hawks at the MCG on Easter Monday. In the end one kick made the difference; each side had the same number of registered scores, the Cats ten goals nine behinds, the Hawks nine and ten. In a scrappy match the Cats led for most of the match but a four goal to one final term saw the Hawks get close to pinching the win. Francis Evans and Shaun Higgins suffered ankle and hamstring injuries respectively, the former substituted by Charlie Constable midway through the second term while Higgins finished the match on the interchange, unable to play on. The crowd of 50,000 is hopefully a sign of things to come next round when the Cats face an undefeated Melbourne Demons side in an away fixture at the MCG on Sunday.

AFL ROUND 3 2021
GEELONG CATS V HAWTHORN HAWKS
MONDAY 5 APRIL 2021, 15:20 AEDT
MELBOURNE CRICKET GROUND (MCG)
MATCH PREVIEW

GEELONG 3.3, 6.4, 9.7, 10.9(69) defeated
HAWTHORN 2.1, 3.5, 5.7, 9.10 (64)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Hawkins 2, Henry 2, Parfitt, Tuohy, Blicavs, Constable, Miers, Clark
HAWTHORN HAWKS: Breust 2, Lewis 2, Wingard, McEvoy, Koschitzke, Moore, Brockman

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Guthrie, Henderson, Duncan, Blicavs, Henry, O’Connor
HAWTHORN HAWKS: Wingard, Jiath, O’Meara, Scrimshaw, Phillips, Shiels

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Frank Evans (ankle), Shaun Higgins (hamstring)
HAWTHORN HAWKS: Nil reported

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: Nil
HAWTHORN HAWKS: Nil

SUBSTITUTIONS
GEELONG CATS: Charlie Constable for Frank Evans
HAWTHORN HAWKS: Tim O’Brien (not used)

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: Nil
HAWTHORN HAWKS: Nil

CROWD: 50,030 at MCG

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: M Duncan, M Holmes
OUT: G Rohan (suspended), C Constable (omitted), Z Guthrie (omitted)
B: L Henderson, M Blicavs, M O’Connor
HB: T Atkins, T Stewart, J Kolodjashnij
C: I Smith, C Guthrie, Z Tuohy
HF: M Duncan, S Higgins, L Dahlhaus
F: F Evans, T Hawkins, G Miers
FOLL: R Stanley, B Parfitt, J Selwood
INT: J Bews, M Holmes, J Clark, J Henry
EMER: Z Guthrie, B Close, J Jenkins, C Constable

HAWTHORN HAWKS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: C Wingard, M Lewis
OUT: W Day (injured), T O’Brien (omitted), O Hanrahan (omitted)
B: S Frost, K Hartigan, C Jiath
HB: J Scrimshaw, B Hardwick, H Morrison
C: D Moore, J O’Meara, L Shiels
HF: L Breust, C Wingard, T Phillips
F: M Lewis, J Ceglar, T Brockman
FOLL: B McEvoy, T Mitchell, S Burgoyne
INT: J Koschitzke, D Howe, J Worpel, J Impey
EMER: C Nash, O Hanrahan, T O’Brien, J Cousins

UMPIRES
FIELD: Ray Chamberlain, Simon Meredith, Brent Wallace EM: Andrew Heffernan
BOUNDARY: Chris Esler, Matthew Jenkinson, Michael Marantelli, Shane Thiele
GOAL: Michael Craig, David Rodan EM: Daniel Wilson