Curtain comes down on Cats’ season

Geelong Cats v Melbourne Demons, AFL 2021 preliminary final, Ben Jensen GEELONG suffered their worst loss of the season going down to Melbourne by eighty-three points. Dees skipper Max Gawn put on a show kicking six goals while for Geelong only Jeremy Cameron managed more than one goal, Tom Hawkins kicking one and Gary Rohan none. The Cats trailed by 26 points at quarter time and while they kicked four goals in the second quarter so did the Dees, extending their lead slightly. It was the third quarter where the match really blew open kicking eight unanswered goals- four of them to Gawn alone. The Cats’ season and possibly some careers are over but for the Demons their premiership dream carries on facing 2016 premier Western Bulldogs in the grand final on Saturday 25 September.

AFL FINALS 2021
FIRST PRELIMINARY FINAL
MELBOURNE DEMONS V GEELONG CATS
FRIDAY 10 SEPTEMBER, 19:50 AEST
PERTH STADIUM

MELBOURNE DEMONS: 5.3, 9.6, 17.8, 19.11 (125) DEFEATED
GEELONG CATS: 1.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.6 (42)

GOALS
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Gawn 5, Pickett 3, Spargo 2, Brown 2, Fritsch 2, Petracca, Harmes, Neal-Bullen, McDonald, Sparrow
GEELONG CATS: Cameron 2, Hawkins, Stanley, Miers, Smith

BEST
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Gawn, Petracca, Oliver, Viney, Salem, Pickett, Brown
GEELONG CATS: Dangerfield, Smith, Selwood

INJURIES
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Steven May (hamstring)
GEELONG CATS: Gary Rohan (hamstring)

CHANGES
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Nil
GEELONG CATS: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Jordon (replaced May)
GEELONG CATS: Higgins (replaced Rohan)

REPORTS
MELBOURNE DEMONS: Nil
GEELONG CATS: Nil

CROWD: 58,599 at Optus Stadium, Perth

UMPIRES
FIELD Chris Donlon, Simon Meredith, Jacob Mollison EM: Ray Chamberlain
BOUNDARY Michael Marantelli, Michael Barlow, Nathan Doig, Chris Esler
GOAL Steven Axon, Matthew Dervan EM: Angus McKenzie-Wills

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: Zach Guthrie
OUT: Brandan Parfitt
B: J Henry, L Henderson, Z Tuohy
HB: J Kolodjashnij, M Blicavs, J Bews
C: M Duncan, C Guthrie, I Smith
HF: E Ratugolea, J Cameron, G Rohan
F: S Menegola, T Hawkins, G Miers
FOLL: R Stanley, J Selwood, P Dangerfield
INT: T Atkins, Z Guthrie, M Holmes, B Close
EMER: L Dahlhaus, S Simpson, D Fort, S Higgins

MELBOURNE DEMONS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: Michael Hibberd
OUT: Joel Smith (hamstring, James Jordon (sub)
B: C Salem, S May, J Lever
HB: J Bowey, H Petty, T Rivers
C: T Sparrow, C Petracca, E Langdon
HF: B Fritsch, T McDonald, J Viney
F: A Neal-Bullen, B Brown, C Spargo
FOLL: M Gawn, C Oliver, A Brayshaw
INT: J Harmes, L Jackson, M Hibberd, K Pickett
EMER: N Jones, J Melksham, J Jordon, K Chandler