Cats bomb out against Dockers

Geelong Cats v Fremantle Dockers, AFL 2022 round 7 Ben Jensen FREMANTLE secured a rare win in Geelong on Saturday, defeating the fast-finishing Cats by 3 points. The Dockers trailed at quarter time thanks to the Cats booting five straight goals but looked sharp from the opening bounce, and by half time had levelled the scores despite their inaccuracy – the Cats scoring a solitary behind for the quarter didn’t help their cause. Fremantle really asserted their dominance into the second half, piling on three unanswered goals in the third term before the Cats finally kicked one of their own thanks to Rhys Stanley.

The Cats certainly had the upper hand in the final term but it was too little too late. It didn’t take long for the Dockers to extend their 17 point three quarter time lead but Luke Dahlhaus, who came on in the second quarter as a substitute for injured Max Holmes, soon answered back. Stanley’s second nine minutes in gave the Cats fans hope but thereafter followed an arm wrestle, neither side scoring a goal until Docker Michael Frederick’s second with less than ten minutes to go which made a Cats win look remote.

Tyson Stengle’s third goal however with gave the Cats some hope but again the Dockers knuckled down, almost perfectly holding the Cats at bay until Mark Blicavs slammed his second goal of the match home from outside fifty with 30 seconds left on the clock. By the time the game resumed at the ball up there were 26 seconds left, and to be fair it would have been an absolute steal had the Cats somehow managed to get the ball forward for a match-winning goal. The Cats were without regular first-picked players in Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield, Sam Menegola and Gary Rohan but the Dockers were similarly depleted, dual-Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe, Sean Darcy and Matt Tabener absent.

By the end of the round the Cats had slid to seventh on the AFL ladder with a four wins and three losses, and a road trip to the nation’s capital next weekend to face the Greater Western Sydney Giants. Gary Rohan made it through a VFL match against Williamstown on Sunday unscathed but has to be a very outside chance to be brought back in given he had just six touches of the footy. Untested Cooper Stephens, a first-round pick in the 2019 draft, is more of a chance to debut. The VFL side won by twelve points over an inaccurate Seagulls side.

AFL 2022 ROUND SEVEN
GEELONG CATS V FREMANTLE DOCKERS
SATURDAY 30 APRIL 2022, 13:45 AEST
GMHBA STADIUM

GEELONG CATS: 5.0, 5.1, 6.3, 10.6 (66) DEFEATED
FREMANTLE DOCKERS: 3.3, 4.7, 8.8, 10.9 (69)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Stengle 3, Hawkins 2, Stanley 2, Blicavs 2, Dahlhaus
FREMANTLE DOCKERS: Lobb 2, Schultz 2, Frederick 2, O’Driscoll, Tucker, Switkowski, Acres

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Stewart, Guthrie, Stengle, Close, Blicavs
FREMANTLE DOCKERS: Acres, Brayshaw, Lobb, Serong, Clark, Mundy

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Max Holmes (ankle)
FREMANTLE DOCKERS: Nil reported

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: Nil
FREMANTLE DOCKERS: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
GEELONG CATS: Luke Dahlhaus (replaced Max Holmes, second quarter)
FREMANTLE DOCKERS: Bailey Banfield (not used)

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: Nil
FREMANTLE DOCKERS: Nil

CROWD: 20,136 GMHBA Stadium, Kardinia Park, Geelong

UMPIRES
FIELD: Leigh Fisher, Andrew Stephens, John Howorth EMER: Peter Balles
BOUNDARY: Sam Stagg, Joshua Furman, Patrick Dineen, Michael Marantelli
GOAL: Luke Edwards, Adam Wojcik EMER: David Rodan

PREDICTIONS
Ben – Cats 22 points
Oscar – Dockers 20 points
Cassie – Cats 19 points

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: –
OUT: –

B: S De Koning, M Blicavs, J Bews
HB: J Kolodjashnij, T Stewart, T Atkins
C: M Duncan, C Guthrie, I Smith
HF: O Dempsey, J Cameron, M O’Connor
F: B Close, T Hawkins, T Stengle
FOLL: R Stanley, M Holmes, J Selwood
INT: Z Tuohy, B Parfitt, S Higgins, G Miers
EMER: C Stephens, L Dahlhaus, Z Guthrie, E Ratugoleas

FREMANTLE DOCKERS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: J Treacy, L Meek
OUT: M Taberner (injured), S Darcy (injured), B Banfield (omitted)

B: B Cox, A Pearce, G Logue
HB: B Acres, L Ryan, J Clark
C: T Colyer, A Brayshaw, J Aish
HF: M Walters, J Treacy, S Switkowski
F: N O’Driscoll, R Lobb, L Schultz
FOLL: L Meek, W Brodie, C Serong
INT: D Tucker, D Mundy, B Walker, M Frederick
EMER: B Banfield, K Worner, N Wilson, E Hughes