Cats thump Kangaroos to celebrate Mitch Duncan milestone

Geelong Cats v North Melbourne Kangaroos, AFL 2022 round 16 Ben Jensen GEELONG thumped North Melbourne by 112 points last night in Mitch Duncan 250th AFL match while Jeremy Cameron took an outright lead in the Coleman Medal race, kicking four goals while Tom Hawkins kicked six. The Kangaroos somewhat held their own in the first quarter kicking three late goals but from then on it was one-way traffic, barely registering a score in the final three terms as the Cats booted 18 goals.

In his first game since round ten Patrick Dangerfield kicked the first goal of the match in the first fifteen seconds, arguably ten seconds when he kicked it. It was a welcome hit out for Dangerfield as fellow midfield veteran Joel Selwood at on the sidelines. Duncan, who we can’t believe has already reached 250m, and fellow ‘young veteran’ Cameron Guthrie (220 games), ruled the roost in the midfield as Cameron and Hawkins did up forward.

The enormous percentage boost saw the Cats leap from 124% to nearly 136%, pushing past the Brisbane Lions on 127% who the Cats are on equal points. This sets up a clash with reigning premier Melbourne this Thursday at GMHBA Stadium who sit in top spot on 139.6% and one win ahead of the Cats.

AFL 2022 ROUND SIXTEEN
GEELONG CATS V NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS
SATURDAY 2 JULY 2022, 19:25 AEST
GMHBA STADIUM, GEELONG

GEELONG CATS: 3.5, 8.8, 15.12, 21.18 (144) DEFEATED
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS: 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2 (32)

AFL COACHES ASSOCIATION VOTES: 10 Jeremy Cameron, 7 Tom Hawkins, 6 Cameron Guthrie, 4 Mitch Duncan, 2 Zach Tuohy, 1 Luke Davies-Uniacke

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Hawkins 6, Cameron 4, Narkle 2, Stengle 2, Close 2, Menegola, Guthrie, Dangerfield, Z. Guthrie, Blicavs
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS: Mahony, Larkey, Curtis, Xerri, Zurhaar

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Cameron, Hawkins, Duncan, C. Guthrie, Tuohy, Smith
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS: Davies-Uniacke, Simpkin, Corr, Stephenson

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Nil reported – but Jake Kolodjashnij left field after a head knock
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS: Aaron Hall (quad), Kayne Turner (concussion)

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: Sam De Koning (cork) replaced in selected side by Quinton Narkle
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
GEELONG CATS: Shaun Higgins (replaced Jake Kolodjashnij in final quarter)
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS: Phoenix Spicer (replaced Aaron Hall)

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: Nil
NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS: Nil

CROWD: 18,091 at GMHBA Stadium, Kardinia Park, Geelong

UMPIRES
FIELD Leigh Haussen, Daniel Johanson, Nicholas Brown EMER: Nicholas Jankovskis
BOUNDARY Damien Main, Patrick Cran, Patrick Dineen, Sam Stagg
GOAL Adam Wojcik, Callum Leonard EMER: Matt Maclure

PREDICTIONS
Ben – Cats 46 points
Oscar – Cats by 76 points
Cassie – Cats by 30 points

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: Rohan, Dangerfield
OUT: Stewart (suspended), Selwood (managed), Stephens (sub)

B: Rohan, De Koning, Bews
HB: Henry, Blicavs, Kolodjashnij
C: Duncan, Cameron, Smith
HF: Miers, Hawkins, Holmes
F: Close, Dangerfield, Stengle
FOLL: Stanley, C.Guthrie, Atkins
INT: Z.Guthrie, O’Connor, Tuohy, Menegola
EMER: Stephens, Higgins, Narkle, Neale

NORTH MELBOURNE KANGAROOS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: Mahony, Young, Lazzaro
OUT: Perez (omitted), Bonar, Scott (both injured), Thomas (personal reasons)

B: McDonald, McKay, Walker
HB: Archer, Corr, Turner
C: Hall, Davies-Uniacke, Greenwood
HF: Powell, Larkey, Curtis
F: Zurhaar, Xerri, Taylor
FOLL: Goldstein, Simpkin, Anderson
INT: Mahony, Stephenson, Young, Lazzaro
EMER: Bosenavulagi, Coleman-Jones, Spicer, Hayden