Cats beat Magpies, into preliminary final; grand final ticket ballot this Wednesday

Geelong Cats v Collingwood Magpies, AFL 2022 first qualifying final Ben Jensen THANKS to a dominant game by forwards Gary Rohan and Jeremy Cameron among others Geelong is into another preliminary final after defeating Collingwood by six points in the first qualifying final at the MCG on Saturday. The Cats never lost sight of the Magpies but were on the back foot in the opening quarter, and after a come-back in the second term lost the lead due to a Collingwood goal on the half-time siren. The Magpies extended their lead slightly in the third quarter but in the final term the Cats finally nudged ahead outscoring the Magpies four goals to two.

Mark O’Connor was the substitute and was called up early for Jake Kolodjashnij who injured his knee in the second quarter; Geelong coach Chris Scott either wasn’t sure or wasn’t giving away any prognosis after the match: “I’m not sure what the outlook is though; we’ll wait and see.” O’Connor was a handy replacement though not quite as tall as Kolodjashnij. Should Kolodjashnij not make it back the Cats could stick with O’Connor or take another punt on recent convert to a defender Esava Ratugolea.

The Cats will now play the winner of Melbourne and Brisbane who play on Friday night at the MCG; Melbourne lost to the Sydney Swans on Friday night while Brisbane narrowly defeated Richmond on Thursday night at the Gabba. The Grand Final ticket ballot opens for eligible Geelong members on Wednesday 7 September; see further details below:

PRIORITY ONE – GUARANTEED*
Membership Types – Social Club, Interstate Premium & Premiership Membership members.
Registration Time – 8am-12pm

PRIORITY TWO – BALLOT
Membership Types – Home 11, Home & Away 16, Melbourne 11, 3 game RS and AFL members with Geelong Cats club of Support.
Registration Time – 1pm-6pm

PRIORITY THREE – BALLOT
Membership Types – 3 game, 4 game, Auskick, AFL Barwon, Country, Interstate 3 game, Melbourne 5, MCC 5, Flexi 2 and the AFLW & AFLM bundle.
Registration Time – 7pm-9pm

Further details available here: www.geelongcats.com.au/verylongURL

AFL 2022 FIRST QUALIFYING FINAL
GEELONG CATS V COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES
SATURDAY 3 SEPTEMBER 2022, 16:35 AEST
MCG

GEELONG CATS: 1.3, 4.7, 7.10, 11.12 (78) DEFEATED
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES: 3.5, 4.8, 8.11, 10.12 (72)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Cameron 3, Rohan 3, Close 2, Hawkins, Duncan, Holmes
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES: De Goey 2, Johnson 2, Crisp, J. Daicos, Elliott, Hoskin-Elliott, Lipinski, Mihocek

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Cameron, Stewart, Atkins, Dangerfield, Rohan, C. Guthrie, Duncan
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES: Moore, Pendlebury, De Goey, J. Daicos, Sidebottom, Crisp, Noble

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: J Kolodjashnij (knee)
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES: T Adams (groin), A Johnson (thigh)

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: Nil
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES: Nil

SUBSTITUTES
GEELONG CATS: Mark O’Connor; replaced Jake Kolodjashnij in the second quarter
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES: Nathan Kreuger; replaced Taylor Adams in the fourth quarter

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: –
COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES: –

CROWD: 91,525 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

UMPIRES
FIELD Brett Rosebury, Hayden Gavine, Brendan Hosking EMer: John Howorth
BOUNDARY Matthew Tomkins, Chris Bull, Daniel Field-Read, Ian Burrows
GOAL Michael Craig, Matthew Dervan EMER: Angus McKenzie-Wills

Ben – Cats 13 points
Oscar – Cats 28 points
Cassie – Cats 16 points

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: M Duncan, J Cameron, R Stanley
OUT: M O’Connor, E Ratugolea, J Ceglar, B Parfitt (omitted)

B: Z Tuohy, S De Koning, J Bews
HB: M Duncan, J Henry, T Stewart
C: I Smith, J Selwood, M Holmes
HF: B Close, J Cameron, G Miers
F: T Stengle, T Hawkins, G Rohan
FOLL: R Stanley, M Blicavs, P Dangerfield
INT: Z Guthrie, J Kolodjashnij, C Guthrie, T Atkins
EMER: S Menegola, M O’Connor, B Parfitt, J Ceglar

COLLINGWOOD MAGPIES – SELECTED SIDE
IN: T Adams
OUT: O Henry (sub), F Macrae (omitted)

B: B Maynard, D Moore, J Howe
HB: J Crisp, N Murphy, S Pendlebury
C: J Noble, T Adams, I Quaynor
HF: J Elliott, D Cameron, B McCreery
F: N Daicos, B Mihocek, J Daicos
FOLL: M Cox, J De Goey, S Sidebottom
INT: P Lipinski, W Hoskin-Elliott, J Ginnivan, A Johnson
EMER: T Bianco, N Kreuger, C Brown, F Macrae