CATS FINISH AFL SEASON OFF IN STYLE WITH WIN OVER SWANS - The Cattery

CATS FINISH AFL SEASON OFF IN STYLE WITH WIN OVER SWANS
Ben Jensen 1 September 2012

By Ben Jensen twitter.com/thecattery GEELONG convincingly defeated Premiership aspirant Sydney in front of a packed crowd of a tad over 20,000 today at Simonds Stadium, securing a Victorian based final next week against one of North Melbourne or Fremantle. Comeback kid Nathan Vardy started in the ruck and had a great day out, not dominating the stats sheet but booted the one goal, had ten hitouts and in general was very competitive all over the ground in tandem with Trent West.

Paul Chapman played a great game, kick starting the Cats' scoring two goals in the opening quarter as the Cats were really facing a challenge from the Swans, who took a two point lead into the first break. But it was the Cats who dominated the next quarter, taking a nine point lead into the main break. Sydney hit the lead ten minutes into the third term thanks to the goal of the day from Kieran Jack but five consecutive goals from the Cats put them firmly in control at three quarter time, the lead now 25 points. This soon blew out to 44 points as the Cats scored the first three of the final term before the Swans snagged four in a row to give the neutrals something to think about. But final goals to Podsiadly and Hawkins put some icing on the cake for the Cats in what is probably Matthew Scarlett's final home game, the winning margin 34 points.

Tom Hawkins took a slender two goal lead in the race for the Coleman Medal after booting four for the day while fellow big forward James Podsiadly kicked three. Travis Varcoe didn't play but was spotted, in a moon boot, at the A Grade netball final, supporting his wife whose Leopold were victorious. In the VFL tomorrow the Cats play Port Melbourne at the latter's home ground in a qualifying final.

The Cats may well be missing Paul Chapman with the genuinely nuggety star reported for an alleged strike on Swans makeshift tagger Ben McGlynn, who manned up on Joel Selwood most of the day. Chapman contacted McGlynn in the first quarter. Cats coach Chris Scott reckons he's nothing to be afraid of. "I've had a look at the vision quite closely; if I was worried I just wouldn't have looked."

GEELONG: 4.3, 7.5, 12.7, 17.10 (112) DEFEATED
SYDNEY: 4.5, 5.8, 7.12, 11.12 (78)

GOALS
GEELONG: Hawkins 4, Chapman 3, Podsiadly 3, Johnson, Vardy, Christensen, Duncan, Lonergan, Mackie, Bartel
SYDNEY: McVeigh 2, Goodes 2, Jack, Kennedy, Mumford, Walsh, O'Keefe, McGlynn, Bolton

BEST
GEELONG: Kelly, Chapman, Selwood, Bartel, Scarlett, Taylor, Johnson
SYDNEY: Kennedy, McVeigh, Richards, Armstrong, Shaw

CHANGES
GEELONG: NIL
SYDNEY: Nick Smith (tight hamstring) replaced in selected side by Tony Armstrong

INJURIES
GEELONG: Nil
SYDNEY: Nil

UMPIRES:

FIELD: Brett Rosebury (8) Justin Schmitt (17) Simon Meredith (21) EM: Brendan Hosking (16)
BOUNDARY: Ian Burrows John Morris Michael Marantelli Chris Roberts
GOAL: David Dixon Michael Hammond EM: Darren Mills

CROWD: 20,045 at Simonds Stadium, Geelong

Cats by 17 points

GEELONG	SYDNEY SWANS
IN: Matthew Scarlett, Joel Selwood, Taylor Hunt, Nathan Vardy OUT: Travis Varcoe (Foot), Billie Smedts (Hand), Cameron Guthrie, Josh Walker	IN: Jude Bolton, Tommy Walsh OUT: Sam Reid (Gluteal), Mitch Morton
B: Matthew Scarlett, Tom Lonergan, Josh Hunt HB: Taylor Hunt, Harry Taylor, Corey Enright C: Mitch Duncan, Joel Selwood, Jimmy Bartel HF: Mathew Stokes, Allen Christensen, Steven Motlop F: Paul Chapman, Tom Hawkins, James Podsiadly FOLL: Nathan Vardy, Steve Johnson, James Kelly INT: Joel Corey, Andrew Mackie, Trent West, Jordan Murdoch EMER: David Wojcinski, Cameron Guthrie, Josh Walker	B: Nicholas Smith, Ted Richards, Alex Johnson HB: Jarrad McVeigh, Heath Grundy, Martin Mattner C: Rhyce Shaw, Kieren Jack, Lewis Jetta HF: Jude Bolton, Lewis Roberts-Thomson, Ryan O'Keefe F: Daniel Hannebery, Adam Goodes, Shane Mumford FOLL: Mike Pyke, Josh P. Kennedy, Craig Bird INT: Nick Malceski, Ben McGlynn, Luke Parker, Tommy Walsh EMER: Brett Meredith, Mitch Morton, Tony Armstrong