CATS OVERCOME HAWKS AND UMPIRING BLUNDERS
Ben Jensen 6 July 2013

By Ben Jensen twitter.com/thecattery AFL 2013 ROUND 15; GEELONG CATS V HAWTHORN HAWKS GEELONG defeated Hawthorn by ten points in front of 85,197, their second win over the Hawks this season and eleventh in a row since the 2008 grand final. Cats coach Chris Scott would have been fuming for many reasons had they lost the match, in fact he was fuming anyway; his players missing so many shots at goal in the second half and with a few puzzling umpiring decisions. The standout was a supposed interchange infringement against Josh Hunt in the final quarter that gifted David Hale his second goal and brought the margin down to just 9 point, following a miraculous goal from Jack Gunston seconds earlier. After the match AFL spokesperson Patrick Keane confirmed the decision was wrong. Earlier in the day the VFL side defeated North Ballarat, Travis Varcoe making a successful comeback from injury. Tonight Jesse Stringer and Cyril Rioli started as substitutes.

Keane tweeted the following shortly after the final siren: "AFL review of interchange free kick against Geelong Cats in last quarter v Hawthorn was that decision was an error and Cats did not breach. Interchange video was reviewed post-game and free kick wrongly paid against Geelong, after error by steward." It's a rule that was brought in after Sydney had an extra man on the field for some time in a match a few years ago if memory serves us correctly, with the resulting system if you can call it that inevitably leading to a few such gimme goals being awarded each season, but until now they've all been actual breaches of the rules not a monumental stuffup by an anonymous official sitting on the bench. Former Hawthorn official and now AFL General Manager of Football Mark Evans entered the Geelong rooms after the match to personally apologise.

Five minutes from the end Joel Corey received a heavy knock from Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell and the game was stopped for around five minutes as Corey was assessed and stretchered from the ground as a precautionary measure. A mild mellee broke out after Andrew Mackie began to approach the Hawthorn huddle, Brian Lake having none of it and soon James Podsiadly was in to back up Mackie and on it went for a minute or so. Fortunately Corey was fine, joining his teammates in the huddle singing the song after the match.

Earlier Geelong opened the match with a five goal to two opening term, however from then on goals were few and far between. The Cats seemed in control but just couldn't convert. Indeed the only Hawthorn goal of the second quarter came from a James Kelly slipup, and Joel Selwood converting a free kick at the twenty-one minute mark for a head-high tackle. Mitchell had earlier given Taylor Hunt a touchup to the back of the head, earning a spay from Mackie at half time.

The Hawks kicked the only goal of the third term with the Cats managing seven behinds, many of them quite gettable including a shot from Taylor Hunt after the siren which he missed. Fortunately they came out like the proverbial bull after the final break, Jordan Murdoch booting two goals within five minutes and Jesse Stringer contributing another in between Murdoch's two, the margin blowing out to thirty-odd points. Naturally Geelong fans, myself included, went nuts believing the game over, how wrong we were.

Lance Franklin who was not having a good game snapped a goal to start their run. Next minute Paul Puopolo bobbed up for a mark 25m out which he duly converted. From then on it got messy, Jack Gunston booting a miraculous goal from 35m out virtually in the third row he was that tight to the line, only he knows if he was centering or genuinely having a shot. Margin back to 15 points where it stood when the three quarter time siren rang. Then came the interchange infringement that wasn't, the margin now into single figures and Hawthorn fans and players alike smelling blood.

Former Geelong player Jonathan Simpkin was next to upset things, snapping a goal from 30m out. Fortunately the Cats got their act together, not before Mitch Duncan missed a very getable shot after Selwood handpassed to him in a pocket. It was left for new boy Josh Caddy and once again Murdoch to seal the victory, Caddy's snap from 40m out a good one while Murdoch bobbed up just at the right time once more for his third and the final goal of the match. Not long after that Corey went down, after the restart commentators talked up the Hawks needing three goals, they got one through Shane Savage but that was that, the Cats by ten points.

GEELONG 5.2, 6.8, 6.15, 11.16 (82) DEFEATED
HAWTHORN 2.4, 3.8, 4.11, 10.12 (72)

GOALS
GEELONG: Murdoch 3, Motlop, Caddy, Hunt, Kelly, Blicavs, Podsiadly, Selwood, Stringer
HAWTHORN: Roughead 2, Hale 2, Breust, Franklin, Gunston, Puopolo, Savage, Simpkin

BEST
GEELONG: Selwood, Duncan, Kelly, Murdoch, Caddy, Lonergan, Mackie
HAWTHORN: Mitchell, Stratton, Roughead, Gunston, Duryea

INJURIES
GEELONG: Joel Corey (TBC - appeared to be concussed)
HAWTHORN: TBC

SUBS
GEELONG: Jesse Stringer, replaced Dawson Simpson in the third quarter
HAWTHORN: Cyril Rioli, replaced Max Bailey in the third quarter

UMPIRES:

FIELD: Matt Stevic (9) Justin Schmitt (17) Shane McInerney (30) EM: Brendan Hosking (16)
BOUNDARY: Adam Coote Ian Burrows Matthew Jenkinson John Morris
GOAL: Adam Wojcik Jason Venkataya EM: Michael Hammond

CROWD: 85,197 at the MCG

PRE-MATCH TIP: "Cats by 3 points"

VFL ROUND 13

GEELONG V NORTH BALLARAT

SATURDAY 6 JULY 2013 11:00 AEST

SIMONDS STADIUM

GEELONG 4.6, 11,10, 15.14, 18.19 (127) DEFEATED
COBURG 2.3, 4.5, 5.7, 7.11 (53)

GOALS
GEELONG: R. Bathie 4, G. Horlin-Smith 3, D. Gibbs 2, B. Raidme 2, D. Gleeson 2, J. Barham , B. Smedts , B. Hartman , T. West , J. Walker
COBURG: N. Horbury 2, B. Driscoll 2, L. George , M. Austin , S. Clifton

BEST
GEELONG: B. Smedts, G. Horlin-Smith, T. West, M. Brown, D. Gibbs, D. Gleeson
COBURG: L. Delaney, B. Mabon, L. Anthony, O. Tate, L. George, M. Austin

GROUND: Simonds Stadium

B: Jed Bews, Jared Rivers, Matthew Sully
HB: Cameron Eardley, Mitchell Brown, Rob Condy
C: Travis Varcoe, Troy Selwood (c), Billie Smedts
HF: Brad Hartman, Joshua Walker, Dominc Gleeson
F: Ryan Bathie, Nathan Vardy, Jaxson Barham
R: Trent West, George Horlin-Smith, Joshua Cowan
I/C: Andrew Banjanin, Piers Flanagan, Jack Hollmer, Mitch Herbison, Daniel Gibbs, Mark Corrigan, Ben Raidme, Tom Maas, Callen Wade (23rd Player)