GRAHAM LONG BOMB SAVES DAY
July 11 2003

In front of 19,770 at Skilled Stadium Geelong defeated top placed Port Adelaide literally in the last minute. After leading by 20 points early in the final term, the Port Power came back at the Cats. By the time the timeclock said 2 minutes remaining, the Power were in front by 5 points. With 1 minute 30 seconds to go, Power Captain and ruckman Matthew Primus, who had earlier kicked a crucial goal from a tight angle, was forced from the ground under the blood rule.

When the match resumed, Geelong Captain Steven King had possession. He coolly passed to Vice-Captain Brenton Sanderson. Sanderson, aware of the time remaining, wasted no time in kicking long to Ben Graham at centre half forward, about 65metres from goal. Graham, wearing distinctive white boots and seeing nobody inside 30m from goal, and full-back Matthew Scarlett, calmly slotted a pass in the direction of goal. Scarlett, who had ran al the way from full back, pursued by his Power opponent. However Scarlett was easily in the clear and, most unselfishly, shepherded Graham's kick through for a goal.

In the final 20-odd seconds of the match, Geelong played possession football. When all Power players flooded forward to Geelong's attacking half, the Geelong players simply played kick to kick. The ball ended up with Matthew Scarlett, who once the siren rang, demonstrated a rather bizarre move with the ball believing to originate from WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).

The three best players for Geelong had to be deputy vice-captain Cameron Ling, Tom Harley and Matthew Scarlett. Scarlett in particular has to be a near certainty for All Australian selection as full back, having conceded only a handful of goals this year so far. Paul Chapman was in the action all game with three goals three behinds but was the target of much of the Power aggression. Chapman was eventually forced from the field and played little part in the match after three quarter time.

Not only did Cameron Ling keep Power midfielder Nick Stevens quiet, he gathered a lazy 34 possessions himself. This is Ling's second 30+ possession game in a row, narrowly missing three after having 29 against the Dockers in round 12.

Next week Geelong faces Richmond at the Telstra Dome, a Richmond home game.

GEELONG: 3.4, 6.7, 8.8, 10.10 (70)
PORT ADELAIDE: 3.1, 4.2, 6.6, 10.9 (69)

GOALS: Geelong: Chapman, Graham 3, Corey, Riccardi, S Johnson, Ling.
Port Adelaide: Primus, Pickett 2, Wanganeen, S Burgoyne, Tredrea, Dew, Stevens, Tredrea

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