CATS RUN OUT OF STEAM AGAINST EAGLES
Ben Jensen 11 August 2012

By Ben Jensen twitter.com/thecattery GEELONG led for much of the match against West Coast at Subiaco last night but couldn't hold them off in the last quarter, trailing by three goals late in the game but in the end losing by just 5 points. South Africa hosted the World Cup in 2010 and brought the vuvuzela into the vernacular; last night the Eagles fans brought us BooBooZelas. Pretty much every passage of play that didn't include a West Coast goal came under an enormous almost stadium-wide 'Boo', making watching the game very tedius; can only imagine what it would have been like being there. Paul Chapman didn't make the trip over on Thursday thanks to a calf injury so was a change, replaced by David Wojcinski who started as sub. Wojcinski was called upon earlier than intended to replace Tom Hawkins, who was starting to tear the game up but was concussed after falling heavily late in the first quarter.

Geelong had the advantage at every break but it was just one point at three quarter time. Quinten Lynch put his side in front one minute into the final term, though Jonathan Simpkin soon put his side back in front after kicking his first AFL goal. The Eagles then went on to kick three straight, Jimmy Bartel breaking the sequence but his goal was soon cancelled out by Matt Priddis benefiting from another deliberate out of bounds free kick against Tom Lonergan. Josh Walker and Steve Johnson kicked goals to give the Cats a mathematical chance, having only seconds on the clock at the final centre bounce, but one of the men of the night, NicNaitanui snatched the ball and ran away as the siren sounded. We weren't spared another round of the BooBooZelas however as the umpires stormed from the field.

Another talking point on top of the chronic booing was the umpires on the night deciding to apply rules from basketball, soccer and other sports where the last person to touch a ball before it rolls out of bounds gives away a free kick, giving the boundary umpires a welcome break from throwing the ball back in. This rule was applied evenly to either side. Tom Hawkins was soon reported as OK, though Geelong coach Chris Scott made it known in no uncertain terms what he thought of the Subiaco crowd, claiming the Geelong medical staff treating a prostrate Hawkins were abused:

"One thing I will say is I would hate to take my kids to the footy here.

"It was disgraceful. It's everywhere, but here's the worst. I loved it when I was at Freo, it's fantastic, it's great. The energy here; it is the loudest ground in the competition, a great place to play footy. But if you're asking my opinion on whether it goes too far, absolutely it does."

WEST COAST: 3.1, 7.3, 11.5, 16.6 (102) DEFEATED
GEELONG: 5.5, 9.5, 11.6, 15.7 (97)

GOALS
WEST COAST:Cox 3, Lynch 3, Naitanui 2, Gaff 2, Priddis 2, Kerr, Shuey, Darling, Masten
GEELONG: Podsiadly 3, Stokes 2, Motlop 2, Hunt, Christensen, Murdoch, Hawkins, Simpkin, Bartel, Walker, Johnson

BEST
WEST COAST: Cox, Kerr, Naitanui, S.Selwood, Priddis, Shuey, Hurn
GEELONG: Johnson, Mackie, Bartel, Enright, Christensen, Lonergan

INJURIES
WEST COAST: Nil
GEELONG: Tom Hawkins (concussion)

CHANGES
WEST COAST: Nil
GEELONG: Paul Chapman (calf) replaced in selected side by David Wojcinski

UMPIRES:

FIELD: Matt Stevic (9) Justin Schmitt (17) Troy Pannell (28) EM: Luke Farmer (4)
BOUNDARY: Jace Collingridge Adam Bastick Alan Zanich Callum Brown
GOAL: Brett Rogers Dale Edwick EM: Adam Peacock

CROWD: 37,812 at Subiaco, Perth

PRE-MATCH TIP: "Cats by 13 points"

VFL SIDE

VFL ROUND 20

CASEY V GEELONG

SUNDAY 12 AUGUST 2012 14:00 AEST

CASEY FIELDS

TEAM LISTS

GEELONG 6.2, 7.4, 11.9, 16.13 (109) DEFEATED
CASEY 2.2, 10.6, 11.8, 14.11 (95)

GOALS
GEELONG: S. Kersten 5, J. Hollmer 3, M. Blicavs 3, S. Byrnes 2, T. Maas , M. Brown , D. Gleeson
CASEY: J. Fitzpatrick 5, J. Gysberts 2, J. Viney , L. Jurrah , D. Collins , L. Williams , M. Gent , D. Nicholls , L. Cook

BEST
GEELONG: S. Kersten, J. Stringer, T. Gillies, G. Horlin-Smith, M. Brown, S. Byrnes
CASEY: J. Fitzpatrick, T. Couch, J. Gysberts, J. Sheahan, D. Collins, A. Lindsay