GEELONG UNSTOPPABLE, EARN ELEVENTH WIN ON THE TROT
Ben Jensen 21 July 2007

By Ben Jensen AFL ROUND 16 GEELONG V WESTERN BULLDOGS GEELONG stampeded all over a timid Western Bulldogs side by seventy-five points in front of a healthy crowd of 44,688 at the Telstra Dome tonight. Tom Harley celebrated his 150th match, and eleventh win as Captain in style, although he had his hands full with Brad Johnson early on. David Wojcinski limped from the field in the second quarter with what looked could be a serious knee injury; but at the end of the game the official report was a corked knee, and not the one he had reconstructed in 2005.

Harley led his side's backline in the absence of All Australian full back Matthew Scarlett, a late withdrawal. Scarlett's replacement, David Johnson made the most of his chance, playing a key defensive role and also kicking two goals. The win was just the tonic for a town rocked by the announced closure of Ford's engine assembly plant in 2010, after the better part of a century in Geelong.

GEELONG 8.2 13.6 15.11 20.18 (138) DEFEATED
WESTERN BULLDOGS 3.1 4.4 6.8 9.9 (63)

GOALS

GEELONG: Mooney 4, Mackie 2, Corey 2, Selwood 2, Stokes 2, D Johnson 2, Chapman 2, S Johnson, G Ablett, Enright, Ling
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Johnson 3, Hargrave 2, Everitt 2, Murphy, Eagleton

BEST

GEELONG: Ablett, Bartel, Mooney, Mackie, Milburn, Enright, Selwood, Ottens
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Everitt, Williams, Johnson, Boyd

Geelong's best in the first half were Joel Corey, Corey Enright, Andrew Mackie, Gary Ablett, Brad Ottens and Cameron Mooney. Jimmy Bartel put in another regulation top notch performance, as did Darren Milburn. Tom Harley had three goals kicked on him for the match but performed well, marshaling the defensive half of the ground in the absence of Matthew Scarlett. Cameron Ling kept Adam Cooney's influence on the game to giving away silly free kicks, and ran forward and kicked a goal himself in the first quarter.

THE AFL may have been wishing for a mercy rule at quarter time, such was the domination of the Cats over the Bulldogs. Cameron Mooney had three goals by the eleventh minute of the match, and it wasn't until two clever goals from Brad Johnson midway through the quarter that the Bulldogs even looked like mounting a challenge. The Cats steadied, with the final three goals of the quarter to lead by thirty-one points.

In the second quarter Geelong was as dominant but not so much on the scoreboard; scoring a goal about every five minutes, the Cats kicked five goals before the Bulldogs posted their only major for the quarter, Ryan Hargrave's second. David Johnson kicked Geelong's final two goals, each courtesy of a fifty metre penalty. Geelong led by fifty-six points at half time.

To be honest the third quarter was a bore; although it did give Bulldog supporters some hope for the future, in Andrejs Everitt, younger brother of Peter 'Spida' of Sydney. After two goals apiece, the lead remained just under ten goals.

After the two sides traded goals in the opening four minutes, it was the Bulldogs who led the quarter with three goals to one at the twenty minute mark. But the Cats finished with four goals to reassert any authority the Bulldogs may have believed they were questioning. The final margin was seventy-five points. Tom Harley was deservedly chaired off the ground in celebration of his 150th game, an achievement in some doubt after persistent leg injuries in 2005 and 2006.

Saturday week Geelong travels to Perth to take on the Fremantle Dockers, aiming for their twelfth win on the trot. The Cats fortunately face the Dockers in the second game under caretaker coach Mark Harvey, following the sacking of Chris Connolly on Wednesday. Geelong defeated Fremantle by twenty-five points at Skilled Stadium in round 8 but led by as much as fourty points before the Dockers pegged the lead back.

Geelong legend Sam Newman certainly had an interesting afternoon at Fremantle during the week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opd1F-rC6GM

IN THE VFL tomorrow the Bendigo Bank Cats travel to TEAC Oval to face Port Melbourne. Senior players and other regular AFL players pressing for recalls include Steven King, Kane Tenace, Travis Varcoe and possibly Nathan Ablett, if he recovers from a hip injury in time.