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CATS GET JOB DONE BY HALF TIME OVER
TIGERS By Ben Jensen twitter.com/thecattery GEELONG CATS V RICHMOND TIGERS GEELONG thrashed Richmond by a tad under ten goals in front of 33,762 people at Etihad Stadium this afternoon but took their foot off the pedal after half-time. Allen Christensen had another great game and wil surely get a Rising Star nomination, or will he? The Cats made two changes before the game started, Steve Johnson (general soreness) and Nathan Vardy (hamstring) the casualties, replaced by the eager Josh Cowan and Shannon Byrnes. The game, covered by Fox Sports, kicked off at 1PM, many in the crowd quite bleary-eyed after cheering home Cadel Evans in the Tour de France last night (myself include). Geelong started off like the proverbial bull out of a gate, peppering the goals as Richmond lost their skipper Chris Newman just 20 minutes into the game. By quarter time the Cats were three goals ahead, with a pair to Travis Varcoe and Matthew Stokes, and a single to Richmond's Jack Riewoldt who received a free kick we hoped the umpire kept his receipt for (tax refund for charitable contributions). FINAL SCORES
The Cats really put the foot to the throat in the second term, booting seven unanswered goals. Tom Hawkins bagged a couple while Allen Christensen, Joel Corey and James Kelly got busy with the ball. Byrnes managed a couple himself as he celebrated being back in the side, but left the field for the rooms before half time, not to return. Cowan ran on in Byrnes' place after half time, following a warm-up on the ground with David Johnson as soon as the half-time siren rang out. At the main break the margin was 61 points. After half-time was a bit boring, though the Cats still managed to kick five goals for the quarter. Trent West kicked his second as K-Rock debated whether or not he should be traded and Varcoe and Hawkins bagged their third each. At the other end the Tigers finally appeared to be playing on the same field and not witches-hats in disguise, Riewoldt kicking his 50th for the season after the three-quarter time siren, the margin now 70 points in the Cats' favour. Took longer than I expected but some of the Richmond faithful had finally had enough by this stage, one or two leaving to beat the traffic (or go to the Livewire bar), felt like doing the same not long into the final quarter, it became a pretty dull game with the Cats making as many mistakes as the Tigers. Mitch Duncan kicked Geelong's only goal three minutes into the quarter, after which the Tigers unbelievably out-scored Geelong with two goals of their own. Matthew Stokes joined the casualty list, poleaxed in a collision with a Richmond player as James Podsiadly, who didn't kick a goal, had earlier. The difference was though Pods wasn't knocked out but Stokes clearly was out cold, though walked, heavily assisted, from the ground, and must be in doubt for next Saturday's game against Melbourne. Thankfully the final siren rang before there was much
more damage done, Geelong winning by 56 points. Tonight, tune into SBS
and sit back and relax, as Cadel Evans cruises, glass of champers figuratively
in one hand, into Paris to formalise his Tour de France victory of last
night. Cadel, we salute you! Same goes for Mark Webber in the German
Grand Prix over on OneHD. Too much sport is barely enough.
GEELONG:
4.2 11.5 16.9 17.11 (113) DEFEATED THE CATTERY'S PRE-MATCH PREDICTION: GEELONG BY 62 POINTS GOALS BEST CHANGES INJURIES CROWD: 33,761 at Etihad Stadium, Docklands, Melbourne
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AFL 2011, ROUND 18 GEELONG V RICHMOND SUNDAY 24 JULY 2011 13:10 AEST ETIHAD STADIUM MATCH PREVIEW INCLUDING TEAM LISTS, TV & RADIO INFO
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