Cats Cut Crows as Gather Round Opens with a Classic
An eight point three quarter time lead had the Crows in the box seat against the Cats.
However, Patrick Dangerfield smothered an exit kick from the Crows 60 seconds into the last quarter. Jeremy Cameron then launched on the lose footy, and as he swung his foot through the ball, and set it sailing through, the Crows margin was cut to just two points.
Cameron then followed up three minutes later with his third goal. Geelong looked better then they had for the first three quarters of the game. They had their speed back on the contest and they were able to win the ball of the Crows as they exited defensive 50.
Hinge was the culprit for Geelong’s third of the final quarter, he was caught in the centre of the ground. Hinge was far to casual for the speed of AFL football, and Geelong was able to find Patrick Dangerfield hanging out the back as he kicked a goal.
The two best players for Geelong on the night combined to deliver the knockout punch for the Cats. Bailey Smith, (35 disposals and six clearances) sent the football high to the top of the square as Dangerfield, (16 disposals, four goals) grabbed the ball and snapped through the middle.
Other contributed for the Cats to, Max Holmes, (32 disposals, 5 clearances) while Tom Atkins, (nine clearances, and 24 disposals) played one of the best games of his career.
Matt Crouch, (28 disposals and 11 clearances) was a shoe in for the three Brownlow votes at three quarter time, while Izak Rankine, (16 disposals and two goals) while Darcy Fogarty was the vocal point up forward with his four goals.
The Cats just had moments, it was the story of the night, they often didn’t last longer then two minutes and Adelaide were the better team for large periods of the game.
It was a similar story with the final 60 seconds of the first half, when Geelong got two red time goals through Jack Bowes and Cameron to turn a would be four goal half-time lead into just two goals.
The three headed attack of the Crows was worrying the Cats all night, but especially in the second quarter. The Cats were without the defensive prowess of Tom Stewart. The All-Australian defender was withdrawn about two hours before the first bounce with illness.
Geelong were dominant in the middle all night, however they started particularly well in that area. Midway through the first they had the clearance count at six to two. Bailey Smith was working hard in the midfield, but Adelaide were able to captalise on the Cats poor ball movement.
The first quarter was highlighted by Geelong’s exit kicks out of defensive 50. On three or four occasions, the Crows were gifted the football inside their front half. Despite this, the game continued to be goal for goal for a lot of the quarter, the Crows taking a five point lead into the first break.
The Crows were led in the second by Darcy Fogarty, who put three goals on the board inside the space of 12 minutes.
In the third quarter, Oliver Dempsey became the human highlight reel when he went leaping at the Adelaide Oval. The Crows gave Tom Atkins enough space to turn and snap the ball up to the square. Dempsey took the mark easily and then handled the finish well, as the Cats led the contest.
While the Crows had evened up the midfield battle from earlier in the night. The Geelong pressure was electrifying, they chased and tackled, as Adelaide made life hard for themselves, four very gettable chances slipping away for the Crows in the premiership quarter.
Adelaide’s ball movement was excellent all night and they had opportunities in the final quarter to try and get the back the missed opportunity, but Geelong were too good in the end, as they recorded a famous away win.
Adelaide: 5.3 11.6 14.10 15.10.100
Geelong: 4.4 9.6 13.8 18.19.119
Goalkickers:
Adelaide:
Fogarty (4), Keays, (3), Walker, (2), Curtin, Draper, Rankine, Taylor
Geelong:
Close, (2), Dangerfield, (2), Dempsey, (2), Bowes, Cameron, Guthrie, Holmes, Henry, Neale, Smith
Best:
Adelaide:
B. Keays, D. Fogarty, T. Walker
Geelong:
P. Dangerfield, M. Holmes, B. Smith,