Steve ‘Dog’ Johnson returned to form with a six goal haul as the Cats romped to a 99 point spanking of the West Coast Eagles at Skilled Stadium yesterday. Joel Selwood was another Cat to have a big day out with a best afield performance as he showed he was the best footballer in his family with a brilliant four quarter performance.
The West Coast came to play early and showed there was still plenty of pride in the men from the West and a man on man style of play kept them in it for the first quarter making a mockery of the odds posted by bookmakers at the start of the match. As the game went on though the more experienced Geelong combination upped the work rate and the younger Eagles were not able to continue with the earlier work rate. The Cats got their usual advantage in possessions that were used to devastating effect over the last three quarters as a close match became a rout.
Best players for the day besides Johnson and Selwood for the Cats included Harry Taylor, Brad Ottens, Gary Ablett, Jimmy Bartel and the Cling thing who made life tough for Matty Priddis. The Eagles were best served by their big men in the Q Man and Dean Cox and Tyson Stenglein had the better of Paul Chapman.
While the Cats will be turning their attention forward to next week I would suggest that umpires Armstrong, Jeffrey and Stewart will probably be getting the week off after putting in one of the most bewildering umpiring performances I can recall in over 30 years of watching football. Free kicks were paid for nothing while blatant transgressions were not and on several occasions during the second and third quarters the players were clearly confused which is always a sign of poor umpiring. Someone else who might be spectating next week is Matty Stokes who was reported for a high shot on Eagle Chad Fletcher during the third quarter. With players such as Andrew Mackie, Max Rooke, David Wojinski and James Kelly waiting in the wings being out of this Geelong side at this time of year is not the place to be.
In the end the scoreboard flattered the Eagles as the wet and slippery conditions limited Geelong’s ability to score goals and the last quarter was a point fest as the Cats missed goal after goal. The season has now ended for the Eagles but for the Cats they have bigger fish to fry than an opponent that has had its eye on the 2009 season for some time now.
GEELONG – 4.3 12.9 18.12 – 24.20.164
WEST COAST – 4.3 6.3 9.5 – 10.5.65
Goals
Geelong: S. Johnson 6, Lonergan 4, Mooney, Stokes, Prismall 2, Varcoe, Ottens, Taylor, Hunt, Gamble, Byrnes, G Ablett, Enright.
West Coast: LeCras, McKinley 2, Fletcher, Priddis, McNamara, Hansen, Embley, A Selwood
Best
Geelong: Selwood, S. Johnson, G Ablett, Bartel, Ling, Taylor, Ottens
West Coast: Stenglein, Glass, Lynch, Cox.
