All the news as Geelong looks to carry winning form into West Coast clash
The remarkably durable Mark Blicavs has played in 123 of Geelong’s last 125 matches. Will that streak be interrupted by a brutal kneeing incident?
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Durable midfielder Mark Blicavs has avoided any lingering damage from a kneeing incident that drew scorn from his coach, Chris Scott.
Blicavs was kneed by Hawthorn ruck Lloyd Meek in the right side of his rib cage during the first quarter of Geelong’s thumping win on Monday.
The veteran was left to gather his breath in the centre of the MCG before leaving the field of play but the All-Australian returned to play out the match.
Despite not picking up a disposal in the final term, Blicavs pulled up well from the hit and should be in line to face West Coast on Sunday.
Meek received a fine for the knee, which was graded as careless conduct, medium impact and body contact.
But Scott was furious about the incident post-match and said it was worthy of a suspension.
Cats ruck Rhys Stanley missed round 3’s loss to Gold Coast with rib soreness after he was hit in a similar fashion by Carlton’s Tom De Koning, with the Blue also receiving a fine.
“The disappointing thing is they sent a memo (to clubs) specifically two weeks ago saying you couldn’t do it and it keeps happening,” he said.
“It is so dangerous.”
The remarkably durable Blicavs has played more than 20 games in all of his AFL seasons and has missed just two of Geelong’s past 125 matches as he closes in on 250 games.
Geelong will be without defender Jed Bews for the trip to Adelaide for Gather Round after he was concussed against the Hawks. The reliable backman should be free to face Sydney in round 6.
Under the AFL’s concussion protocol, a player is able to return to play on the 12th day after they were concussed, with the Swans clash on April 22 falling on that day. Bews could be replaced by defender Sam De Koning against the Eagles with the youngster cleared from his own concussion protocol.
De Koning trained strongly on Sunday and could face either Oscar Allen of Jack Darling on Sunday.
Cats aim to roll on Easter Monday high
Geelong wants to roll on with the high of its Easter Monday triumph to get its season back on track as forward Gryan Miers expects his team to carry on its new-found momentum.
The Cats were sputtering at halftime against Hawthorn before a 10-goal third term blew the Hawks out of the water and quietened some questions about their start to the year.
With a meeting with lowly West Coast to come on Sunday, Geelong will eye moving to 2-3 and stepping back towards the top eight.
Miers said the slow start to the year had echoes of Geelong’s indifferent start to 2022, which led into a remarkable 16-game winning streak that included the grand final.
“In my opinion, footy is a momentum game, when you are down you have to find that momentum and when you are up you have to roll with it,” he said.
“Things weren’t great last year and we were 5-4 and had some serious meetings, then we got our game going and didn’t look back.
“It’s a long season so you can just roll with the punches and while we’re on a high, we should just roll with that.”
Miers said he didn’t lose any belief in the team during Geelong’s 0-3 start to the year but was frustrated with the way things weren’t clicking.
The Cats took a focus of celebrating good moments into the Hawthorn clash and that helped the reigning premiers get on their eye-popping second-half roll.
“You do get a bit of frustration out there with things not going right but that is just sport in general,” Miers said.
“Not getting the result is disappointing and it definitely made us want to get those results but we never wavered in our confidence or consistency of what we knew we can do, as was evident last year. This week we got it going so hopefully we can roll with the momentum.
“We expected a lot from each other after last season but it is a new season and a new group and the expectations need to be lowered and just doing little things right and celebrating out there got our energy up and helped us in that third quarter.”
Cats confidence ‘was down a bit’ amid slow start
Defender Jake Kolodjashnij has admitted the confidence in the Cats’ camp “was down a little bit” but Geelong can “reset” after a shackle-breaking thumping of Hawthorn.
Wobbly until halftime, the Cats blew their rivals away in a 10 goal third term, setting up an 82-point smashing, the second-biggest margin between the two sides in an Easter Monday clash.
Questions were asked of Geelong’s flag hopes this year after a 0-3 start but Kolodjashnij said his side could start again, a month into the season.
“It (the win) just gives the group belief again, obviously the confidence was down a little bit after the first few losses and we have pretty high expectations of our playing group and what we expect,” he said.
“I guess we can reset now and collect ourselves but it is an even competition. We can’t sit on our laurels after that win, we have to reset and get to work again and keep improving.”
Kolodjashnij was given an armchair ride in the second half as Geelong’s midfield got to work and smashed Hawthorn around the clinches.
With a rampant Jeremy Cameron on the way to a seven-goal haul and Tom Hawkins rediscovering some of his touch, the message was pretty simple – just give the forwards a chance.
Playing a no-frills game, the Cats booted 15 goals to one in the second half, showing all the signs of their premiership best.
“We talk about just getting it down to our forwards, they are so dangerous when they are able to go to work,” Kolodjashnij said.
“We have a strong belief in our group that once we get things going and can turn a few key factors around that were hurting us in the early games, once we get them right we knew we were starting to get into games of football.
“I think we really started again in the contest and we were able to go forward off the back of that.”
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