Geelong remains unbeaten in 2019 after a fighting win against Adelaide
Adelaide decided against tagging superstar midfielders Patrick Dangerfield and Tim Kelly and both Cats cashed in. Was it the wrong call? REECE HOMFRAY breaks down Geelong’s win over the Crows.
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Adelaide suffered a repeat dose of its Round 1 woes on Thursday night by shooting itself in the foot and losing a key player to serious injury in the 24-point loss to Geelong.
The Crows are yet to win at home this season and are now set to be without play-making wingman Paul Seedsman who was taken from the ground with a suspected ACL injury in the final quarter.
After the match, Pyke confirmed Seedsman had suffered a suspected ACL injury — the fourth of that type on Adelaide Oval in three weeks following Tom Doedee’s Round 1 injury and Erin Phillips and Chloe Scheer in the AFLW grand final — which he said he was at a loss to explain.
“Unfortunately that’s the diagnosis, we’ll get the scans but he’s shattered as you can imagine,” Pyke said.
The chronic problem of connection between the midfielders and forwards continued to plague the Crows, particularly in the first half.
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And although they found a way to stay in the game and got to within five points of Geelong in the final quarter the Cats just always seemed in control.
FORWARDLINE STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS
Adelaide’s shots on goal were coming from long range because they couldn’t hit a target deep which was a mirror image of the Round 1 loss to Hawthorn.
Geelong’s defence was brilliantly committed but the Crows made it easy for them.
David Mackay was streaming towards goal in the second quarter and the Crows forwards all pushed to the goalsquare rather than presenting, Brodie Smith uncharacteristically found a Cats defender in between three Crows and Josh Jenkins handballed out of bounds when devoid of options.
Up the ground wasn’t much better with Bryce Gibbs switching the play at half-back under minimal pressure and put it in between teammates as Esava Ratugolea won possession and Gryan Miers kicked the goal.
Ironically it took third-game ruckman Reilly O’Brien to hit a target inside 50m early in the third quarter and they started to find a way through traffic.
Eddie Betts delivered one straight after to Rory Sloane and Matt Crouch put it into space for Lachlan Murphy to snap a goal around his body, while Taylor Walker was creative working up the ground but the damage was already done.
DANGER SIGNS
Adelaide decided against a tag and Tim Kelly and Patrick Dangerfield were very busy early and Dangerfield finished with 32 disposals.
The Cats were freewheeling out of the middle and their time-on goal in the first quarter — their sixth in a blazing start to the game — went untouched by the home side.
It was the Cats’ runners who cut them up — Dangerfield releasing players like Luke Dahlhaus and Gary Rohan — and Dangerfield’s goal from Stanley’s hit-out in the third term was sublime.
The Crouch brothers and Rory Sloane hit back and all three hit the scoreboard, while the Crows won clearances but overall Geelong smashed Adelaide in contested possession which was a major factor.
The only blow for Geelong was Tim Kelly hobbling off and going straight into the rooms 14 minutes into the final term.
O’BRIEN IMPRESSES
Playing his first AFL game in almost 1000 days, all eyes were on Reilly O’Brien who came in to replace the injured Sam Jacobs.
He had some really good moments and some really poor but the good out-weighed the bad and he finished with 11 disposals and 28 hit-outs and five clearances.
O’Brien was thrown out of the way by Tom Hawkins at a ball-up on the wing and needed to mark the footy when he had a good look at one pushing forward in the second term.
But he got better after half-time, hitting a target inside 50m, taking the ball out of the ruck and won a free kick in front of goal — only to spray the shot out on the full.
With no timeline on Jacobs’ return — even he admitted pre-game he doesn’t know when he’ll be back — O’Brien showed enough against Rhys Stanley and Esava Ratugolea to show Crows fans they don’t need to panic.
DEFENCE STANDS UP
The Crows’ defence was the shining light for Adelaide particularly in the first half. Wayne Milera and Brodie Smith providing the spark while Kyle Hartigan, Alex Keath and Daniel Talia all had big jobs and stood up.
Hartigan chose the right time to leave his opponent or stand his ground and Keath’s desperation was a standout.
His tackle on Dangerfield to catch him holding the ball in the third quarter was a turning point in the game for it seemed to lift his team, then his pack mark to stop the Cats from coming out of defence to start the final quarter was huge.
PYKE: KICKING COST US
Adelaide coach Don Pyke said his side wasted the footy around the ground and in its shots on goal.
“Our kicking efficiency was not at the level for a fair chunk of the game and that cost us dearly,” Pyke said.
“The third quarter we were able to win our share of the ball and move it in an efficient fashion which gave us a chance to make the most of the opportunity — I think we kicked five (goals) for the quarter.
“That’s the blueprint of how we want to play, we just couldn’t do it for long enough.
“We’ve got some work to do, our ball use is not to the level we want, and our connection going inside 50 — we ripped a few of those up.”
SEEDSMAN SET TO MISS 2019
Pyke confirmed Paul Seedsman had suffered a suspected ACL injury — the fourth of that type on Adelaide Oval in three weeks — which he said he was at a loss to explain.
“Unfortunately that’s the diagnosis, we’ll get the scans but he’s shattered as you can imagine,” Pyke said.
“At this stage I’d say it is (just footy), I’m not sure if someone is going to look at the ground or conditions, maybe it is just footy, I’d like to see it stop happening to be honest.
“Unfortunately we now have Tom (Doedee) and Paul who looks like missing the season which is disappointing for those two guys especially early in the year when you put all the work and energy into getting yourself ready for the season, to have that rug pulled out from under you is shattering for them and us as a group.”
SCOTT: WE DIDN’T QUIT
After wins over Collingwood, Melbourne and Adelaide to start the season, Geelong coach Chris Scott said “there is a long way to go” but he was pleased with the early signs.
“I think there will be a lot of contenders and momentum shifts throughout the year, it feels as though we have a bit of momentum building at the moment but we feel there’s a lot of improvement left as well,” he said.
“At three-quarter-time there were a number of alibi’s there for us if we wanted to use them — five day break, Mark O’Connor was done, another player or two a bit sore, four goals up at half-time, three points at three-quarter-time, big home crowd, the home team with all the momentum, we could have rolled over.
“But across the board I thought we really stood up in the big moments.”
GEELONG 6.2 8.8 10.9 14.15 (99)
ADELAIDE 3.6 4.9 9.12 10.15 (75)
BEST — Geelong: Dangerfield, Stewart, Blicavs, Kelly, Dahlhaus, Duncan, Miers. Adelaide: B. Crouch, Keath, Milera, Sloane, M Crouch, Lynch.
GOALS — Geelong: Hawkins, Miers 3, Rohan, Atkins, Taylor, Menegola, Clark, Constable, Dangerfield, Ablett. Adelaide: Lynch 2, Atkins, Knight, Jenkins, Sloane, Walker, B. Crouch, Murphy, M. Crouch.
INJURIES — Adelaide: Seedsman (knee/leg). Geelong: Kelly, O’Connor.
UMPIRES — B. Rosebury, A. Stephens, B. Hosking.
CROWD — 45,631 at Adelaide Oval.
VOTES: 3: Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong); 2: Tom Stewart (Geelong) 1: Brad Crouch (Adelaide).
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