AFL 2021 Geelong v North Melbourne: Cats emerge from ugly struggle with points as Kangas remain winless
It wasn’t pretty and Geelong — buoyed by the possible return of Jeremy Cameron — will need to make considerable improvement against West Coast after a misfiring effort against the Roos.
Geelong
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Geelong recruit Jeremy Cameron is set to make his long-awaited club debut against West Coast on Saturday, with coach Chris Scott declaring the key forward “ready to go”.
After battling a hamstring injury which has delayed his start to the season, Cameron was held back from playing at either AFL or VFL level on Sunday as the Cats took a cautious approach.
However, the 28-year-old will be ushered straight into the senior side if he gets through training this week as expected.
“(He’s) ready to go. He’s in,” Scott said on Sunday night.
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The inclusion of the 2019 Coleman Medal winner shapes as a major boost for the Cats, who again battled to put a winning score on the board against a struggling North Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday.
Geelong won the clearance count 44-26 and had 64 inside-50s but managed to put only 10.17 on the board in a 30-point victory.
“If you looked at the numbers overall, you’d be happy. Except for when you got to the conversion,” Scott said.
“(We had) a lot of shots, a lot of inside-50s, a lot of possession. All the numbers were positive, and I thought we were trying to play the way we talked about playing around the ball.”
The result climbed last year’s grand finalist to eighth spot on the ladder with a 3-2 record, but the ugly win showed there were still areas of the Cats’ game that were not “in sync”.
“I don’t think we’re in love with how we’re going and we’ve got some hard games coming up,” Scott said.
“Our overall system, there are some things that are happening that aren’t by design.
“We’ve seeing some good signs during the week. We’re just not quite there game day.”
Scott played down an ankle injury to star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield, saying “our best guess is he’ll be right for next week”.
Noble says loss ‘a great learning experience’
By Chris Cavanagh
North Melbourne pair Cam Zurhaar and Luke Davies-Uniacke will be on the flight to Perth this week as the Kangaroos seek to take another step forward against Fremantle on Saturday.
North Melbourne fell to Geelong by 30 points at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday, but put up a fight until the final siren in a scrappy, contested match.
The visitors had trailed by just six points at the main break before the Cats kicked seven goals to four in the second half.
“Our guys really came to play,” Kangaroos coach David Noble said.
“I thought it was a great learning experience for our group against a top-field team.
“We mentioned during the week about pitting ourselves against last year’s grand finalists. So I was really proud of how the boys hung in there for that sustained period of time.
“(But) we don’t want to just pat ourselves on the back for an effort. We want results. So we have to continue to chase those steps forward.”
Still winless after five rounds, North Melbourne faces a 3-2 Fremantle side at Perth Stadium on Saturday night but will be boosted by the returns of Zurhaar (concussion) and Davies-Uniacke (calf).
Noble praised midfielder Kane Turner for his run-with role against Geelong captain Joel Selwood, as well as the Kangaroos’ key leaders who all stood up in the loss to the Cats.
“I thought Kane Turner did a great job on Selwood. Crikey, he’s a hard player to play on,” Noble said.
“I thought our ruckman, Todd (Goldstein), led us really well. Our skipper (Jack Ziebell) down back (and) Ben Cunnington had his best game upon return.”
Geelong takes the points in tribute clash
By Greg Dundas
Geelong is back on the winner’s list but still a long way off its best form after Sunday night’s match against cellar-dweller North Melbourne.
After farewelling favourite sons Gary Ablett Jr and Harry Taylor before the game, Cats fans left GMHBA Stadium unconvinced about their team’s prospects in 2021 after the 30-point win.
After a sluggish start, the Cats gained the ascendancy in the second quarter and eventually ran out with the win, 10.17 (77) to 7.5 (47).
North — the league’s only winless team — started the game much better, with veteran onballer Ben Cunnington controlling the midfield in the first quarter.
With Geelong’s emerging tagger Mark O’Connor left out of the team injured, Cunnington racked up six kicks and five handballs in the first term, while North stopper Kayne Turner kept Cats skipper Joel Selwood to just two touches.
By quarter time the Roos led by 10 points with three goals to Geelong one.
Geelong threatened to break the game open in the second term but was still scrappy and inefficient in its forward line, kicking 3.9 for the quarter.
The highlight of the term was a brilliant running goal from reformed defender Zach Tuohy.
Tuohy weaved through the midfield, collecting and dishing off by hand twice to teammates before his long bomb from just inside the 50m paint was shepherded through by Tom Hawkins.
Geelong’s runners came to the fore after halftime, with Mitch Duncan and Isaac Smith getting plenty of the ball, Tom Stewart dominating across halfback, and Brandan Parfitt (34 disposals) doing his best work in the clinches.
Quiet night at home
Geelong-raised youngster Charlie Lazzaro had a quite night on his return to his home town, but there was plenty to like about the performance put up by his North Melbourne teammates.
Lazzaro started the night in the substitute’s vest, but was called into the game 14 minutes into the second quarter when Aaron hall was felled in an unusual clash with Geelong’s Mitch Duncan.
Hall was kicking for goal when Duncan jumped in a vain attempt to smother. On landing, Duncan overbalanced and fell backwards into Hall.
It was a clumsy effort rather than malicious, but with Hall taken out of the contest, all eyes will be on what the league’s match review panel makes of it.
Lazzaro ended the game with five disposals, but his team backed up his pre-match comments that a win would not be far away for the Roos.
North was led admirably by its seasoned warriors, skipper Jack Ziebell (38 disposals) and Cunnington (29).
Winning ugly
It wasn’t pretty, but that didn’t faze key defender Lachie Henderson, who was relieved post match to walk away with a win.
“It was scrappy and we didn’t take our chances, but we we’ve got four points on the board and we move on now,” he said.
Henderson conceded the Cats battled early in the contest, allowing the winless Roos to get the jump.
“We were a little off defensively an we weren’t using the ball that well going forward and that led to a bit of easy transition for them,” Henderson said.
“But we got it going in the second quarter onwards and we started getting more turnovers.
“After the first quarter I thought we defended well as a team and we got a lot more turnovers up the ground, which made it a lot easier for us.
“When you keep it inside your forward 50, it makes it a lot easier for us defenders.”
Eyes forward to Eagles
Moments after leaving GMHBA Stadium, Henderson was licking his lips at the prospect of next week’s clash against West Coast.
“It should be a big one,” Henderson said.
“They’re a top team from last year and they’re going well, so we’ll have to be at our best to beat them.”
Danger: Cameron real close to return
By Jacob Grams
Geelong fans have been given the strongest clue star recruit Jeremy Cameron will finally shake off his hamstring troubles to suit up for his new club this weekend.
Speaking to Fox Footy after the Cats’ 30-point win over North Melbourne, midfielder Patrick Dangerfield revealed the key forward put on an impressive showing during a Saturday training run, putting him well in the frame to be named to take on West Coast at GMHBA Stadium.
“He was really close this week. He had a massive session (Saturday) so all signs point toward him being included, which would be great,” Dangerfield said.
“He’s been a bit frustrated, wanting to play, but we feel like we’re starting to get rolling and saw signs of that tonight, which is great news going forward.”
Dangerfield moved to allay fears over his fitness for the home contest after suffering a “light tweak” to his ankle when he fell awkwardly in the final term on Sunday.
The 31-year-old admitted his side was far from their polished best against the Kangaroos, but showed promise improving their pressure around the contest.
“I felt like we were starting to force those forward half turnovers and we compressed the ground a bit better than we have in previous weeks,” Dangerfield said.
“We didn’t reward ourselves on the scoreboard, but it’s more of the methodology we want going forward.”
He said it was a fitting result as the club paid tribute to retired champions Gary Ablett and Harry Taylor, who were taken on a lap of honour around Kardinia Park in the pre-match.
“We obviously got to spend last year with them and farewell them at the ground last year, but I think it was about everyone else getting to see them one last time and thank them for their contribution to the club over a long period of time. It was great to see them tonight.” Dangerfield said.
SCOREBOARD
GEELONG 1.3 3.9 7.12 10.17 (77)
NORTH MELBOURNE 3.1 3.3 5.4 7.5 (47)
BEST
Geelong: Parfitt, Stewart, Henderson, Duncan, Menegola, Blicavs. North Melbourne: Cunnington, Simpkin, Atley, Bonar, Young, Stephenson.
GOALS
Geelong: Menegola, Rohan 2, Close, Bews, Dahlhaus, Tuohy, Hawkins, Miers. North Melbourne: Larkey 2, Stephenson 2, Hall, Thomas, Cunnington.
VOTES
3. Brandan Parfitt
2. Tom Stewart
1. Mitch Duncan
Originally published as AFL 2021 Geelong v North Melbourne: Cats emerge from ugly struggle with points as Kangas remain winless
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