AFL Geelong v GWS 2025: Wasteful second half, exposed defence that cost Cats as blueprint to stopping Patrick Dangerfield uncovered

Geelong had a host of gilt-edged opportunities, but it was more than just two misses that cost the Cats. Plus, the star the Cats need back desperately and the blueprint to stop Patrick Dangerfield.

Last year it was Leek Aleer who was the hero for GWS at the death in a thrilling win down at GMHBA Stadium.

This time it was the Cats who were their own worst enemy in another epic.

Geelong had a host of gilt-edged opportunities to secure the win – not just in the dying minutes – but the Giants managed to hold on.

Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield desperately cut off a Giants kick in their defensive 50 and instead of going for goal, he missed a short kick and the Giants were able to clear.

Tyson Stengle hauled in a great contested mark and shanked the set shot from 35 metres out.

Then the versatile and reliable Mark Blicavs had the chance to inflict Giants heartbreak after a big contested mark of his own with 90 seconds to go.

And he was centimetres off delivering them the win as Sherrin thundered into the woodwork directly in front, which would have capped a strong showing as Geelong’s No.1 ruckman up against Kieren Briggs.

But it’d be unfair to say those three moments were what cost the Cats.

Geelong speedster Max Holmes, who was enormous with 30 disposals and 14 score involvements, said the evergreen Blicavs wouldn’t be shattered over the miss and feels he should be proud of his performance.

Mark Blicavs after missing a late set shot on goal. Picture: Michael Klein

“He’s fine, he’ll be right. He doesn’t get too worked out about things like that,” Holmes told this masthead post-game.

“We’ll get around him, but we don’t really need to bring it up to him. It’s kind of like ‘we’ve got his back’ and don’t have to worry about it.

“(Playing No.1 ruck) was a massive task obviously, he’s not built like big ‘Briggsy’.

“He was great and he really got up on some and won the ball as well and all that. So I was really pumped with his game.”

Over the past month it has been opposition sides dominating the territory battle against Geelong, but in the second half it was the Cats who had all the running in this area.

Rather than an orange tsunami, it was a Geelong avalanche as the Cats had 33 second half inside 50s to 20.

During a wasteful patch during the third quarter, Geelong had 11 inside 50s for 1.4, while the Giants added four goals from seven inside 50s.

Giants star Tom Green’s ripping slot from the boundary in game 100 underlined the Cats’ frustration as they kicked 5.9 to the Giants’ 7.2 in the second half.

There were other close-range misses earlier in the match that Cats players will also rue.

In the end, Geelong had 31 (14.17) scoring shots to GWS’ 25 (16.9), and Chris Scott and his men will know full well that this was a game they should have won.

Holmes said he and his teammates were feeling “pretty flat” after the loss but there were positives to take out of the game.

Max Holmes was shattered after the match. Picture: Josh Chadwick/Getty Images

“Not ideal those kind of losses - we had our chances, but I think on a whole, like we played well, we just got we just got beaten,” Holmes said.

“In a game like that, we’d rather know that we played decently, rather than a couple of games we’ve lost this year where we’ve played pretty average.

“So it’s not the end of the world, plenty of games to play.

“I felt like we did what we wanted to do well, we just got caught out by a few skill errors.”

Geelong will be hoping Jack Henry will be right to return next week after Jesse Hogan exposed an undermanned Geelong defence also without five-time All-Australian Tom Stewart (knee), Lawson Humphries (concussion) and Jake Kolodjashnij (hip).

The reigning Coleman medallist finished with seven goals, four of those in the second half as the Cats defence had no answers – even with Sam De Koning continuing his strong form.

And unlike the Cats, he took his chances in front of goal.

Hogan was given far too much space to do what he does best, finishing with five marks inside 50 and 12 score involvements to go with 22 disposals.

At the other end, it was the defender keeping Aleer out of the side – Jack Buckley – who was able to stop Dangerfield.

Dangerfield ripped the game to shreds last week with 13 disposals, 10 contested possessions and a goal as he led the Cats to victory.

On Sunday afternoon he had just 12 disposals and a goal for the entire match as Buckley proved to be Dangerfield’s kryptonite.

Even still, Dangerfield was nearly the hero himself — again — in the dying minutes.

Athletic and strong defensively at 193cm, Buckley serves as the blueprint for opposition sides to quell Dangerfield in his new role, where he has been as damaging as any forward in the game in 2025.

For the Cats, Bailey Smith, Holmes, Ollie Dempsey and Blicavs were fantastic all game long and Jeremy Cameron turned it on in the first half.

There were no shortage of contributors, and the Cats will be up all night thinking of what could have been.

But at 5-4, attention will have to quickly turn to Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval and the Western Bulldogs.

Originally published as AFL Geelong v GWS 2025: Wasteful second half, exposed defence that cost Cats as blueprint to stopping Patrick Dangerfield uncovered