All Geelong Cats news, updates and stories ahead of round 17 clash with Melbourne Demons
After a powerful seven wins in a row, Geelong is the best side in the AFL right now. But Cats fans are stopping short of installing them as flag favourites.
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If it was any other club, Geelong would be installed as premiership favourites right now.
The Cats have reeled off a faultless past seven matches, capped off with a dismantling of Melbourne on Thursday night.
So strong was Geelong on its home deck that the 28 point margin belied how dominant the Cats were as they beat up on the Demons premiership midfield around the cinches in the second half, choked Melbourne’s sputtering attack and kicked a winning score without too much scoreboard influence from Tom Hawkins or Jeremy Cameron.
If we go back even further, it’s been a super impressive few months.
Geelong’s only two losses since being shocked by Hawthorn late on Easter Monday were by less than a kick to Fremantle – a result that probably would have been reversed if the game went a minute longer.
And a 10-point defeat to St Kilda, a match in which Geelong was the better side for about 100 of the game’s 120 minutes.
In those past seven games, Geelong has averaged 95.3 points for per game and just 59.1 against.
That would rank third and first respectively in the league this season and while seven games isn’t a season-long sample, it is a fair stretch of evidence that Geelong is humming along.
Take in the last three weeks – a nailbiting win over Richmond, a 112-point thumping of North Melbourne and Thursday’s steely triumph over Melbourne – and it’s been a golden run.
The weaknesses that this side has carried have been straightened out so far: the ruck conundrum has been solved for now given Rhys Stanley and Mark Blicavs’ sterling combination, Tyson Stengle has added the ground-level x-factor that has been missing up forward, and the defence has put the clamps back on, with Tom Stewart still to return.
Image if a different contender, say Brisbane or Fremantle, had put together the last two months Geelong has.
As the questions get louder and louder about Melbourne, that other contender would have vaulted into flag favouritism.
Yet everyone is pausing before putting the Cats at the top of the rankings, even as they jump to the top of the ladder.
That’s because we have all been here before.
The Cats have had great wins in July in recent years and then carried on to falter in September.
They may be the best side in the AFL right now, but burned Cats fans are still stopping short on anointing their team as the ones to beat.
There is still seven weeks until finals.
CATS HAIL ‘AWESOME’ HOME CROWD
Defender Mark O’Connor says the “awesome” Geelong home crowd lifted the Cats in the final term on Thursday night, helping them get home in the top-of-the-table clash against Melbourne.
The Cats were the better side for most of the GMHBA Stadium battle, but only finally pulled away in the final term to win by 28 points.
The crowd of 21,501 was the biggest for a game in Geelong so far this season — and at times it felt like double that.
The Irishman was at the centre of one of the crowd’s biggest jeers, when he failed to draw a high free kick in front of goal in the last quarter, despite appearing to receive contact to the face.
“Maybe if I was a forward (the umpires) would pay them,” he joked after the match.
O’Connor said he could feel the noise in the final term as his team edged away from the Demons.
“It was awesome, it was really, really good,” he said. “Certainly since the Covid years, where there were no crowds, you definitely felt a difference since then.
“When you build the momentum and the crowd kind of gets louder, it is great.
“They just add to the energy.”
O’Connor agreed the Cats were on top for most of the evening and possibly deserved to win by more, if not for blowing chances in front of goal, as they finished with 12.19.
“We were probably more happy with the performance than the result, it was a bit of a grind and it was great to see how good our pressure was from the mids,” O’Connor said.
“It felt like we were in the forward half for a lot of that game and I think we might have kicked 18 or 19 behinds. That is always kind of shattering when you kick heaps of behinds because you are not punishing, certainly not enough.
“It definitely felt like we were trying to play our way.”
FORGOTTEN RUCK CEGLAR PART OF GEELONG’S PLANS
Jonathon Ceglar is firmly in Geelong’s AFL plans for the back-end of the season, with the ruck set to play his first game in three months in the VFL on Friday night.
The former Hawthorn big man has been named and will play limited minutes against Casey Demons in the VFL, his first game since breaking his foot on April 2.
The forgotten tall has been absent for most of his first season at Geelong, after he was traded to the club over the off-season after Darcy Fort pushed for a move to Brisbane.
Geelong has been pleased with Rhys Stanley’s work in the ruck and he has formed a formidable combination with Mark Blicavs this year but Cats assistant coach Nigel Lappin said Ceglar would slot in seamlessly if given a chance.
“We are really excited about having Jon back. We have a few plans for the back half of the year, we have been introducing a few new things into our team and we feel like he will slot in and play the roles we are looking for our ruck to play really well,” Lappin told Krock.
“We are really excited and fingers crossed he gets through the next few weeks.”
Ceglar, 31, played 101 games with the Hawks between 2013 and 2021.
The Cats are also keen to get experience into draftee ruck Toby Conway this season.
Lappin said hard-nut midfielder Brandan Parfitt “just wasn’t quite right” to face Melbourne on Thursday night as he worked towards a return from a broken hand.
Parfitt has not played since round 12 but Lappin said the nine-day break between Thursday night’s game and a huge clash with Carlton next Saturday would leave the midfielder “cherry ripe” for a return.
GEELONG HAS ‘A WAY’ TO GET THROUGH MELBOURNE DEFENCE
Geelong believes it has “a way” to get through Melbourne’s league-best defence as Cats coach Chris Scott implores his men to attack the Demon backline during Thursday night’s top-of-the-table tussle.
Thanks to defensive aces like Steven May, Jake Lever and Harrison Petty, Melbourne has strangled opponents all season and allowed just 63.1 points per game this season.
But Geelong is as well equipped as any side to boot a big score on the reigning premier, with goalkicking trio Tom Hawkins, Jeremy Cameron and Tyson Stengle all in scintillating form.
Scott said cracking the Demon defence was about more than individuals though, as he said his side would have to go at Melbourne to get through them before they can set up.
“We think we have a way but it is so much more complex than just our forwards (against) their backs,” he said.
“If we set up well in the contest, we move the ball and put them under a bit of pressure and on the back foot, then we back our forwards in every time.
“I think the challenge is to make the most of the advantage when you have it, you have got to attack them. You can’t just say ‘we are going to try and nullify their offensive defenders’.
“But also, (you need) a bit of an understanding that it’s not always going to be on your terms. You need to find a way to break even and not let those guys have it all their own way.”
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said on Wednesday that his team would get a “great audit” on where it sits during the Thursday night blockbuster.
While Scott said his Cats are audited each week, this game would tell them whether their style stacks up.
“Your game gets tested more by the best teams and I don’t think anyone tries to sit down in October and works out how you want to play without a thought to ‘will this stand up against the best teams in the biggest moments’,” he said.
“I don’t have any doubt that we will walk away from the game irrespective of the result and think OK there are things here that need to be adjusted.”
The Cats lost after the siren to the Demons at GMHBA Stadium in round 23 last season and then were booted out of the finals in an 83-point preliminary final drubbing against the same side.
Veteran Cat Isaac Smith said he was not left “angry” by those results but he predicted “there will be a bit of feeling there” on Thursday night.
Chris Scott’s bizarre Isaac Smith introduction
It was when Isaac Smith answered the door to his home in Ballarat in shorts and bare feet that the rangy winger first endeared himself to Chris Scott.
That was back in October 2010, as a wide-eyed Scott had only just put a Geelong polo on as the club’s new head coach and Smith was a speedster with a raking left boot playing VFL with North Ballarat.
There was no dressing up to impress AFL recruiters for the relaxed Smith, who was then a 21-year-old mature-aged draft prospect,
While he impressed Scott with his laid-back nature, the Cats overlooked the country kid, originally from rural New South Wales.
Geelong took Billie Smedts with the 15th pick in the 2010 AFL Draft, four before Smith would be snapped up by Hawthorn and go on to win three premierships in 210 games for Geelong’s arch rivals.
“We were both rookies when I went to his house in Ballarat and I had really jut been appointed at Geelong,” Scott recalled.
“He knew the Geelong people were coming to his house, I don’t think he expected me to be there, but still he answered the door in shorts and no shoes.
“I knew he was a pretty casual character and from that conversation, I remember thinking ‘Gee, he would be fantastic for the environment I envisage helping to create at Geelong’.”
Smith has been perfect for Geelong’s relaxed environment, only it took another decade for him to pull on the hoops.
Neither Scott or Smith could foresee the veteran joining Geelong before the 2021 season, when the hard-runner opened up to a change to the quieter surrounds down the highway for his growing family.
“I thought I would be a one-club player and that would be it,” Smith said.
“I think you would be naive to think the landscape hasn’t changed in footy in the last 20-30 years, a lot of it is business transactions these days.
“Life changes and opportunities arise and I guess you would be silly not to take them.”
Smith had an offer to continue as a Hawk, as well as new suitors in the Cats and Melbourne.
In a successful first year for him individually at a new club, it was Melbourne who buried Geelong’s season in 2021 in the preliminary final.
And it will be the Demons that he faces on Thursday night in his 250th AFL game.
Naturally the question to ask is whether Smith had any regrets about passing up the Melbourne opportunity as he was left to watch that club romp to a flag.
“Not really, that is footy” Smith said.
“I have been around long enough to know that you win big games and you lose big games. Yeah they did win the flag but I do have three of them as well and hopefully four by the end of this year.
“If everyone rated their career on winning flags and that was the only successful part of their career, it would be a pretty long and lonely career I reckon.
“To win at another club and know that people had sort of written you off individually would be a nice little cherry on top.”
Smith has added more to the Cats than just his stunningly consistent output on the field.
He is genuinely funny and keen to tach the club’s youngsters where he can.
Any budding footballer could do worse than listen to his theory on staying fit – Smith has played less than 19 games just twice in his 11 completed seasons, his first year and in 2020.
“My three biggest things have been sleep, what you eat and a bit of flexibility,” he said.
In the famously flexible work-life surrounds at GMHBA Stadium, it’s no wonder Smith continues to thrive.
CATS WALKING TALLER NOW JACK’S BACK
Geelong’s defence is walking taller after the return of Jack Henry as the Cats plan to nullify Melbourne’s sputtering forward half on Thursday night.
After finishing second in last year’s best-and-fairest, Henry missed most of the pre-season with a foot injury that flared up in round 5.
The high-leaper didn’t play until round 15, when he was thrown forward at the last minute and kicked the matchwinning goal against Richmond.
On Saturday night, Henry was back in familiar surrounds in defence and appeared comfortable as Geelong routed North Melbourne by112 points.
He will likely stay in defence and line-up on Melbourne’s Luke Jackson – if he recovers from knee soreness in time to play – in Thursday night’s blockbuster at GMHBA Stadium.
Young star Sam De Koning (cork) is set to return to man Demon tall Ben Brown, after he was a late withdrawal ahead of the Roos win.
Having missed almost three months before his round 15 return, Henry’s aerial prowess had fellow defender Zach Guthrie confident the Cats can tackle a Demon forward line that has been up-and-down this season.
The Demons rank first in the league for points against, conceding us 63.1, but are sixth for scoring at an average of 88.1.
“I think just his brutal contests in the air (that stand out), I think one stuck out against (Richmond’s) Robbie Tarrant, I think that’s what we’ve missed just his presence in the air and his attacking game as well, he gets the ball going back our way,” Guthrie said.
“He came second in the best-and-fairest last year for a reason so it’s obviously great to get him back and he will only be getting better going forward.
“He is pretty good (in the air), just getting guys like that back gives us confidence to really attack the ball and make proactive decisions and it’s just great to get him back into the team.”
With Henry back behind the ball, Guthrie said his Cats believed their style can crack the reigning premiers.
While they lost three games in a row through the middle part of the season, Melbourne remains the AFL’s benchmark, according to the defender.
“They have got good players on every line so we will put a big focus on them this week but mostly we will just be trying to play our game and maximise our strengths to take it up to them, ” he said.
“I think the first half of the year showed they are going to be the team to beat so we are going to have to be at our best to match them and I tink we are really confident that our gamestyle stands up when we play at our best so I think the fans are going to be in for a good contest.”
SELWOOD TO RETURN AS PARFITT CLOSES IN
Geelong captain Joel Selwood looks a certain starter for Thursday night’s blockbuster clash with Melbourne after he was rested for Geelong’s 112-point drubbing of North Melbourne at the weekend.
Midfield mate Brandan Parfitt will be a test this week as he continues to recover from a broken hand.
“Brandan has been progressing through his contact and loading program and will be a test during the week to determine his availability,” head of medical and conditioning Harry Taylor said.
With Patrick Dangerfield making his return at the weekend and Cam Guthrie and Tom Atkins playing key midfield roles over the past few weeks, some further help in the midfield would be welcomed by the Cats as they prepare to go up against Melbourne’s midfield mix of Clayton Oliver, Christian Petracca, Jack Viney, Max Gawn and James Harmes.
Ruck Jonathon Ceglar has progressed strongly as he looks to return from a broken foot.
“Jonathon has progressed to full integration in team drills and will be a test to determine his availability during the week,” Taylor said.
Small forward Luke Dahlhaus (managed) and young midfielder Cooper Stevens (ankle) will both be available for selection this week after not playing at the weekend, however Jake Kolodjashnij will be forced to follow AFL concussion protocols after suffering a concussion against North Melbourne.
Young ruck Toby Conway will be a test this week after missing Geelong’s VFL loss to Frankston due to lower leg soreness.
Tuohy keen to play on at Geelong
There are no guarantees of a 2023 season for popular Cats defender Zach Tuohy, who is yet to open contract talks with Geelong.
The Cat has played every game this season, being used in defence, on a wing and up forward, but he is yet to sign on past this season.
Tuohy said he wanted to play on in 2023, but he understood the club would make the call on his playing future.
“We’re working through whether it’s four or five more (years) I sign on for,” he said with a smile.
“I’m happy to take a pay cut and play for $700k a year.
“Of course I am (happy to wait), I’m 32, I understand the situation.
“I want to play on, if I don’t that’s fine.”
The dashing defender has averaged 21.8 disposals, 4.9 marks, 3.5 rebound 50s and 1.6 tackles per game in 2022, and has helped the Cats to second place on the ladder.
Tuohy played his 121st game for Geelong against North Melbourne in round 16, surpassing the 120 games he played for Carlton.
He said he felt at home the first day he arrived at Geelong.
“It was an honour to get down here, this is where I wanted to come and I consider myself a Geelong person,” he said.
“Post-career I’ll be a Geelong supporter and the family will be Geelong supporters.
“I loved my time at my previous club, but that time has come and gone and I’m Geelong now.”
‘Not how the game works’: Demons still AFL’s pinnacle
Cats defender Zach Tuohy says Thursday night’s top-of-the-table clash will have “significant ramifications” on the rest of the season.
Geelong will host Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium in round 17, with both sides coming off a five-day break following respective round 16 wins.
Tuohy said the ‘Festival of Football’ during the 2020 season made teams better equipped to cope with the short break between games of football.
“It obviously presents a few challenges, but we kind of got a taste of this a couple of years ago, we played three or four back-to-back five day turnarounds,” he said.
“It makes recovery even more of a premium, but you can get into a nice rhythm when you play quickly, plus we’re playing the best team.
“It’s got a kind of finals smell to it, this game, and this is why you play, to be playing against the best teams in games that really have, or could have, significant ramifications.
“It’s not quite knockout, but we are playing the reigning premiers and the best team in the comp, so there is a fair bit on the line.”
Melbourne suffered three consecutive defeats from rounds 11 to 13, but have since rebounded to win by 64 points against Brisbane and 29 points against Adelaide.
Touhy dismissed the notion the Demons were no longer the team to beat and said the Cats were “justifiably” the underdogs.
“It’s ridiculous to suggest they’re not (the team to beat),” he said.
“If anyone thought they were just going to walk through the whole season unbeaten, they obviously haven’t watched footy for the last 150 years, that’s not how the game works.
“The fact that they’ve dropped a couple of games says nothing about the calibre of team they are, they’re still the benchmark and I suspect we’ll be underdogs this week.”
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Originally published as All Geelong Cats news, updates and stories ahead of round 17 clash with Melbourne Demons
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