AFL Round 8 Melbourne v Geelong: All the analysis and fallout as the Demons stop Cats in their tracks

Simon Goodwin and Bayley Fritsch, take a bow. On Saturday night, with a perfect plan and a moment of sheer genius Melbourne showed the rest of competition how to beat Geelong.

Glenn McFarlane

@MaccaHeraldSun

3 min read

May 4, 2024 - 11:03PM

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Melbourne, and Bayley Fritsch, take a bow.

In an arm-wrestle of extraordinary proportions, and on a night where goals were as rare as price cuts in a cost of living crisis, it was one moment of sheer genius from Fritsch combined with the sandbagging defence that halted Geelong’s run and dare, ending the Cats’ seven-game winning streak.

In doing so, the Demons enhanced their own premiership credentials with a disciplined, largely defensive display that was a masterstroke from Simon Goodwin and his coaching staff.

It was also carried out with effectiveness from the players, who claimed their biggest scalp of the season by eight points to take their win-loss ratio to 6-2.

Clayton Oliver and Caleb Windsor celebrate a final quarter goal. Picture: Michael Klein

Will it be a template that other clubs use against the Cats?

After a tight and tense first three quarters, which played into the Demons’ hands, the result came down to a few key moments in a frenetic final term.

Geelong was launching one last chance to steal victory from the jaws of defeat after a Zach Guthrie goal brought them back to three points with four minutes left on the clock.

Enter the opportunist Fritsch who produced the moment of the match.

Fritsch sensed his moment as he had the ball near the boundary line at the Richmond end, with Jack Henry closing in on his pursuit. The Demons forward weighed up his options, then dribbled the ball with a sense of geometry and grace and watched it slide through for what proved to be the match-winning goal.

“I knew it was a massive chance, it was always tracking and tracking,” Fritsch said on Channel 7. “We knew it was going to be an arm-wrestle and we were ready for it.”

It was Fritsch’s third goal of the game, and it gave Melbourne a nine-point buffer.

With two rare Jeremy Cameron misses late, it was enough to save the day for the Demons.

Bayley Fritsch, you are kidding ðŸ¤¯#AFLDeesCats pic.twitter.com/6zbb1AI13P
— AFL (@AFL) May 4, 2024

Geelong made it hard work for Max Gawn for most of the night. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

This was a huge effort from Melbourne. The Steven May, Jake Lever and Tom McDonald trio kept Cameron and Tom Hawkins goal-less (the Cats duo kicked 0.4 between them) with only Ollie Henry causing trouble with three goals; Max Gawn turned in a powerhouse performance including a 55m last term goal that brought the crowd to its feet; and an equal game high 31 disposals from Clayton Oliver was super encouraging in his best game this season.

The Cats were stifled in the first half, as Melbourne clearly had a plan to play a slow tempo match of defence and containment, stopping the Cats’ run and drive.

It was effective early, but was it going to be enough for the Demons to kick a winning score.

Judd McVee is tackled by Geelong’s Jhye Clark. Picture: Dylan Burns/AFL Photos

Let’s just consign this second term to ‘we won’t be watching that back’ file. It was a hard watch for obvious reasons, and while the Demons’ tactics clearly had an impact on the way the game was being played, neither side could take any advantage.

Between Kozzie Pickett’s goal just into red time in the first term until the next major a quarter and a bit later, there were 14 consecutive behinds scored by both teams, including nine in a goal-less second term.

It was almost like a comedy of errors … except it wasn’t funny.

Then the floodgates opened a little in the third term and while the Cats lost few detractors on the night, it gave rival clubs a look at some tactics that might unearth further vulnerabilities going forward.