AFL 2022: All the scores, news and reaction out of the Geelong v Melbourne round 17 blockbuster
Melbourne has now lost as many games this year as it did in its entire premiership campaign. But the real concern is who the losses have come against – and how.
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The minor mid-season headache is becoming a sustained migraine for Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin.
On the form ladder, the Demons are in the bottom six, having won just two of their past six matches.
That is the same number of wins that struggling sides Essendon and Adelaide have enjoyed over the past month-and-a-half.
Melbourne has now lost as many games after Round 17 as it did during its entire 2021 premiership campaign.
But what would be most worrying for Goodwin is just who those losses have come against.
The Demons dropped games they should have won last year – drawing with Hawthorn (finished 14th) and losing to Adelaide (15th), Collingwood (17th), Greater Western Sydney (7th) and the Western Bulldogs (5th).
However, against the better sides in the competition they rose to the occasion more often than not — which the great sides do.
In the home-and-away season, Melbourne’s record against fellow 2021 finalists was 8-2.
This year against current top-eight sides they have gone 2-4.
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Dig down a little deeper and the combined total of the Demons’ four losses last year was 47 points, compared to a combined 104 points from their four defeats this year.
Against some of the best this year, they simply haven’t been up for the fight.
The bookmakers still have Melbourne sitting as the premiership favourite, but on that record, and Thursday night’s 28-point loss to Geelong, it’s hard to see why.
Other sides are working them out – and they are not the formidable force they once were.
Geelong deployed Mark Blicavs through the middle of the ground to not only give Rhys Stanley a chop out in the ruck but also go to Melbourne prime movers Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver in an accountable run-with role on Thursday night.
Consequently, Petracca was held to just two clearances for the match – his equal-second fewest of the season.
The Blicavs role was one part of a better set up and sharper mix of players around stoppages for the Cats.
Geelong won clearances on the night 54-36 – a belting in anyone’s language – and its strong pressure and tackling around them meant Melbourne was not able to break free and score with ease when it did win a clearance.
The other big win for the Cats was taking away Melbourne’s aerial strength.
Ruckman Max Gawn has so often been a wall that has been hard to pass for opposition sides, getting himself set behind the ball to take intercept marks or at least stop opposition teams from marking it.
The Cats avoided him like the plague, with Gawn not taking a single intercept mark for the night and finishing with just one intercept possession.
The Demons’ defensive pillars – Steven May and Jake Lever – also had little impact on the match.
May managed just three intercept possessions – his second-lowest tally of the season – as he was kept busy by Tom Hawkins.
With Harrison Petty having the job on Jeremy Cameron, Lever took five intercept marks playing on a mix of Geelong’s small forwards, but the Cats were well set up behind the ball whenever he did win it back for the Demons.
Where possible, Geelong used other options going forward rather than the predictable plays to Hawkins and Cameron that May and Lever would have lapped up.
Hawkins and Cameron did not have a goal between them at three-quarter time – at which point the home side held a 12-point lead at GMHBA Stadium.
Geelong’s territory wins eventually broke the Demons’ defence, with the Cats scoring 41 points from forward-half chains in the second half.
The Demons’ had conceded just 28.1 points per game from opposition forward-half chains going into the game.
Melbourne’s miss-firing forward line is the other real concern.
They didn’t have suspended Cats’ star Tom Stewart to overcome, yet still managed only nine goals for the night.
The Demons again looked one-dimensional going forward and their key target Ben Brown has kicked a combined six goals across the past six games.
The smalls are also struggling, with Charlie Spargo having kicked one goal across the past six weeks, while Alex Neal-Bullen has booted two majors over the same period and Kysaiah Pickett has managed six.
Bailey Fritsch has booted more than one goal only once in his past four weeks.
Fritsch was also the poster boy on Thursday night for what looks to have been a slight attitude change for the worse at the Demons this year.
The selfless, team-first attitude that was a feature of Melbourne’s rise last season appears to be on the decline.
Fritsch went for a dribble kick which bounced through for a behind as he ran into goal at a vital stage of the final quarter against the Cats, when Ed Langdon was free in space running into an open goal and could have been found with a chip kick or handball to the top of the square.
Last year, Melbourne would have given that pass – and you could pick out plenty more examples of such actions over the past six weeks where teammates in better positions have not been used by Demons’ players.
Melbourne faces four more current top-eight teams in the final six weeks – Fremantle, Collingwood, Carlton and Brisbane – along with games against danger teams Port Adelaide and the Western Bulldogs.
Goodwin and his playing group have a lot of work to do if they are going to defend their title.
Scott’s Cats ace tough footy ‘audit’ against reigning premiers
The Cats scored a 28-point victory over the Demons at GMHBA Stadium to take over top spot on the ladder.
It was Geelong’s seventh win on the trot and leaves the side with a 4-2 record against fellow top-eight teams this season.
SCROLL DOWN FOR MATCH REPORT, VOTES AND BEST
The victory over Melbourne further highlighted the Cats’ evolution this season, with the side having lost to the Demons in each of the three matches the two sides played last year.
That included an 83-point loss to the eventual premiers in the preliminary final.
“What it means in the moment is much more important than anything from previous years,” Scott said.
“It was put to me that Simon Goodwin said during the week this game’s probably a bit of an audit for where his team’s at and we thought that’s a pretty good description. Whatever happens, we will learn a bit. I think we get carried away with the win. It doesn’t make us the best team in the comp because we beat them at home. But what it does say to our players is the things we’ve been working on can stand up against the very best teams.”
The Cats’ contest and clearance work was a key to the victory, as they won clearances 54-36 and inside-50s 66-46 against a full-strength Melbourne midfield.
“If we didn’t break even in there, for a large portion of the night, we were going to be in trouble,” Scott said.
“For a long time before they became the premier team in the competition, they’ve been a great contest the team and a go-forward and high inside-50 team. They can kind of overwhelm you a little bit.”
Geelong was also able to find other avenues to goal, holding a 12-point lead at three-quarter time despite Tom Hawkins, Jeremy Cameron and Tyson Stengle not having registered a goal between them.
“I guess that’s another way of summarising some of the things that we’ve tried to do – be a really deep offensive team that is difficult to cover,” Scott said.
“When you talk about playing what you face … if you are less focused on one or two targets going forward, it’s much harder to read even when you got the best in the game and (Jake) Lever’s probably pretty close to that and (Steven) May and his mates
“We kicked some ugly goals if you like, where their defence is so good that it’s hard to get it through easily. We just had to keep pressing and take the chances when they presented.”
Philosophical Goodwin says best team on night won
—Mark Hayes
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said his team was still in an “amazing position” despite falling to its fourth loss in six matches against Geelong.
The Cats took the Demons apart in clearances, particularly after halftime, at GMHBA Stadium, finishing with a differential of 18.
Yet despite the uncustomary numbers for his star-studded midfield, Goodwin said there was no cause for panic in the Demons’ premiership defence.
“The team that deserved to win won,” he said bluntly.
“They dominated in a number of areas and as I said (on Wednesday), you get a good audit against (the Cats) and we got that tonight.
“They dominated time in (attacking) half, beat us in clearances, they were cleaner and tackled incredibly well around contest areas.
“We’ll learn a lot from this. But full credit to Geelong – they played an exceptional game and had (it) on their terms for a long part of the game.”
Geelong pushed to the top of the ladder by percentage after a couple of late goals created a 28-point margin that, while a fair indication of possession, belied Melbourne’s proximity to the lead until the dying minutes.
But Goodwin said that clearance work against the top teams would be a priority in coming weeks.
“It’s an area we need to be better at, there’s no question,” he said.
“It’s not too often (we) go minus 18 in clearances – and centre bounce was an issue, too.
“But there’s so much footy to be played this season and we’re looking forward to it.
“This is a time of year when you’re still gathering information about your team as to how you best operate. And we’re no different to a lot of teams.
“We’ve still got some growth in our footy team to forge ahead, but we’ve still got enormous belief in the way we play and we’re in an amazing position for this back half to launch ourselves into what’s ahead.
“We’re sitting in the top two, we’re giving ourselves a chance, but we need to continue to get better.”
Dees done over by very different Geelong
—Mark Hayes
A prolific Melbourne midfield and no goals to Jeremy Cameron, Tom Hawkins or Tyson Stengle by the last change.
Sounds like a deadset recipe for a Geelong disaster against the reigning premier.
But on a night with more intensity than skill, it ultimately proved no problem for a Geelong team that went past Melbourne to the top of the ladder with a tense 28-point win at GMHBA Stadium.
The match had a finals-like atmosphere and was played under finals-like pressure throughout.
But somebody forgot to invite the finals skills or decision making for either side.
Admittedly, the tackling was nothing short of ferocious. And the amount of times players from both clubs were run down by their pursuers might be the catalyst for a directional tackle stat from Champion Data.
That, in turn, might have created the additional perception of a lack of time for those running with the ball.
But whatever the reason – and combined with both coaches’ desire to have a “spare” at halfback – there was a fully stocked catalogue of shoddy transitional decisions.
So much so that when a quality passage of play took place, it stood out like a ray of sunlight on a bleak winter’s day.
Christian Petracca kicked stellar individual running goals from the 50m arc at both ends in the first half; Cam Guthrie kicked a goal-of-the-year contender from almost on Moorabool Street; and Patrick Dangerfield’s pace away from clearances were examples.
But the contest was scripted around a midfield war and that’s exactly what was delivered.
The usual Melbourne suspects – Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jack Viney – were joined in prolific numbers by James Harmes and Angus Brayshaw.
Yet as much as the premiers flexed, their effects were muted.
The Cats had Dangerfield wind back the clock, Tom Atkins continue his stellar season, plus stalwarts Cam Guthrie and Mitch Duncan combine to not give an inch.
Then when it did get through, Melbourne’s efficiency inside attacking 50 was less than elite, under great pressure from Jack Henry, Zach Tuohy and company.
Geelong, itself, was far from fluent in attack. But a couple of moments of inspiration from Gary Rohan, Isaac Smith and ultimately Cameron Guthrie proved the difference in an arm wrestle that absolutely whet the appetite for September.
The Cats dominated clearances for the majority of the third term and looked as though they’d pinched a winning break when 23 points up just before time-on.
But Alex Neal-Bullen’s running goal from Melbourne’s first inside-50 entry in 15 minutes kept it in touch before a freak goal from an intended pass by Toby Bedford tightened up the scores once more.
The Demons pressed hard throughout the final term, closing within a goal after 10 minutes and with all the momentum.
But as they had for much of the evening, the Cats bent but didn’t break.
The final 15 minutes were played almost exclusively in Geelong’s forward line with the crowd in full voice.
And when Brad Close booted his second with just over four minutes to play, the battle – if not the war – was finally won.
THE REEL NEAL
Whatever day Melbourne does its video review after a Thursday night game, Alex Neal-Bullen will have some praise coming his way.
The underrated midfielder put a sensational run-down tackle on Mitch Duncan to jar a ball free early in the first term, then linked up in the following passage of play before rifling a World of Sport “10” handball to a full-pace Christian Petracca, who duly goaled to spark hearty Dees’ celebrations of a superb team goal.
GOTCHA, BENNY
Melbourne big man Ben Brown put his hand up for a goal of the week contender when the big man, cast in the role of a rover, snared a magical major from deep in the “Gary Ablett pocket” midway through the first term.
But his application still had wet ink when he was absolutely usurped by a genuine special from Cam Guthrie in the opposite forward pocket for the Cats.
After some lovely work by Max Holmes to pry the ball out of a contest, Guthrie took possession standing on the boundary line and, with pressure closing and no options, slammed a low banana on to his right boot and split the middle from the proverbial impossible angle.
BUSY ISSY
For the second week in a row after Mitch Duncan last week, Cats fans had great reason to celebrate a 250th milestone, this time from Isaac Smith.
A long-time nemesis in brown and gold, the hoops’ faithful have grown to love the pacy winger very quickly in his time in G-town – and he repaid the love in spades.
A visionary handpass was the key piece of the puzzle in a great team goal by Brad Close in the second term, then Smith himself was at the centre of celebrations when he potted a special from 50m in the third term.
SCORES
GEELONG CATS 3.3 5.8 8.12 12.19 (91)
def
MELBOURNE DEMONS 3.1 5.4 7.6 9.9 (63)
GOALS
Cats: Rohan 2, Close 2, C.Guthrie 2, Hawkins, Duncan, Atkins, Holmes, Smith, Stengle
Demons: Petracca 3, Fritsch, Brown, Oliver, Neal-Bullen, Bedford, Pickett
MARK HAYES’ BEST
Geelong: Atkins, Henry, C.Guthrie, Dangerfield, Smith, Duncan.
Melbourne: Viney, Petracca, Oliver, Neal-Bullen, Brayshaw.
MARK HAYES’ VOTES
3 — Atkins (GEE)
2 — Henry (GEE)
1 — Viney (MEL)
INJURIES
Cats: nil.
Demons: nil.
Crowd: 21,501 at GMHBA Stadium, Geelong.
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