North Melbourne loses forward Ben Brown to injury in loss to Geelong
Ben Brown concedes he feared he had suffered an ACL injury when he went down in the opening quarter against Geelong, but hopes scans will clear him of serious damage to his knee.
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North Melbourne forward Ben Brown says he “feared the worst” when he hobbled off the Gabba on Wednesday night with a knee injury.
Brown, who has been struggling for form and was back after being dropped the previous week, hurt his knee after being tackled by Geelong’s Mark Blicavs halfway through the opening term.
He said it was just “unlucky” and hoped scans would be positive after a major injury was ruled out.
“When I first did it I obviously thought about the worst. But it looked like on first examination last night it wasn’t too bad,” he said on Thursday morning.
“It was just unlucky. I had a bit of a look at the vision afterwards . just the way I was tackled and having that twisting motion wasn’t great for the knee. I don’t think it would be great for anyone’s knee.”
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The injury could not have come at a worse time for Brown, who is out-of-contract and had kicked just eight goals in eight games before he was dropped.
Brown, who said this year hadn’t gone as he had hoped, also announced recently that he and his wife had lost one of their unborn twins in utero.
But the big man, who had kicked 125 goals across the previous two seasons, Brown said he was “committed” to North, with reports suggesting the club was shopping him around.
“To be honest I leave that stuff to my management and the footy club. As far as I am concerned I have got an injury I have to rehab I’m hoping it’s not too bad and over the next couple of weeks I can get back out there and play,” he said.
“At the start of the year if you had of asked me “how do you want this year to go?” I probably wouldn’t have picked what has happened so far. But I think there are a lot of people in that boat.
“We are working through a lot of things as a foot club and personally as well. But I am really confident I the way I go about my footy and I’ll work hard and I am committed to this footy club and I want to help us have the success I think we can in the second half of the year.”
North have to back up from the loss to Geelong with a game against Melbourne in Adelaide on Sunday.
MATCH REPORT: WASTEFUL ROOS BLOW CHANCES AGAINST CATS
In a fast-paced affair at the Gabba on Wednesday night, the Cats continued their winning streak against North Melbourne with a 13.12 (90) to 9.3 (57) victory.
Following their confidence-boosting win over Adelaide, North Melbourne came out of the blocks firing, scoring the first goal within 15 seconds.
The 14th-placed Kangaroos had plenty of chances throughout the night and had their chances but costly errors allowed the Cats to pounce back.
The win was the Cats sixth in a row over the Roos and it was a timely victory ahead of their upcoming schedule.
The next run of games for the Cats isn’t going to get any easier with games against top-four teams St Kilda and Port Adelaide.
DANGER MOVE
Patrick Dangerfield seemed to play more of a permanent forward in Wednesday’s match in a move that appeared to give the 30-year-old less of a workload.
The move was questioned by many as to why he wasn’t just rested for the night.
However, he wasn’t completely redundant in the game, with a move back to the middle in the final quarter proving crucial in stopping a Roos comeback.
He got the clearance which led directly to a Cats goal.
Meanwhile, Cats captain Joel Selwood made a successful return from a hamstring injury.
Geelong made six changes heading into Wednesday’s clash with North Melbourne, including the captain along with ruckman Rhys Stanley and Jack Steven who both helped steer their side to victory.
ROOS RUE MISSED CHANCES
North Melbourne had plenty of opportunities on Wednesday night but just couldn’t capitalise.
The Roos matched it with the Cats for much of the night, with a similar number of inside 50s (48 to 45).
In the end, they just weren’t able to take control of the game.
HOSIE DEBUT
Hopefully his mum was watching the footy and not the Kardashians on Wednesday night when North Melbourne debutant Lachlan Hosie proved to be a shining light in their loss at the Gabba.
An injury to Ben Brown in the first term saw the young star step up for the Kangaroos in his first AFL match, finishing the game with two crucial goals.
The fifth-pick in the 2019 mid-season rookie draft was a standout for the Roos and should have a bright future ahead.
Chris Honnery’s best
North Melbourne: Hosie, Daw, Anderson,
Geelong: Miers, Steven, Hawkins, Fogarty
VOTES:
3. T. Hawkins
2. C.Guthrie
1. G. Miers
SCOTT: LADDER CAN BE MISLEADING
Geelong coach Chris Scott says the club isn’t “jumping at shadows” as they prepare for a tough week ahead against top four placed sides.
The Cats will have a five-day turnaround for their clash with the red-hot St Kilda on Monday night, before they play the top-of-the-table Port Adelaide the following Friday.
It will be a challenging schedule for the Geelong squad, with the short turnaround and tough opposition.
However, Scott said ladder positions in 2020 were a little misleading and wasn’t prepared to be spooked by their upcoming opposition.
“They’re top four on the ladder but I can’t work out who the best teams are at the moment,” Scott said.
“I’m not going to say teams are inconsistent, I think teams are good on their day.
“If you have a bad day, you can get really exposed.
“In a season when everyone plays each other once, the ladder can be a little misleading.
“Certainly, they’re towards the top for a reason because they’re playing really good footy.
“They’re going to test us no doubt (but) I don’t think we should jump at shadows until we come past those tests.”
Scott was forced to manage four of his player’s workload ahead of Wednesday’s clash with North Melbourne and he admitted a similar resting schedule will continue.
“Things can change a little bit and you can go from four to six or seven quite quickly,” he said.
“I’ve got a level of confidence that we’ve got a group of players who haven’t played much footy for us this year that can come and do a job.”
WILL CATS BE LEFT TO RUE GOLDSTEIN TRADE MISS?
It was the late-breaking free agency move which would have solved Geelong’s biggest headache.
When the Cats came with a late rush for North Melbourne veteran Todd Goldstein late last season two things became clear.
Geelong was unsure how much it could trust Rhys Stanley in the ruck and clearly, coach Chris Scott would prefer Mark Blicavs to stay at home as a key defender.
And now, about 10 months after Geelong’s unsuccessful chase for the Kangaroos’ No. 1 ruckman, these old wounds are again being exposed.
Goldstein is having one of his best-ever seasons and is a leading All-Australian candidate while the Cats are being cut up in the centre square.
Remarkably, Geelong has conceded the most points from centre clearances in the competition and rank second-last for score differential (-6.6 points) from centre clearances, according to Champion Data.
In a nutshell, they’re coughing up too many goals out of the guts.
Former Fremantle and St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said “Chris Scott, at the minute, has a problem in there.”
“They don’t want to see it going back to the middle against anyone, with respect,” Lyon said on Triple M.
“That is the area they need to fix because they have got everything else going really well.”
On Saturday night, the Cats conceded another three goals from centre square bounces as West Coast superstar Nic Naitanui dominated the air in one of his most commanding performances in years.
On Wednesday night, another tough challenge awaits at the Gabba.
Geelong will face Goldstein for the first time since he turned down their offer to become the missing piece of their premiership puzzle.
Incredibly, the hard-running big man leads the entire AFL competition for clearances (60), underlining the incredible influence he is having at ground level.
Scott said on Tuesday the ruck was a crucial part of the game.
“There’s some good ones out there and we really respect Goldstein, too,” Scott said.
But he would have spent the best part of the past week trying to tighten the Cats’ centre square setups.
While Geelong can still score heavily from the back half and off turnover, it is unacceptable for a premiership contender to be leaking so many goals from the restart.
Without inspirational captain Joel Selwood, who is injured with a hamstring issue, it has become clear the Cats are vulnerable here.
It helps explain why Scott’s men could also make a strong move for Adelaide free agent Brad Crouch at season’s end, as a long-term Selwood replacement.
GWS Giants’ free agent Jeremy Cameron also has a decision to make.
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