Did Geelong make a mistake by playing Patrick Dangerfield at full-forward against Adelaide?

IT was hailed as a master move last week, but did the Cats make a mistake by going back to the well again on Friday night and playing Patrick Dangerfield up forward?

Matt Crouch and Richard Douglas get stuck into Patrick Dangerfield. Picture: Michael Klein

MATTHEW Scarlett is old school.

In a pre-game radio interview the former champion full-back revealed that Patrick Dangerfield would be starting in the middle of the ground.

This was big news given all the build-up had focused on the Brownlow Medallist coming out of the goalsquare like he did so successfully the previous week against Sydney.

At the first bounce, Dangerfield was at full-forward.

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The attempted ruse by the Cats assistant coach didn’t really work and either did much his side did for the first 40 minutes.

This was a train wreck for Geelong but in a way Scarlo was on the money because Dangerfield’s biggest influence came in the midfield.

A dejected Patrick Dangerfield leaves the field. Picture: AAP Images

He did mark Geelong’s first entry for the game at the four-minute mark but his set shot missed.

By the time Dangerfield had his next major involvement the Crows lead was 48 points.

He’d wasted away at full-forward while the home side dominated the first quarter, finishing with just three disposals.

At the eight-minute mark of the second quarter Dangerfield nailed a set shot from 45m which kick-started a heartbeat for his team.

Together with Joel Selwood the two superstars wrestled back control of the game and willed the Cats to kick four of the next five goals.

But with two minutes remaining to halftime the biggest moment of the game presented itself and naturally it involved Dangerfield.

The ball came towards him and at the same time his good friend Rory Sloane also did.

Two bulls came together in a fierce collision with Dangerfield coming off the worst.

For several seconds he lay flat on his back on the turf, looking like he was out cold.

Sloane got up and ran away before Dangerfield slowly managed to get to his feet and then gingerly walked from the ground.

His second quarter had been heroic — 12 disposals, three centre clearances, five tackles, three inside 50s and two goals.

The scenario was obvious to everyone at Adelaide Oval, if Geelong was to produce a miracle comeback then it was going to be on the back of Dangerfield.

When he ran out after halftime with his teammates there was hope.

That didn’t last long as it soon became obvious that the knock may have lingered longer than Cats fans had hoped.

Patrick Dangerfield after being crunched by Rory Sloane. Picture: AFL Media

Dangerfield only had one kick and one handball for the third quarter and without him his side failed to make any inroads.

Sadly, it was an all too familiar story for Geelong.

Their second tier players failed to produce when it mattered under the heat of a preliminary final.

It was a dirty end to another brilliant season from Dangerfield who can’t do much else to try and win a premiership.

Unfortunately, the team he was once with looks like doing that in seven days time.