Geelong smashes Sydney to set up preliminary final against Adelaide

BE warned Adelaide a fired-up Patrick Dangerfield and a rejuvenated Geelong are headed in your direction for a preliminary final showdown after disposing of Sydney.

Patrick Dangerfield kicked four goals in Geelong’s win over Sydney.

BE warned Josh Jenkins - a fired-up Patrick Dangerfield and a rejuvenated Geelong are headed in your direction on Friday night for a preliminary final showdown full of spice.

Just a week ago the Adelaide forward told Fox Sports he would relish the chance to end former teammate Dangerfield’s season if the Crows were drawn to play the Cats.

The Crows will have that opportunity, but Jenkins’ words will add a little extra bite after the Cats relentlessly crushed Sydney by 59 points in an MCG ambush.

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“Oh 100 per cent (I’d love to beat Dangerfield),” Jenkins said last Saturday.

“If he marches into town with his Geelong teammates, there’d be nothing better than beating him and reminding him that perhaps he should have stuck around with us and he could be a Brownlow Medallist and a premiership player.”

That task looks tougher than it would have when Jenkins made the comments. They came the morning after the Cats lost to Richmond in last week’s qualifying final, when their season looked in tatters.

Patrick Dangerfield kicked four first-half goals. Picture: Alex Coppel

But after a brilliant four-goal haul in attack from Dangerfield, some other superb individual efforts from his teammates, and a composed, clinical team effort from the Cats has provided an intoxicating storyline between the Crows and their former champion.

It also provided the club’s popular defender Tom Lonergan - who was a late withdrawal with food poisoning - with the reprieve he wanted from retirement for at least another week.

This was a night where the old adage “adversity is the mother of invention” proved true once more, with Lonergan’s absence providing coach Chris Scott with the chance to shuffle up the whiteboard.

He took some risks and it paid dividends big time.

The loss of Lonergan meant Harry Taylor had to go back onto Lance Franklin, and he did a sensational job, keeping the Coleman Medallist goalless.

That left a hole in attack, and Scott had no hesitation in starting Dangerfield deep forward, often isolated in attack at times with a surprisingly jittery Dane Rampe.

Daniel Menzel and Jake Kolodjashnij celebrate a Geelong goal.

He kicked the Cats’ first two goals in a statement that needed to be made, given the Swans had mugged Geelong with seven first-term goals in their past two clashes.

Importantly, it wasn’t just what last year’s Brownlow Medallist did; it was what Rampe and the other Sydney defenders expected him to do.

That made all the difference, because it allowed Dangerfield’s teammates the space they needed in attack to get in on the act.

He followed it up with two second term goals - taking his tally to four goals by halftime - before he spent a little more time around the ball in the second half.

Mark Blicavs was an ingenious choice to take on Josh Kennedy, the man considered one of the best finals performers in recent years, he shut the Swans skipper out of the game in the first half, and went on to have 14 tackles for the night.

Sam Menegola was enormous all night, kicking two goals and having 26 disposals, Mitch Duncan booted two goals and helped himself to 36 disposals and Joel Selwood got through another game, which is a bonus going forward.

Mark Blicavs had the better of Josh Kennedy. Picture: Michael Klein

Steven Motlop had one of his better games for the season, Zac Smith rucked tirelessly and was a key performer and Darcy Lang showed why he was brought back in.

Dangerfield said last week the Cats kept hitting their head up against a “brick wall”, last night, the Cats’ backline provided their own impenetrable wall, restricting Sydney to only five goals and their lowest score in 20 years.

Taylor was brilliant, Lachie Henderson was a rock, Zac Tuohy did exactly what he was recruited for.

They gave the Swans’ forward nothing, and if they can do the same against the Crows next week, the Cats just might make Josh Jenkins choke on those words.

GEELONG 3.1 9.4 13.4 15.8 (98)

SYDNEY 2.2 3.4 4.9 5.9 (39)

GOALS

Cats: Dangerfield 4, Menzel 2, Menegola 2, Duncan 2, Stanley, Smith, Motlop, Hawkins, Blicavs

Swans: Jack, McVeigh, Mills, Papley, Reid

BEST

Cats: Dangerfield, Blicavs, Duncan, Menegola, Taylor, Henderson, Tuohy, Smith, Motlop, Selwood

Swans: Jack, Hannebery, Lloyd, McVeigh, Heeney

INJURIES

Cats: Lonergan (food poisoning) replaced in selected side by Rhys Stanley, Tom Stewart (hamstring)

Swans: Nil

Reports: Nil

Official crowd: 55,529 at the MCG

VOTES

3. Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong)

The bold pre-game move to start Danger deep forward paid massive dividends as the Cats star kicked four first-half goals. It was as good as game over from there.

2. Mark Blicavs (Geelong)

Blicavs’ efforts on Josh Kennedy was enormous, and he repaid his coach’s faith in him to quell the most dangerous player in the opposition. Had 14 tackles.

1. Mitch Duncan (Geelong)

Massive performance from Duncan from start to finish, just kept getting the ball forward. Narrowly pipped the likes of Sam Menegola, Harry Taylor and Lachie Henderson.

SUPER TRACKER

Distance covered

Jarrad McVeigh (Syd) 14.3km

Zack Tuohy (Geel) 14.3km

Jake Kolodjashnij (Geel) 14.1km

Isaac Heeney (Syd) 14.0km

Dan Hannebery (Syd) 13.9km

Distance covered in attack

Zack Tuohy (Geel) 6.7km

Jake Kolodjashnij (Geel) 6.7km

Andrew Mackie (Geel) 6.6km

Lachie Henderson (Geel) 6.4km

Zack Guthrie (Geel) 6.2km

Distance at high speed

Steven Motlop (Geel) 2.9km

Jake Kolodjashnij (Geel) 2.4km

Brandan .Parfitt (Geel) 2.2km

Lachie Henderson (Geel) 2.2km

Zach Guthrie (Geel) 2.1km

Total Sprints

Lance Franklin (Syd) 18

Steven Motlop (Geel) 17

Jed Bews (Geel) 15

Zach Tuohy (Geel) 15

Dan Hannebery (Syd) 14