Geelong snatches thrilling win over Melbourne after Zach Tuohy goal after the siren
GEELONG looked down and out against Melbourne. But if you thought the Cats were just going to go away quietly, you don’t know this team. LAUREN WOOD looks at the remarkable comeback win against Melbourne.
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GEELONG is a high-stakes outfit.
And on their home deck, the Cats’ last-minute nail-bitten hand proved killer.
Keeping grip on a prized top-eight spot was the pot, and Melbourne — which sat sixth upon entering — had skin in the game, too.
This was no time to hold.
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And the Cats certainly didn’t. Come crunch time — which they know all too well — they were all-in. Bet big, win big with an Irishman the lucky charm.
On a bitterly cold night in Geelong, the contest could not have been hotter as neither let its poker face waver.
Both knew their strengths — and played to them beautifully.
Come the river card — the final term — it was the Cats’ aces that upped the ante.
Check, and raise. And what a prize for birthday boy Tom Hawkins.
Hawkins, who turned 30 on Saturday, brought the party late with a seven-goal — albeit not the after-siren winner that was left to a “shagged” Zach Tuohy — showing worthy of king status.
If Rhys Stanley was the dealer, Hawkins and Tim Kelly proved pocket aces as Geelong brought the heat late to send Melbourne to the sword and keep top four hopes alive.
Tuohy admitted he “carried on like a pork chop” in celebrating the goal that he said was always a dream.
“I figured there wasn’t long left ... there wasn’t too much thinking, it was just go back and kick it,” he said.
“It’s kind of a dream, that ‘after the siren to win the game’. It was a pretty special moment and I’m obviously pretty happy that it went through. Even if it didn’t, I would have been proud of myself to put myself in the position to get the win.”
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Their trio of football royalty – Gary Ablett, Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood – who can usually combine to flush opposition teams, especially in Geelong, all held at various times before glittering late.
It was James Harmes who exposed the tell early.
The Demons’ stopper has found a home as a tagger and might have even followed Cats skipper Selwood into his car, his grip was that tight.
Like a cheap suit, a rash, like white on rice.
Any way you put it, the result was the same.
The 22-year-old Demon’s hard tag efforts bore fruit, frustrating Selwood — who earned little reward in spite of the attention — and quelling his influence to just 16 touches.
And once he was done there, Harmes moved on to Dangerfield — who will no doubt spark more rules chatter — and maintained his physicality.
The Brownlow medallist ensured that ruck nomination will have opinions running hot this week.
To start the second quarter, the superstar nominated himself to ruck at a boundary throw-in. He stood near Angus Brayshaw, who didn’t realise and shepherded him out of the contest. The result? A free kick and a goal. The Demons fumed.
Then there’s the protected rule — that talk isn’t going anywhere, after Harmes was penalized early in the second half.
Sloppiness threatened to stop Geelong in its tracks as Melbourne piled on a six-goal third term — a trend that seems to be becoming their specialty — but at home, the Cats went one better to deliver eight unanswered goals to seal victory.
It was all-in, and the reward not lost on Ablett who announced this week that his first child with wife Jordan is on the way.
“To get a win like that just caps off a perfect week,” he said on Channel 7.
BEST
GEELONG: Hawkins, Stanley, Kelly, Dangerfield, Ablett, S.Selwood
MELBOURNE: Oliver, Gawn, Jones, McDonald, Lewis, Brayshaw, Fritsch
VOTES
3 Tom Hawkins
2 Clayton Oliver
1 Tim Kelly
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