Geelong goes two games clear after holding off Sydney but Tom Hawkins to face MRO scrutiny

Geelong is again waiting nervously on a verdict from match review officer Michael Christian after a late, high forearm from Tom Hawkins in a win that sent the Cats two games clear on top of the ladder.

Tom Hawkins celebrates a Cats goal with former Swan Gary Rohan. Pic: Michael Klein.

It’s the new Geelong switch.

Technically it’s not new but the ability to flick it when required rather than it being the norm looms as Chris Scott’s 2019 premiership weapon.

READ WHAT CHRIS SCOTT SAID ON TOM HAWKINS BELOW

After a mixed first half where the Cats machine seemed to be going through the motions at times against a plucky Sydney team, the Geelong coach decided to reach for that switch.

At the opening bounce of the third quarter captain Joel Selwood was joined in the centre square by Patrick Dangerfield and Tim Kelly.

The beauty of Geelong this season has been the way they’ve shared the load. Selwood has started most games on the wing this season while Dangerfield began at half-forward last night.

All week Scott would have had been reminding himself about Sydney’s great record at GMHBA Stadium and how his team hadn’t actually beaten them on their home turf since 2015.

SCORES, STATS: CATS v SWANS

So with the margin only six points at the main break, Scott decided it was time.

In the opening nine minutes of the third quarter Geelong kicked four goals — two of those to in-form spearhead Tom Hawkins — to put a gap in the contest which they effectively held for the rest of the night.

And it was no surprise that it all started out of the middle of the ground where the Cats big three clicked up a level.

Tim Kelly again delivered for the Cats. Pic: Michael Klein.

Dangerfield had seven possessions in the brief patch including a brilliant left-foot goal on the run from 45m — he finished with 29 possessions and two goals — while Kelly (25 touches) continued to keep his Brownlow Medal chances alive.

As usual the Swans kept coming in the final quarter to make things interesting — they were best served by Jake Lloyd (34 possessions) and George Hewitt (30) — but unlike the Cats, they don’t have a switch.

WEEKLY MRO WAIT

It’s becoming a weekly event down at Geelong with one of its stars under match review watch.

For three weeks Gary Ablett put himself front and square of the MRO after some on-field indiscretions. Eventually his luck ran out and he was suspended last week.

In his absence Tom Hawkins took the baton thanks to an errant forearm which collected Swans defender Jordan Dawson early in the final quarter.

The Cats full-forward, who continued his brilliant season with four goals last night, made late contact to the side of Dawson’s head after he’d taken a mark.

Given Dawson bounced up quickly and took the resultant 50 metre penalty, it’s likely to fall under the insufficient force category which would get Hawkins a fine at worse.

Former Cat Daniel Menzel tangles with Tom Stewart. Pic: Getty Images

RED TIME WOE

Goals in the last few minutes of quarters is a coach’s worst nightmare and John Longmire will be lying awake thinking about the red-time pain.

The Swans dominated the opening term but then allowed Geelong to kick four goals in the last six minutes, two of those to Hawkins.

Then in the second quarter they again undid all their good work by infringing on Mitch Duncan who slotted through the set shot from 50m with just 20 seconds remaining on the clock.

To rub it in Dangerfield scored a goal in the final 10 seconds of the match from just a couple of metres out.

NO FAVOURS FOR FORMER CAT, SWAN

Daniel Menzel and Gary Rohan both shared the spotlight of playing against their former teams and both had forgettable evenings.

In his first game as a Swan, Menzel started on the bench and had just one handball in the opening quarter.

A goal in the last quarter was his only real appearance for the night. To be fair he wasn’t the only Swans forward to struggle with Lance Franklin and last week’s hero Sam Reid only scoring one goal each.

Rohan has been the fire starter for Geelong this season but he couldn’t get going against his old teammates with just one kick in the first half.

He sprang to life briefly in the opening minute of the third quarter with an unselfish handball handing Hawkins his third goal of the night but four possessions was the total of his work.

John Longmire’s Swans were brave, but lacked polish. Pic: Michael Klein.

Patrick Dangerfield was back to his best. Pic: Getty Images

GEELONG 5.1 7.2 11.4 13.7 (85) def SYDNEY 3.3 5.8 6.12 8.15 (63)

Goals: Geelong: T Hawkins 4 E Ratugolea 2 P Dangerfield 2 G Miers J Clark L Dahlhaus M Duncan T Kelly

Sydney: W Hayward 2 D Menzel I Heeney L Franklin N Blakey S Reid T Papley

Best: Geelong: Dangerfield, Kelly, Hawkins, Stewart, Smith, Clark, Dahlhaus

Sydney: Hewett, Rampe, Lloyd, Parker, Dawson

Umpires: Chris Donlon, David Harris, Brendan Hosking

Venue: GMHBA Stadium.

SCOTT GULLAN’S VOTES:

3 — Patrick Dangerfield (Geelong)

2 — Tim Kelly (Geelong)

1 — George Hewett (Sydney)

Sydney Swans coach John Longmire and former Swan Gary Rohan share a hug after the game. Pic: Michael Klein.

SCOTT: HAWKINS INCIDENT ONLY A FINE

Cats coach Chris Scott says according to his take on the MRO guidelines Hawkins will most likely be fined.

“There wouldn’t be anyone who would think the action was intentional,” Scott said. “It was careless, that is the worst it is, it was high and no impact, it’s a fine.

“The umpire was right there, they have the capacity to pay matchday reports and he clearly chose not to.”

Dawson had taken the mark when Hawkins came in late with his forearm connecting to the side of the Swans head. The youngster momentarily went down before quickly getting to his feet to take the resultant 50m penalty.

Hawthorn great Dermott Brereton described Hawkins’ actions as “clumsy”.

“It’s clumsy, because you know, he chose to make contact. But there’s no malice in it, very little force,” Brereton said on Fox Footy.

“Dawson got up and ran forward to take the kick. I’d be very confident he will get a fine and he needs to get a fine because he chose to make contact outside of what the normal rules are.”

Two five-minute bursts — at the end of the first quarter and start of the third — resulted in eight of the Cats 13 goals and proved to be the difference against the Swans.

Scott praised his three star midfielders — Patrick Dangerfield, Joel Selwood and Tim Kelly — who he threw into the middle after half-time for breaking the game open.

“It was important to get the players that we thought were up and going in there, the start of the third quarter was going to be crucial and they absolutely delivered,” Scott said.

“What we have been trying to build for a long period of time is a group of guys who can step up in those moments.

“We’ve tried at various times this year to look past the name on the magnet and focus more on what we were seeing in the moment, a lot of time that has meant we have gone to other guys other than Selwood and Dangerfield, and Kelly is in that mix clearly.

“But tonight I think it was those guys, they probably haven’t had a lot of credit over the last couple of weeks, so they’re back in the frame.”

The Cats 10th win of the season moves them two games clear on top of the ladder with Scott confident his team is ready for one of the toughest gigs in the game — an MCG showdown with Richmond.

“It will be very different to the last two weeks, the last two games we have played were against teams that play quite a similar style and Richmond is almost the polar opposite,” he said.

“But good teams adjust. Even more than that good teams don’t need to adjust too much because their game styles stacks up irrespective of the way teams are playing.

“Watching the game last night (against North Melbourne), Richmond at Marvel (Stadium) is a different proposition to Richmond at the MCG.”

Ruckman Rhys Stanley was a late withdrawal because of an abductor strain with his replacement Zac Smith impressing in his first game for more than 12 months.

LONGMIRE: WE DID A LOT RIGHT

Sydney coach John Longmire was left frustrated at his team’s inaccuracy.

“It’s not often you come down to Geelong and have more scoring shots and a fair bit went right for a fair bit of the game,” he said.

“And then they kicked eight goals in 15 minutes at the back end of the first and the first 10 minutes of the third.

“They kicked four goals from centre bounce clearances. There were 11 goals all up from the stoppages and Dangerfield’s first eight or 10 minutes in the third was pretty special, and we couldn’t stop him.”