Cats brace for AFL’s top dogs after brushing aside Kangaros
Geelong coach Chris Scott says the club isn’t “jumping at shadows” as it prepares for a tough week ahead against top-four placed sides.
Geelong coach Chris Scott says the club isn’t “jumping at shadows” as it prepares for a tough week ahead against top-four placed sides.
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.
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.”
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, but costly errors allowed the Cats to pounce.
North forward Ben Brown’s return to football lasted less than 10 minutes with the spearhead felled with a knee injury.
Roos coach Rhyce Shaw said the team had its “fingers crossed” that Brown’s injury was “not too bad” after his left knee appeared to be caught when he was tackled by Geelong defender Mark Blicavs early in the first quarter of Wednesday night’s 33-point loss.
Shaw said it was “obviously bad enough to keep him out of the game” but he refused to be drawn on the suggestion – made by Brown’s manager Adam Ramanauskas on ABC radio during the broadcast – that the forward had been battling bone bruising throughout this season.
“I’m not going to go into that stuff,” he said. “We all carry stuff when we’re playing AFL footy, and Benny’s had some knee issues, but nothing that’s been substantial. We’ll work through what this looks like.”
It was a disappointing return for the 27-year-old after he was dropped from the side last week.
Geelong’s 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 who wondered why he wasn’t just rested.
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.
Meanwhile, Cats captain Joel Selwood made a successful return from a hamstring injury.
Scott was forced to manage four of his player’s workload and he admitted a similar resting schedule will continue.
“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,” he said.
North Melbourne debutant Lachlan Hosie proved to be a shining light in their loss.
The injury to Brown in the first term saw the young star step up 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.
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