Cats home after Crows’ final quarter fade out

Geelong has held off a spirited Adelaide to post their fourth consecutive win as the Cats build momentum in the run home toward finals.

Cats midfielder Patrick Dangerfield is hit in a tackle Harry Schoenberg Picture: Getty Images

Geelong has held off a spirited Adelaide by 28 points to post their fourth consecutive win as the Cats build momentum in the run home toward finals.

The result was far from a shock, but it sure was a surprise they were made to work so hard for the first three quarters.

A week after beating ladder-leaders Port Adelaide by a whopping 60 points, Geelong looked frazzled against the competition’s cellar-dwellers, who played some of their best footy this season.

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Only nine points down at three-quarter time, the Crows were a real chance to post their first win of the season, until Geelong’s Tom Hawkins kicked his third goal for the day midway through the last quarter, which sparked a run of three Cat goals that put a dagger through the hearts of Crows fans.

Geelong were simply more polished as Adelaide ran out of legs.

All eyes were on Hawkins, and rightly so, with the 32-year-old in resurgent form, having kicked 11 goals from his past two games.

With Daniel Talia out with knee soreness, the Crows sent veteran defender Kyle Hartigan to Hawkins, and he did a solid job, holding the Cat to one goal and eight touches for the first half.

For Geelong, it was the class of players like Mark Blicavs (who kicked his first goal of the season, playing at both ends of the ground), Sam Menegola (24 touches), Cam Guthrie (33 disposals, seven clearances) that made a difference.

Rhys Stanley had 25 hitouts and Patrick Dangerfield’s six clearances – and 534m gained – were important.

It hasn’t been unusual this season for Adelaide to be competitive in the first half, only to be blown away in the last.

The Crows’ first half was among its best football for 2020 and by the major break, they were winning contested possession (+5), clearances (+3), and hitouts (+4).

With Adelaide’s veterans Rory Sloane, Rory Laird and Matt Crouch back together in the centre, they dominated centre clearances (Geelong won none in the second term) 6-1 for the first two terms.

And they stuck with the Cats for the third (somewhat aided by an inaccurate Cats forward line, with behinds to Hawkins, Mitch Duncan and Menegola keeping Adelaide in the match).

When David Mackay kicked a goal after the siren, the Crows were well and truly in touch. But the game then went to script, the Crows held goalless in the last term as Geelong ran over the top.

For those playing the numbers game, Walker – who’s made the No 13 his own at the Crows – played his 200th game in Round 13 and, unfortunately for his side, the milestone ended with the team’s 13th straight loss of 2020.

The former Crows skipper had one touch in the first quarter, but it was an important one. He took a Reilly O’Brien tap near the goalsquare and handballed it to Tyson Stengle, whose dribble kick resulted in the first goal of the game.

For Crows it was youngsters like Harry Schoenberg (one goal, nine touches) and Shane McAdam (one goal and 11 disposals), who showed glimpses of what could lie ahead.

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