AFL round 11: GWS Giants withstand Geelong last-quarter surge to claim crucial win
Four weeks ago, unbeaten Geelong was the envy of the AFL. Now, the Cats are clinging to a spot in the top-eight after an agonising loss to GWS Giants. LACHLAN MCKIRDY breaks down how it happened.
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It didn’t have Leo Barry significance, but unlikely hero Leek Aleer pulled in a similar match-saving mark that will long live in Greater Western Sydney hearts.
The Giants lost it, won it, lost it and ultimately won it again by four points with a stunning late sequence of events to provide, extraordinarily, their fourth consecutive win at GHMBA Stadium.
That it resurrected their own flagging season was important, but that it leaves Geelong suddenly on the ropes with four straight losses after a 7-0 start to their season will likely dominate headlines.
The Cats, desperate to celebrate Tom Hawkins’ record 356th game, looked to have kickstarted his party when they booted six goals in succession to snatch the lead late in the game.
But inspirational Giants skipper Toby Greene kicked a freak-show goal to restore his team’s lead, then watched on as Aleer, in just his seventh career game, repelled Geelong’s last hurrah with a mark for the ages across a massive pack 25m from goal.
“I just love it when launches at the ball and goes at it like that,” Giants coach Adam Kingsley said of Aleer after just his third game this year and seventh of his AFL journey.
“He’s gonna make mistakes, but particularly those two (marks) in the last quarter were just simply outstanding moments in his very early career.
“I think it suggests what he’s capable of and we need to give him more opportunities to continue to grow.”
The Giants hadn’t kicked a goal since the nine-minute mark of the third quarter and had watched a five-goal lead waste away.
And just when it seemed they’d be unable to even pierce their half-forward line, Greene kicked an absolutely miraculous goal, even by his own lofty standards.
From the flank where a traditional snap would have suited his right foot, he slammed through an extraordinary banana goal from 40m to pinch back the lead.
Minutes earlier, Brad Close also appeared to have kicked one of the goals of the season with a two-touch soccer goal from 30m out on a tight angle.
But a third touch — this time with a fingertip by Giants backman Harry Perryman — was found on review and the goal recalled.
The point, however, gave the Cats a lead that had seemed but a distant dream early in the third quarter.
The Cats were on the ropes when the Giants had slotted six straight goals and Jesse Hogan had a 35m set shot to put them six goals clear.
But the resultant miss left air in the hosts’ lungs and they predictably rallied.
At first it was a trickle, then a stream of possession and then ultimately a flood as the Cats roared back.
But with sore bodies, a mounting injury toll including former skipper Stephen Coniglio subbed out with a shoulder knock, the Giants found something special.
The Cats suddenly find themselves mired in an ugly race at the bottom end of the eight.
The Giants – themselves at something of a crossroads pre-match – became the latest team to show up what is at best a mid-season slump for the Cats.
“My assumption early in the year was that every team is going to go through patches where it gets a bit difficult and those that come through them will be the ones that finish at the top of the ladder,” Geelong coach Chris Scott said.
“But I think the greatest risk is that you over-correct and see problems that aren’t necessarily there and you end up confused as to how it is you want your game to look.
“With (the games against) Melbourne, Port Adelaide and today … there were poor performances in all of them … in parts, but within those games we’ve found a way to give ourselves a chance to win and I suspect the competition is going to be a bit like that.
“When we were 7-0, we were certainly not carried away.
“Now we’ve lost the last four, we won’t drop our bundle either.”
Jake Riccardi, lauded by coach Adam Kingsley as having come of age after this corresponding fixture last year, was again the chief destroyer as the Giants made what turned into a match-winning surge by booting eight of nine goals on either side of halftime.
The Giants’ lead was based on an utter midfield domination with a 15-6 inside-50s for the second term.
Alarm bells would have sounded in the Cats coaching box when it was three Giants on one Geelong backman before Greene won the raffle and goaled to wrestle back the lead mid-term.
Minutes later, when Aaron Cadman stood tall in a pack to goal, then consecutive bombs by Jake Riccardi and Xavier O’Halloran found their range from a combined 120m, it was crisis time.
“I thought we showed great character … we were under the pump in the last quarter … and we just held up,” Kingsley said.
“We probably fell away a little in the last quarter, and I thought Geelong’s mids got on top and were a fraction more desperate than us and challenged us.
“But for us to learn those lessons and hang on for a win is really important given the situation we found ourselves in losing the last three games.
“For probably 10-15 minutes of that last quarter I thought we’d get over-run … so it was a gusty effort … we were pretty desperate for a win.”
A TAYL TO TELL
If Sam Taylor was awaiting for the “noise of affirmation” for his efforts, he’d have been desperately disappointed.
But acts such as Taylor’s mark running with the flight of the ball are NEVER done for the crowd’s adulation.
His was that rare act of almost naive bravery that goes up in highlight packages for years, regardless of recognition from a biased crowd.
Taylor watched the ball fly over his head at half-back as he ran off his opponent Tom Hawkins and towards the couple of Harry Himmelberg and Shannon Neale storming at the ball.
Only the brave would fly into that crunch; only champions mark that ball.
Bravo, Mr Taylor.
BLOW IT, MATE
The growing urgency for umpires to blow whistles early in strong tackles – regardless of their ultimate decision – was never more obvious than when Max Holmes collared Xavier O’Halloran early in the first term.
Let’s be kind to the umpire, who could be excused for ruling “no prior opportunity” for initially not paying a free kick.
But that was in the first 3-4 seconds of the tackle and by the time O’Halloran wriggled free and dropped it as a second tackler came into the mix after at least five seconds, it had gone well past a sympathetic explanation.
“The worst decision of the year,” David Schwarz bellowed on SEN commentary – a tough sentiment to argue.
Perhaps until Jesse Hogan’s “non mark” in the 15th minute, but that’s another story.
TOBY OR NOT TO BE
The Giants had already lost dominant veteran Stephen Coniglio to a shoulder issue in the second quarter when their fans’ hearts leapt further into their collective mouth.
Champion Toby Greene soared attempting a mark on the outer wing and was the last to climb out of the resultant pack, clutching his left ankle and clearly in pain.
But as good a footballer as he is, his toughness and resilience might compete as his best attributes.
The No.4 first hobbled to – and put his head over the ball within - the next contest, then limped up to full-forward for a moment’s breather, refusing to leave the ground.
Within two minutes, he was running hard through the midfield on defensive duties.
And while there’s little doubt he was still hurting, his tremendous heart enabled Giants’ fans to breathe easier with their already substantial injury toll.
WILL GIANT UPSET IGNITE GWS PREMIERSHIP PUSH?
— Lachlan McKirdy
The Giants’ campaign is no longer on life support after an incredible goal from Toby Greene secured what could be a season-defining four-point victory.
After three straight losses, the Giants needed to show something as their year threatened to be teetering in the wrong direction. But their captain stood tall in the most vital moment to ensure GWS returned to Sydney with four crucial points.
The bruising affair had it all, as the Cats came back to take the lead in the final term despite the Giants holding a 31-point lead earlier in the match. But Adam Kingsley’s side is now back in the top four and head into the bye with momentum they’d been severely lacking over the past month.
From the first quarter, the Giants’ hunger levels were back to their old levels and the orange tsunami was finding its rhythm again. Lachie Whitfield and Stephen Coniglio were finding space through the corridor, and importantly, getting the ball forward.
Brent Daniels kicked truly to get their first, while a strong mark in the goalsquare from Jake Riccardi delivered their second not long after.
The scoreboard suggested the Cats had the running early in the match, but it was only inaccuracy costing the visitors. They had more scoring shots and were dominating around the stoppages, but couldn’t make it count.
Kieren Briggs was thriving against Toby Conway in the ruck and it was only a matter of time before his mids were able to capitalise.
In the second term, the Giants kicked six goals to one and were clinical getting the ball forward. Jesse Hogan, Toby Greene and Aaron Cadman all got in on the action with the Sherrin spending most of the time in their forward 50.
By half time, the Giants had opened up a 19-point lead and were finding so much success in transition. They had 11 marks inside 50 to the Cats’ three, with many of their best movements coming from their centre bounce superiority.
Their midfield was moving the ball with ease, even without Coniglio subbed out of the game with a shoulder injury.
Two more goals early in the third quarter extended the lead out to 31 points, with Riccardi kicking his fourth of the afternoon. The Giants were able to make the most of the Cats’ sloppiness, with Sam Taylor almost playing like an NFL safety and floating around taking intercept marks for fun.
But the wasteful Giants returned late in the term and gave the Cats a sniff. They were missing simple targets inside 50 and it looked like the physicality of the contest was getting to them. A Tom Hawkins goal from the pocket helped bring the margin back to 13 points at the final break, bringing the parochial home crowd to life.
Two more goals to the Cats brought the scores level and the momentum was all with the hosts. As the pressure rose, fumbles crept into the Giants’ game and contested marks they would usually take were going to ground.
It was all the hallmarks of a team that had forgotten how to win. The nerves were evident every time they had an opportunity to get the ball forward.
Enter Toby Greene. The Giants’ skipper loves playing in Geelong, but he produced an outrageous piece of individual brilliance, even by his own standards. He pounced on a loose ball, stuck it on the outside of his boot from 40 metres out and snuck it through the uprights. A moment of magic only he could conjure.
It would prove to be the defining score as the Giants carried the four-point lead through to the final siren. They had to work for it, with Leek Aleer launching his body in the air to take several late contested marks to keep the ball in orange hands.
This was a win for the Giants to be proud of. They said that this game could be a turning point for their year, the emotion in their celebrations suggests it could mean even more.
Originally published as AFL round 11: GWS Giants withstand Geelong last-quarter surge to claim crucial win
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