What went wrong for Geelong in the second half of prelim loss to Brisbane

Geelong led by 25 points before Max Holmes’ injury blow. Was it the difference in the Cats’ shattering defeat? The numbers tell the full story.

Max Holmes was at his damaging best before he went down.

The speedster was Geelong’s leading disposal winner at that point, and it seemed like every one of them had maximum impact – just like in their previous final against Port Adelaide.

The 22-year-old only played 53 per cent of gametime but still had the most metres gained on the ground of any Cat with 606.

In the first eight minutes of the match, Holmes took two intercept marks and hit Ollie Henry on the chest with a booming kick after accelerating away on the wing.

Holmes started the second half in similar fashion, stealing an errant Dayne Zorko kick and passing it over the top to his captain Patrick Dangerfield for an open goal to put Geelong 25 points up.

However, from there it all went pear shaped for Holmes and the Cats.

The blistering Cat suffered a fateful hamstring blow after a fresh airie trying to kick the ball off the ground.

After spending about 15 minutes on the bench, he returned at the end of the third quarter and registered one handball where he looked proppy.

Max Holmes finished the game on the bench. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Holmes started the fourth term as well, and after appearing to dodge around Lion Kai Lohmann in slow motion on the wing – especially by his standards – he trudged back to the bench and was subbed out.

When Holmes was off the ground in the second half, the Cats were -23 on the scoreboard.

Coach Chris Scott said post-game that his absence was felt.

“That is a reflection of how good a player he is more than the reshuffle through our midfield. I thought he was dominating the game wasn’t he?” Scott said.

“It hurt a bit, but glass half full I’m looking forward to the next 10 years of Max Holmes playing in the hoops.”

But as Scott went on to say in his press conference, Holmes’ injury wasn’t the only reason for their second half slump - the 17th time this season they have given up a run of four or more consecutive goals.

The Cats had their chances, leading the inside 50 count with Holmes off the ground by six, and were -20 in uncontested possessions. That’s system and execution rather than the difference of one individual.

“I thought especially in the third quarter that we had some bad turnovers inside our forward 50 where you thought ‘we got a really good look’ and either didn’t finish with some really good looks or had a good look and they intercept marked off missed kicks a bit and they were able to go fast from there,” Scott said.

Brisbane love nothing more than getting its uncontested marking game going. The Lions are 11-1 when they take more than 100 uncontested marks in a game this year, compared to 6-1-7 when they fall below that figure.

From the third minute of the third quarter when Dangerfield goaled to put them 25 points in front, the Cats were unable to contain the rampant Lions who outworked them on the outside.

The Cats managed a poor pressure rating of 152 in this period, with the Lions +42 in uncontested possessions and +25 in uncontested marks.

Geelong’s pressure rating for the entire game was its fourth worst of the season and its uncontested marks differential was a season-low.

Similarly, the Cats’ differential for disposals, clearances and uncontested possessions were among their worst four returns of the season.

The Lions blitzed the Cats in the second half. Picture: Darrian Traynor/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Even with these stark numbers Geelong was able to hit the front with three minutes to play, mostly off the back of their commanding second quarter sparked by their mosquito fleet up forward.

However, they were unable to capitalise on another dominant period at the start of the contest.

Geelong had eight more inside 50s and recorded nine forward half intercepts in the first nine minutes of the game, yet scored just three behinds from those intercepts.

Controlling the momentum and taking your chances when they matter most have countless games in this seesawing season, and the stats show it was more than just Holmes’ injury that saw them suffer their disappointing defeat.

Originally published as What went wrong for Geelong in the second half of prelim loss to Brisbane