Eagles v Cats - snippets
WHAT A GOAL: Playing in his 100th match, Norm Smith medalist Steve Johnson was involved in an off-the-ball incident with Adam Selwood during the first quarter that eventually saw the Eagles tagging midfielder taken to hospital with a throat injury. To somewhat make up for any wrongdoing, Johnson also produced a sensational banana kick with the outside of his boot just before the quarter-time siren, curling the ball in with laconic ease from a very difficult angle. The goal was Geelong's seventh of the quarter, extending the lead to 34 points and from then on, the Cats were never threatened.
STAR MAN: We nominate him pretty much every week, but it's difficult to find other star performers when there's a bloke called Gary Ablett out on the park. Thirty-seven possessions usually speak for themselves but you would be hard pressed to find that one of those touches missed a target or didn't advance the team cause. He also chipped in with two goals and two goal assists while shrugging tackles with consumate ease. Indeed, it's become as great a please to watch the little 29 as it was to see his dad at full flight in 1989.
WHAT A SHOCKER: Veteran West Coast defenders Darren Glass and Brad Jones coughed up the ball early in the third quarter under no pressure allowing Ablett to swoop, shrug another tackle and lay off to Travis Varcoe for the goalsneak's second goal of the quarter. But, given the fact, the Cats scored 28 goals, one turnover like that is probably hardly worth mentioning. Instead, the shocker award for tonight goes to pretty much every Eagles player as not one of them went to the aid of Daniel Kerr, who was effectively tagged out of the game by Cameron Ling. Kerr still touched the ball 22 times but his possessions were relatively ineffective as not one Eagle looked prepared to block and do the one per centers that would help Kerr influence the game in the way we know he is capable of.
OUT TO PASTURE: Many of the Eagles senior players were particularly disappointing in this encounter. Chad Fletcher picked up 10 possessions during the first quarter but half the crowd groaned whenever he touched the pill. In the seventh minute, he turned the ball over under no pressure, allowing Cats defender Herry Taylor to waltz in and drill Geelong's second goal and it didn't get much better for him after that. Michael Braun was another senior Eagle who let the side down with his poor disposal and it appears increasingly likely he may hang up his boots at season's end. Dean Cox tried his heart out but still seems to be playing with an injury despite coach John Worsfold's denial of this, while West Coast skipper Darren Glass is in the wars every week, copping knock after knock. To make matters word, it appears Selwood could be out for several matches with his throat injury while Beau Waters is finished for the season after dislocating his elbow playing for Claremont in the WAFL. It doesn't get any easier for West Coast either as a trip to the MCG to face Hawthorn awaits them next weekend.