CATS MAKE HARD WORK BUT TAKE TOMAHAWK TO DEMONS
Ben Jensen 8 April 2008

By Ben Jensen, from London NOT THE MASSACRE some had predicted, but Geelong followed up the pre-match flag-unfurling festivities with a thirty point win over a spirited Melbourne side at Skilled Stadium today. Tom Hawkins led the goalkicking with five, in probably his best performance to date as ultimately he was the difference between the two sides.

The Cats were quite disappointing and not attractive to watch; Gary Ablett had 30 possessions but just wasn't himself, his disposal lacking the usual polish. Mark Blake had a great day in the ruck however. In the VFL Brent Prismall and Jason Davenport are ready-made replacements should any vacancies open up in the midfield or forward line, while Shannon Byrnes also played well in the 53-point win over Werribee.

As an example of the unattractiveness of the game, Cameron Mooney marked on the edge of the square, played on to bring it around and kicked it out on the full. His colleague in Hawkins however was spectacular, in one play pushing off his opponent to pick up the ball in the goal square before drilling it into the stands.

GEELONG 4.4 8.11 13.14 16.16 (112)
MELBOURNE 3.4 6.6 10.8 12.10 (82)

GOALS
GEELONG: T Hawkins 5 S Johnson 2 C Ling 2 C Mooney 2 M Stokes G Ablett M Blake D Milburn P Chapman
MELBOURNE: C Bruce 3 C Morton 2 L Dunn 2 J White B Miller D Neitz P Wheatley B Green

BEST
GEELONG: J Corey T Hawkins T Harley M Scarlett P Chapman G Ablett J Hunt
MELBOURNE: B McLean C Morton N Jones C Bruce A Wonaeamirri B Green

UMPIRES: H Ryan D Sully S Wenn

CROWD: 23,569

GEELONG 4.0 9.2 14.5 22.8 (140) DEFEATED
WERRIBEE 3.7 6.10 9.16 11.21 (87)

GOALS:
GEELONG: T. Lonergan 5, B. Prismall 3, S. Simpson 3, J. Cheep 2, D. Barnes 2, B. Moles, K. Tenace, J. Byrne, J. Davenport, T. Varcoe, J. Laidler, C. Urie
WERRIBEE: J. Podsiadly 7, L. Adams 2, D. Gleeson, T. Goldstein

BEST:
GEELONG: B. Prismall, B. Moles, T. Lonergan, S. Simpson, J. Davenport, K. Tenace
WERRIBEE: J. Podsiadly, F. Chisholm, T. Henderson, D. Gleeson, T. Goldstein, J. Saker

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Rod from Geelong; April 7, 2008 21:22

VFL Score - Cats 22.8 -140 to Werribee 11.21- 87. Tom Lonergan kicked 5.3 and is in good form - he is a good strong mark. Prismall BOG - 38 possessions. He kicked 3 goals in 20 mins in the last quarter. Young Dawson Simpson looks a really good prospect in the ruck - moves
well, and has good skills.

In the AFL game - pretty scrappy at times, but there were some good passages during the game. Some highlights were the bone crunching tackles from Max Rooke & Josh Hunt - real shoulder charges, just like a rugby league player. Tomahawk was a stand out at full forward - good marks, and strong on the ground - he picked up a couple of goals screambling in the
goal square.

Trent West spent afair bit of time up forward also, with MOOONey off the
ground a lot in the 1st quarter. Moons missed 3 fairly simple goals in the
2nd quarter, though.

 

Anthony from Werribee; April 6, 2008 20:51

Well we got the four points, but it wasnt too convincing. The unveiling of the flags was awesome, two guys parachuted in with them. Before that, a round of applause came from the Reg Hickey stand and we saw the likes of Brian Cook, Frank Costa, Andrew Dimitriou and even Daryl Somers walking through the crowd onto the ground! Also there was the Belmont Timber guy, Alex Popescu who got a few cheers too - not bad for an 80 something year old. And the AFL premiership flag was quickly flying from the corner of the Doug Wade stand, above the past players stand which I hear is due for demolition. I didnt see the VFL flag go up though - we'd better leave some room for the 2008 AFL flag! ANyway whilst we never looked like losing, the rare sight of seeing Gary miss 2 goals in 30 seconds and Mooney having a brain melt and playing on in the goal square only to kick it out on the full showed we werent at our best. On the other hand if the Tomahawk can step up and kick 5 straight and even Mark Blake still kicking goals then thats a good sign for next week!