CATS TAKE TOMAHAWK TO SAINTS
Ben Jensen 18 August 2012

By Ben Jensen twitter.com/thecattery GEELONG CATS V ST KILDA SAINTS TOM HAWKINS booted six goals last night to all but sink St Kilda's finals hopes. The Cats led all day, jumping to a two goal lead thanks to Taylor Hunt's two opening goals. Throughout the game the Saints, minus skipper Nick Riewoldt, wouldn't quite let the Cats jump away, pegging a goal or two back each time the Cats skipped ahead to a handy lead. The Cats jumped to a five goal lead but had a shocking third term, not scoring a goal with the Saints booting three. Heartbeats raced somewhat with two goals in a minute drawing St Kilda to within one point of the Cats five and a half minutes into the final quarter, but that was all she wrote. Geelong booting seven unanswered goals to runout forty-two point winners. SCORES

In other footy news, David Mensch is playing his final game today at Newcomb for Anglesea in the Bellarine Football League, and the Cats' VFL side plays Coburg at Skilled Stadium. Travis Varcoe, sidelined since the memorable 2011 Grand Final makes his footy comeback from a long term foot injury.

Hunt's pair of goals in the first three minutes took the edge of the encounter under the closed roof, the Saints opening their account thanks to Milne nine minutes in. Scores were level for a time before first Trent West and then Hawkins fired up, West taking a strong grab just outside the goalsquare. Both of Hawkins' goals came from set shots kicked just outside the 50m arc, the dead-eye dick banging them straight through the middle into the Saints cheersquad. The margin at quarter time was 13 points in favour of the Cats.

Milne wiped the smiles off Geelong fans' faces with the first goal of the second term, but they were soon smiling again thanks to another pair of goals to Hawkins, the first courtesy of a brutal contested mark and the second courtesy of a free kick which may rob Mitch Duncan of a mark of the year contender (see replay here). Like the first quarter these two goals were eventually cancelled out by the Saints but the Cats then unleashed four goals in the second half of the quarter, West getting his second and Shannon Motlop, Matthew Stokes and James Podsiadly their first.

As indicated earlier the Cats fluffed their lines in the third quarter, none more so than James Kelly who marked a kick-in nine minutes into the quarter not 25m out from goal directly in front before handpassing to Stokes who was surrounded and immediately besieged by four or five St Kilda players, giving away the free kick for holding the ball. The damage was certainly limited however with the Saints missing numerous shots at goal, scoring just the three goals and seven behinds to the Cats' four behinds.

Admed Saad booted his third goal four and a half minutes into the last, and the Saints sniffed blood. When second half substitute Adam Schneider followed that up immediately following the next ball-up it was a one point ball game, St Kilda supporters around the cauldron rejoicing their fifth unanswered goal while Geelong fans had memories of last Friday night at Subiaco. It was not to be however, Hawkins immediately giving the answer, grabbing a spilled mark from Podsiadly 15m out and banging it through for his fifth.

Jordan Murdoch, the future of the club, kicked the next goal for the Cats from a set shot on a 45 degree angle just inside the 50m arc. The Saints were barely able to make an impact for the rest of the game, the Cats booting another five goals including Hawkins' sixth, a ripper of a bomb from Andrew Mackie, seconds to Motlop and Podsiadly, and finally Paul Chapman.

Best on ground for the Cats will be a tough one, it will be interesting to see who gets the votes in the club B&F and the Brownlow. Hawkins would be our choice simply because he was the most valuable on the ground. James Kelly got the nod in the official best players list and we can't argue against that too much. We haven't mentioned Steve Johnson yet but he was good, again playing in the centre for most of the game along with Mitch Duncan who was very influential setting up numerous goals.

Trent West performed very well in his first game back after a fortnight out with a knee complaint. Matthew Scarlett didn't have his best game however and surely is in the last month or two of his career. Likewise Justin Koschitzke, who was being feted as 'back' by the pundits last weekend, has now been all but written off by the same doyens of the game, big Kosi took until the second minute of the second half to pick up his one stat for the night (a handball) before being subbed off.

Geelong will finish off the home and away season with two games at Simonds Stadium, playing the Western Bulldogs next Sunday and the Sydney Swans the following Saturday. The Cats are likely to finish sixth behind West Coast in fifth, which is a good result given the winner of sixth and seventh should play the loser of second and third, likely to be a Victorian side at the MCG rather than face an interstate trip to play Adelaide or Sydney.

The Saints remain a mathematical possibility of making the eight but need things to go their way, and for start win a game. North Melbourne should finish seventh and be the Cats' opponent but eighth spot is very interesting with Essendon, Fremantle and St Kilda in realistic contention. Even Carlton, should they defeat Essendon at the MCG today are a chance and indeed will jump ahead of the Saints on games won though are a good 11% behind. Fremantle should win two out of the three and are our tip to make it, with Essendon needing to beat Carlton today and Richmond the week after to have a chance, with the round 23 match with Collingwood being a write-off.

GEELONG: 5.3, 11.9, 11.13, 18.15 (123) DEFEATED
ST KILDA: 3.2, 6.5, 9.12, 11.15 (81)

GOALS
GEELONG: Hawkins 6, T Hunt 2, West 2, Motlop 2, Podsiadly 2, Stokes, Murdoch, Mackie, Chapman
ST KILDA: Milne 4, Saad 3, Geary, Armitage, Goddard, Schneider

BEST
GEELONG: Kelly, Duncan, Hawkins, Johnson, West, Taylor, J Hunt, Murdoch
ST KILDA: Gram, Montagna, Hayes, Milne, Armitage, McEvoy, Saad, Dempster

CHANGES
GEELONG: Nil
ST KILDA: Jason Blake (ankle) replaced in the selected side by Rhys Stanley

INJURIES
GEELONG: Taylor Hunt (broken nose)
ST KILDA: Ben McEvoy (broken nose), Rhys Stanley (ribs)

UMPIRES:

FIELD: Chris Donlon (1) Brett Rosebury (8) Simon Meredith (21) EM: Michael Jennings (24)
BOUNDARY: Mark Foster John Morris Tim Morrison Chris Esler
GOAL: Stephen Williams Chelsea Roffey EM: Adam Wojcik

CROWD: 38,169 at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne

PRE-MATCH TIP: "Cats by 21 points"

VFL SIDE

VFL ROUND 21

GEELONG V COBURG

SATURDAY 18 AUGUST 2012 14:00 AEST

SIMONDS STADIUM