AFL ROUND 9 2012; WESTERN BULLDOGS V GEELONG; MATCH PREVIEW
Ben Jensen 24 May 2012

By Ben Jensen twitter.com/thecattery WESTERN BULLDOGS V GEELONG CATS JONATHAN SIMPKIN will make his AFL debut this Friday night as Geelong attempt to get their season back on track against the Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium. Matthew Scarlett has also been named as an inclusion for the third week running but may yet miss through injury. James Kelly misses with a calf complaint while Billie Smedts has been left out. The team formerlly known as Footscray has named a débutante of their own in Daniel Pearce.

Simpkin, on the rookie list, was elevated onto the main list today in place of Nathan Vardy who remains on the long term injured list. Simpkin won last year's club best & fairest for the VFL side. He was initially recruited to the Geelong VFL side for season 2009 after two years with the Sydney Swans without playing a game. The 24 year old has since gone on to play over 60 VFL games for the Cats. He was named in the 2010 VFL Team of the Year and represented Victoria against WA in 2010. He finished third in the 2010 best & fairest and was taken by the club in that year's rookie draft after two seasons as a VFL only player.

JUMP TO FULL TEAM LISTINGS

LAST GAME DETAILS

UMPIRES

FIELD: Troy Pannell (28) Shane McInerney (30) Andrew Mitchell (31) EM: Stuart Wenn (22)
BOUNDARY: Shane Jones Mark Foster Drew Kowalski Patrick Tongue
GOAL: Michael Hammond Chelsea Roffey EM: Mark Canning

TIP?

Cats by 42 points

CATS INJURY LIST

Updated 23/5/2012

Matthew Scarlett (ankle) - test Missed last 2 weeks as a late change
Tom Gillies (knee) - test
Allen Christensen (calf) - 1 week Missed last week through injury
Joel Hamling (toe) - 2-3 weeks New
Jordan Murdoch (finger) - TBC
Josh Cowan (Achilles) - indefinite
Daniel Menzel (knee) - indefinite
Travis Varcoe (foot) - 2 weeks Upgraded from Indefinite
Nathan Vardy (hip) - indefinite

LATEST LIST

DOGS INJURY LIST

Updated 23/5/2012

Dale Morris (leg) - indefinite
Tom Williams (shoulder) - 5 weeks
Jason Tutt (knee) - 4 weeks
Easton Wood (hamstring) - 1 week
Lukas Markovic (hamstring) - 3 weeks
Lindsay Gilbee (knee) - 2 weeks
Jason Johannisen (knee) - 3 weeks
Adam Cooney (knee) - test

LAST TIME

AFL 2011, ROUND 11

SATURDAY 4 JUNE 2011 14:10 AEST

SKILLED STADIUM

MATCH PREVIEW MATCH RESULT

EASIEST OF WINS FOR CATS OVER BULLDOGS
Ben Jensen 5 June 2011

By Ben Jensen twitter.com/thecattery GEELONG CATS V WESTERN BULLDOGS GEELONG made light work of the Western Bulldogs at a packed Skilled Stadium yesterday. Brad Ottens kicked five goals and James Podsiadly three, and importantly Nathan Vardy stepped up in place of Tom Hawkins who spent the day in the VFL side who had their first win of the season with a win over Box Hill. Ottens was the best afield but had plenty of mates, Jimmy Bartel and Steve Johnson being in our top three. For the Bulldogs Daniel Giansiracusa also kicked five goals straight while Brian Lake kicked three goals after being more than humbled in his day job as a key defender.

Cameron Ling won the toss and chose to kick to the Corio Bay end but it was the Bulldogs started off with a mini-blitz kicking to the Doug Wade Stand end, Daniel Giansiracusa booting two goals before Geelong could just about touch the ball. The Cats kicked the next four however and although wasteful with the ball, took a 17 point lead into quarter time. In the second quarter the Cats really dominated, booting a more accurate eight goals two behinds, with eight individual goal kickers including Nathan Vardy. Giansiracusa and Higgins kicked the Bulldogs' two goals.

The second half was a fairly boring affair at times. Just five goals were kicked in the third term, two of them to Joel Selwood. The Cats led by 69 points going into the final break. Geelong got off to a positive start in the final quarter, Mitch Duncan booting his second goal of the day in the first minute. Lake then kicked his first two goals, before Ottens kicked his fifth straight ten minutes in. The highlight was probably Matthew Scarlett, having been shifted to full forward, taking a bit of a hanger outside the goal square from a cheeky pass from Matthew Stokes before going back to kick his first goal in four seasons.

'Footscray' cut Geelong's lead, which at one stage was 74 points, down to a margin of 61 which in all honestly was flattering considering the general weakness displayed throughout the match. Geelong plays Hawthorn in a home game at the MCG next Saturday night, and the Bullies play St Kilda on Friday night at Etihad.

GEELONG: 5.6 13.8 17.9 23.10 (148) DEFEATED
WESTERN BULLDOGS: 3.1 5.6 6.6 13.9 (87)

GOALS
GEELONG: Ottens 5, Podsiadly 3, Menzel 2, Selwood 2, Duncan 2, Stokes 2, Johnson 2, Ling, Bartel, Scarlett, Vardy, Varcoe
WESTERN BULLDOGS:Giansiracusa 5, Lake 3, Griffen 2, Higgins 2, Sherman

BEST
GEELONG: Ottens, Bartel, Johnson, Taylor, Selwood, Scarlett, Corey, Podsiadly
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Giansiracusa, Morris, Murphy, Ward

CHANGES
GEELONG: Darren Milburn (general soreness) replaced in selected side by Mitch Duncan
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Nil

INJURIES
GEELONG: Nil
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Jarrad Grant (ribs)

REPORTS: Nil

UMPIRES: Shaun Ryan, Sam Hay, Shane McInerney
CROWD: 25,078 at Skilled Stadium, Geelong

BLU-RAY $59.95 + P&H

VFL

NO VFL THIS WEEK