CATS THUMPED BY SWANS, SEASON OVER AND DOUBT OVER FUTURES OF ENRIGHT, BARTEL
Ben Jensen 23 September 2016

AFL 2016 SECOND PRELIMINARY FINAL: GEELONG CATS V SYDNEY SWANS GEELONG were absolutely belted by Sydney at the MCG tonight, the Swans outscoring the Cats seven goals to none in the first quarter and after kicking the first of the second quarter, the jig was up far too early in a match expected to be far closer. Too much was ultimately asked of too few, the Geelong midfield seemingly only comprising skipper Joel Selwood and Patrick Dangerfield who were both excellent but had little help. In every way the Swans were brilliant the Cats were just awful, nothing went their way whereas the Swans were excellent- kicking goals from almost every angle in that first term with the Cats only managing five behinds.

Unfortunately the game may come at quite a cost for the Swans with enigmatic young defender Aliir Aliir hobbling from the field before quarter time never to return with a knee injury. With Swans skipper Jarrad McVeigh waiting in the wings he may find himself missing out. Sydney have to wait until early tomorrow evening to see if they play fellow Sydney team GWS or the underdogs Western Bulldogs. The Cats will have to lick their wounds and figure out how it all went wrong- the scoreline tonight was almost identical to the round 16 match at Simonds Stadium though in that game the first quarter was fairly even and the Swans kicked free gradually, tonight the lead blew out to around ten goals, the Cats pegging it back slightly but not really gaining respectability. U.

Walking off the ground veteran defender and 2016 All Australian Corey Enright was visibly emotional and could have played his last game while Jimmy Bartel was also glassy-eyed and could join him in retirement. We may have also seen the last of Andrew Mackie, although younger than the other two appears to be at the end. Plenty of players had poor nights including Steve Motlop, Mackie, Lachie Henderson, Tom Hawkins, Josh Caddy, Mark Blicavs, and Mitch Duncan- though the latter made the best players.

It wasn't the night Geelong fans had hoped for, the 2016 Premiership dream wasn't to be; it was an even year so what did we expect? It had shades of the 2010 Preliminary Final loss to Collingwood about it, we of course bounced back the next year to win a flag in coach Chris Scott's first season. 2017 has promise the Cats just need to iron out why we have such poor starts to games, can't adapt when things don't go our way or develop a proper approach to going forward, not just bombing it in to the spare man every time.

SYDNEY: 7.2, 11.3, 14.4, 15.7 (97) DEFEATED
GEELONG: 0.5, 2.8, 7.10, 8.12 (60)

GOALS
SYDNEY: Papley 3, Parker 2, Tippett 2, Franklin 2, Rohan 2, McGlynn, Heeney, Richards, Naismith
GEELONG: Taylor 2, Hawkins, Bartel, Selwood, Caddy, Dangerfield, Stanley

BEST
SYDNEY: Heeney, Mitchell, Rampe, Hannebery, Franklin, Grundy, Papley
GEELONG: Dangerfield, Selwood, Bartel, Taylor, Duncan

CHANGES
SYDNEY: Nil
GEELONG: Nil

INJURIES
SYDNEY: Aliir (knee)
GEELONG: Taylor (hand)

REPORTS: Nil

UMPIRES

FIELD: Donlon, Jeffrey, Stevic

CROWD: 71,772 at MCG, Melbourne

COREY ENRIGHT AFTER THE FINAL SIREN