CATS GET FOUR POINTS OVER BULLDOGS; FANS NOT IMPRESSED
Ben Jensen 27 August 2012

By Ben Jensen twitter.com/thecattery GEELONG accounted for the Western Bulldogs by 34 points at Simonds Stadium yesterday but the reaction was largely 'ho-hum'. Leading by 37 in the second quarter the Cats looked set to make it a bit of a belting, one bloke behind me having money on them for 70+ made that known throughout the match. But the PM's own Bulldogs showed plenty of fight and at one stage pegged the margin back to just 15 points but the Cats then put the foot back down booting six of the final nine goals to win comfortably. The win may come at a cost however, Travis Varcoe in his comeback from a long term footy injury limped from the field in the first quarter after reportedly rolling in ankle in a minor entanglement with former teammate Nathan Djerrkura. The official party line is that Varcoe merely hurt a foot or an ankle and should be back next week. TEAMS

Tom Hawkins remains an outside chance for the Coleman Medal going into the final round against Sydney at home next Saturday, booting four goals to put him on 58 for the season, just one behind second placed Jack Riewoldt and two behind former All Australian full-back Matthew Pavlich on 60.

Earlier in the day a hastily cobbled together sign of sorts was unveiled in front of the new grandstand taking shape behind the river end goals; the new structure replacing the former Doug Wade Stand will not be named after any particular person, but known as the 'Players Stand'. Reactions were fairly mixed, to be sure on Twitter the official CatsInsider re-tweeted the good comments while on K-ROCK alternatives such as the Marty McKinnon Stand etc were floated.

In the VFL on Saturday the gates were left open at Simonds Stadium, attracting a crowd of a couple thousand for the match and more for the earlier open training session. Williamstown however had their way with Geelong, winning by four points in a thrilling finish with the Cats just falling short.

GEELONG: 3.2, 8.4, 10.8, 16.11 (107) DEFEATED
WESTERN BULLDOGS: 1.0, 3.3, 7.5, 11.7 (73)

GOALS
GEELONG: Hawkins 4, Corey 2, Chapman 2, Taylor 2, Christensen, Duncan, Podsiadly, West, Stokes, Hunt
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Grant 3, Howard 2, Giansiracusa, Cooney, Griffen, Higgins, Jong, Skinner

BEST
GEELONG: Kelly, Duncan, Mackie, Hunt, Taylor, Enright, Bartel, Chapman, Corey, Christensen
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Boyd, Griffen, Murphy, Wood, Cooney, Skinner, Djerrkura, Jong

CHANGES
GEELONG: Matthew Scarlett (ankle), Taylor Hunt (groin) replaced in selected side by Billie Smedts, Cam Guthrie
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Brian Lake (knee), Jason Johannisen (soreness) replaced in selected side by Zephaniah Skinner, Jarrad 'Spindle-shanks' Grant

INJURIES
GEELONG: Travis Varcoe (ankle)
WESTERN BULLDOGS: Daniel Giansiracusa (jarred knee)

UMPIRES:

FIELD: Shane Stewart (10) Heath Ryan (14) Chris Kamolins (19) EM: David Harris (34)
BOUNDARY: Patrick Tongue Justin Bennison Adam Coote Christopher Gordon
GOAL: Courtney Lai Chris Appleton EM: Luke Walker

CROWD: 18,047 at Simonds Stadium, Geelong

Cats by 40 points

VFL ROUND 22

GEELONG V WILLIAMSTOWN

SATURDAY 25 AUGUST 2012 13:00 AEST

SIMONDS STADIUM

TEAM LISTS

WILLIAMSTOWN 3.1, 6.3, 9.7, 11.11 (77) DEFEATED
GEELONG 3.0, 6.1, 8.3, 11.7 (73)

GOALS
WILLIAMSTOWN: J. Sherman 3, N. Georgiadis 2, B. Moles 2, A. Anastasio , M. Panos , D. Conway , T. Hill
GEELONG: J. Stringer 3, M. Brown 2, J. Simpkin 2, G. Burbury 2, T. Selwood , J. Sheringham

BEST
WILLIAMSTOWN: N. Sing, B. Moles, J. Sherman, B. Jolley, J. Frost, J. Wall
GEELONG: C. Eardley, S. Byrnes, J. Stringer, A. McLean, J. Sheringham, T. Selwood