CATS UNTROUBLED BY THE BLUES, TOM HAWKINS HAS A NIGHT OUT
Ben Jensen 29 July 2017

AFL 2017 ROUND 19: GEELONG CATS V CARLTON BLUES GEELONG easily accounted for Carlton tonight at Etihad Stadium by 65 points, the Blues at one stage leading by three goals to one but the Cats never genuinely challenged from then onwards. Tom Hawkins got himself back into form kicking six goals and had just under 30 possessions (a career high). The win was marred by Nakia Cockatoo appearing to re-injure the hamstring that kept him out of the past five games, a terrible outcome for Cockatoo who otherwise was one of the Cats' best, booting three goals - the last one when he did the injury.

It was a reasonably forgettable game but saw several players including Hawkins get their form back. Sam Menegola was one of these as was Scott Selwood and Jordan Murdoch. Patrick Dangerfield was a dependable as always, though spent most time up forward. Mitch Duncan could have been forgiven for being a bit tired after welcome a daughter into the world a few days ago but showed no signs of it. Joel Selwood was very good though not in the best players.

Carlton's Matthew Kreuzer suffered a knock to the head and left the field after a tackle by Dangerfield. Levi Casboult kicked three goals for the Blues, two in the first quarter. Former Blues Zac Tuohy and Lachie Henderson put in solid performances, copping plenty of boos from the Blues fans, it being a Carlton home game. Young Jack Silvani showed good signs, slotting a classy set show from a difficult angle in the final term.

It looks as though Nakia Cockatoo has suffered a recurrence of the hamstring so will miss next week though we hope it is something else more minor. It will be interesting to see whether Steven Motlop is recalled after being 'managed' this game'. Both the mens and womens VFL sides were defeated today, by the Northern Blues and Darebin Falcons respectively. The Cats play Sydney at home next Friday night, the game starting at 7:50.

GEELONG: 5.7, 9.10, 13.12, 18.15 (123) DEFEATED
CARLTON: 3.0, 4.3, 5.8, 8.10 (58)

GOALS
GEELONG: Hawkins 6, Cockatoo 3, Murdoch 3, Smith 2, Dangerfield 2, Duncan, Buzza
CARLTON: Casboult 3, McKay 2, Curnow, Wright, Silvani

BEST
GEELONG: Hawkins, Duncan, Dangerfield, S.Selwood, Menegola, Murdoch
CARLTON: Casboult, Murphy, Kerridge, Docherty, Curnow, Petrevski-Seton

INJURIES
GEELONG: Cockatoo (appears to be a hamstring)
CARLTON: Kreuzer (head knock)

CHANGES
GEELONG: Nil
CARLTON: Nil

UMPIRES:
FIELD: Haussen, Chamberlain, Mollison Fleer EM: Gianfagna
BOUNDARY: Bergroth, Macdonald, Rayner, Haala
GOAL: Rodan, Appleton EM: Lai

CROWD: 35,460, Etihad Stadium, Melbourne Docklands