Cats carve up Bombers in Country Festival

GEELONG defeated Essendon by 32 points at the MCG in the ‘Powercor Country Festival’. The match may be marred however with Gary Ablett reported for striking Bomber Dylan Shiel in the opening quarter. Earlier in the VFL curtain raiser the Bombers had the better of the Cats by 42 points.

The Cats kicked the first three goals of the match and led for all of five minutes; the Bombers equalised the Cats’ first three goals but the Cats soon struck back, and never gave up the lead, in fact they won every quarter. Ablett’s report in the first quarter saw him booed relentlessly from then on, the Bombers picking up where they left off on ANZAC Day. See the video further below – Ablett may well be in strife.

Joel Selwood was an out on Saturday while Zach Tuohy was a late change no the day – replaced by Brandan Parfitt and Zach Guthrie respectively. Of the four emergencies only Charlie Constable played in the VFL match, which like the main game was also telecast on Channel Seven. Tom Stewart played a good match for his fiftieth – at the MCG no less.

Patrick Dangerfield and Esava Ratugolea are on the injured list, Dangerfield leaving the field twice, Ratugolea reported as having concussion and is now in doubt for next week. Mitch Duncan and Jake Stringer were the leading goal kickers of the match with three apiece, Ablett, Tom Hawkins and Tim Kelly all kicking two each. No other Bombers kicked double figures.

Kelly was named best for the Cats with fellow mature-age recruit Stewart next. Cam Guthrie in his third match of the season acquainted himself well and for now has secured his spot in the side. Brother Zach appears to have bulked up a fair bit and also played his role – it will be interesting to see if Constable returns for next Sunday’s match against the Kangaroos at Marvel Stadium.

AFL 2019 – ROUND 7
GEELONG CATS V ESSENDON BOMBERS
SUNDAY 5 MAY 2019, 15:20 AEST
MCG MATCH PREVIEW

Gary Ablett Jnr has been reporting for striking.

Anything in it?#AFLCatsDons pic.twitter.com/6wgnEwys4s

— 7AFL (@7AFL) May 5, 2019

2 goals for Gaz 🔥 pic.twitter.com/O1LbF0TrKt

— 7AFL (@7AFL) May 5, 2019

GEELONG CATS: 4.0, 7.3, 10.7, 13.8 (86) DEFEATED
ESSENDON BOMBERS: 3.3, 4.5, 5.6, 7.12 (54)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Duncan 3, Hawkins 2, Ablett 2, Kelly 2, C.Guthrie, Rohan, Miers, Dahlhaus
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Stringer 3, Baguley, Bellchambers, Daniher, Parish

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Kelly, Stewart, Ablett, Duncan, Blicavs, C.Guthrie
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Merrett, Smith, Parish, Stringer, Hurley

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Patrick Dangerfield (knee), Esava Ratugolea (concussion)
ESSENDON BOMBERS: –

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: Joel Selwood (the Mexican General Soreness), replaced in selected side by Brandan Parfitt; Zach Tuohy, replaced in selected side by Zach Guthrie
ESSENDON BOMBERS: –

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: Gary Ablett reported for striking Dylan Shiel in the first quarter.
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Nil

CROWD: 63,527 at MCG, Melbourne

UMPIRES:
FIELD: Matthew Nicholls, Ray Chamberlain, Eleni Gloutfsis EM: Patrick Burns
BOUNDARY: Jordan Andrews, Lachlan Rayner, Mitchell Le Fevre, Matthew Jenkinson
GOAL: Daniel Wilson, Matthew Dervan EM: Stephen Williams

GEELONG CATS TEAM
IN: Jordan Clark
OUT: Charlie Constable (omitted)
NEW: –

B: Jake Kolodjashnij, Jack Henry, Tom Stewart
HB: Mark Blicavs, Harry Taylor, Zach Tuohy
C: Tim Kelly, Patrick Dangerfield, Mitch Duncan
HF: Gary Rohan, Esava Ratugolea, Tom Hawkins
F: Gary Ablett, Luke Dahlhaus, Tom Atkins
FOLL: Rhys Stanley, Joel Selwood, Sam Menegola
INT: Cameron Guthrie, Mark O’Connor, Jordan Clark, Gryan Miers
EMER: Darcy Fort, Zach Guthrie, Brandan Parfitt, James Parsons

ESSENDON BOMBERS TEAM
IN: Orazio Fantasia, Aaron Francis
OUT:Mitch Brown (wrist), David Myers (managed)
NEW: –

B: Patrick Ambrose, Cale Hooker, Andrew McGrath
HB: Mason Redman, Michael Hurley, Adam Saad
C: Conor McKenna, Zach Merrett, Dyson Heppell
HF: Matt Guelfi, Jake Stringer, David Zaharakis
F: Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Joe Daniher, Dylan Shiel
FOLL: Tom Bellchambers, Mark Baguley, Darcy Parish
INT: Jordan Ridley, Devon Smith, Orazio Fantasia, Aaron Francis
EMER: Kyle Langford, Sam Draper, Ben McNiece, Josh Begley

ESSENDON BOMBERS 4.1, 5.5, 11.8, 13.16 (94) DEFEATED
GEELONG CATS 1.4, 2.7, 5.9, 7.10 (52)

GOALS
ESSENDON BOMBERS:T. Mynott 3, H. Hocking 2, W. Berry 2, E. Sibbald 2, B. Ham, N. Lazzaro, N. Gown, I. Mosquito
GEELONG CATS: L. Smith 2, R. Abbott 2, D. Capiron, S. Simpson, J. Tarca

BEST
ESSENDON BOMBERS: B. Ham, T. Mynott, W. Berry, M. Hartley, A. Heppell, H. Hocking
GEELONG CATS: J. McLachlan, S. Simpson, R. Abbott, C. Constable, L. Smith, J. Jones