Geelong Cats V Greater Western Sydney Giants; AFL 2021 second semi final match preview and team lists

Geelong Cats v Greater Western Sydney Giants, AFL 2021 second semi final match preview and team lists, Optus Stadium, Friday 3 September 2021 19:50 AEST
Ben Jensen ESAVA RATUGOLEA has been recalled to take on Shane Mumford and sons from the GWS Giants tonight at Perth’s Optus Stadium. Joining Ratugolea on the reinforcement list are Zach Tuohy and Max Holmes. Making way is the ‘managed’ Shaun Higgins who was the substitute last week and remains an emergency and officially omitted pair Sam Simpson and Luke Dahlhaus while Mark O’Connor is injured.

The Cats will welcome the return of Tuohy but if they had the choice would rather have retained O’Connor who injured his left hamstring in the loss to Port Power last Friday. The axing of Dahlhaus in favour of ten-gamer Holmes possibly signals the end of the former’s career but time will tell. The Giants have lost Toby ‘grub’ Greene for making contact with an umpire in the win over the Swans, along with the injured Tom Green and Sam Reid. The relatively inexperienced Bobby Hill and Conor Stone come into the side.

STILL no word from the AFL or the Victorian Government on when the VFL Women’s grand final will be played, which is getting beyond a joke now. The Cats were due to play the Magpies in the grand final back in July but Covid19 restrictions have forced the women’s game out of action along with VFL men’s games. The men’s season is officially called off now but there remains some hope the women’s grand final will be played at some stage. However with Premier Daniel Andrews throwing out plans for a staged reopening on Wednesday it doesn’t look likely.

AFL 2021 SECOND SEMI FINAL
GEELONG CATS V GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY GIANTS
FRIDAY 3 SEPTEMBER, 19:50 AEST
OPTUS STADIUM

PREDICTIONS
Ben – Cats 2 points
Oscar – Giants 40 points
Cassie – Cats 23 points

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: Zach Tuohy, Esava Ratugolea, Max Holmes
OUT: Mark O’Connor (hamstring), S.Higgins (managed), Sam Simpson, Luke Dahlhaus (both omitted)
B: J.Henry, L.Henderson, J.Kolodjashnij
HB: Z.Tuohy, M.Blicavs, T.Atkins
C: C.Guthrie, M.Duncan, I.Smith
HF: E.Ratugolea, J.Cameron, G.Rohan
F: B.Close, T.Hawkins, G.Miers
FOLL: R.Stanley, J.Selwood, P.Dangerfield
INT: J.Bews, M.Holmes, S.Menegola, B.Parfitt
EMER: S.Higgins, S.Simpson, D.Fort, Z.Guthrie

GWS GIANTS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: B.Hill, C.Stone
OUT: S.Reid, T.Green (both injured), T.Greene (suspended)
B: J.Stein, S.Taylor, I.Cumming
HB: L.Ash, N.Haynes, L.Whitfield
C: J.Kelly, S.Coniglio, H.Perryman
HF: T.Taranto, H.Himmelberg, D.Lloyd
F: Z.Sproule, J.Hogan, M.de Boer
FOLL: S.Mumford, J.Hopper, C.Ward
INT: T.Bruhn, B.Hill, C.Stone, C.Idun
EMER: J.Riccardi, K.Briggs, P.Davis, J.Peatling

UMPIRES
FIELD Chris Donlon, ‘Razor’Ray Chamberlain, Simon Meredith EM: Jacob Mollison
BOUNDARY Nathan Doig, Chris Esler, Matthew Konetschka, Damien Main
GOAL Angus McKenzie-Wills, Dylan Benwell EM: Matthew Dervan