Cats climb into top eight with another easy win

Essendon Bombers v Geelong Cats, AFL 2023 round 7 Ben Jensen GEELONG has finally entered the top eight after another solid though not excessive win, this time over Essendon at the MCG on Sunday. With the Cats taking a 44 point lead into the half time break it looked like a huge win was on the cards, but the Bombers fought back, out-scoring the Cats in the second half to pull the final margin back to just 28 points. It was a day for forwards with Tom Hawkins kicking a career-high eight goals, the first time he’s exceeded seven goals in 334 games. At the other end Essendon’s Sam Weideman booted four. Jeremy Cameron kicked three but it was not enough to maintain his outright lead in the Coleman Medal race, now equal with Carlton’s Charlie Curnow on thirty. Hawkins is now in equal third spot with 22.

In the VFL the Cats’ ladies had a narrow win over North Melbourne but it was good enough to maintain top spot on the VFLW ladder, the undefeated Cats leading second placed Port Melbourne on percentage – 217% to 141%. The men also had a win, over Coburg, by eight points. With three wins in five games the Cats are on the same points as fifth placed Southport, but the Cats’ shocking percentage (72%) only good enough for 12th spot on the VFL ladder. This Saturday Geelong host the Adelaide Crows at GMHBA Stadium in a 2:10pm fixture.

AFL 2023 ROUND SEVEN
ESSENDON BOMBERS V GEELONG CATS
SUNDAY 30 APRIL 2023, 13:10 AEST
MELBOURNE CRICKET GROUND (MCG)

GEELONG CATS: 6.3, 14.4, 17.6, 20.12 (132) DEFEATED
ESSENDON BOMBERS: 2.0, 7.2, 11.6, 16.8 (104)

GOALS
GEELONG CATS: Hawkins 8, Cameron 3, Simpson 2, Henry 2, Bruhn 2, Rohan, Close, Holmes
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Hawkins 8, Cameron 3, Simpson 2, Henry 2, Bruhn 2, Rohan, Close, Holmes

BEST
GEELONG CATS: Hawkins, Dangerfield, Stewart, Cameron, Holmes, Miers
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Stringer, Weideman, Parish, Shiel, Caldwell, Martin

INJURIES
GEELONG CATS: Jack Bowes (calf), Gary Rohan (hamstring)
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Nil reported

CHANGES
GEELONG CATS: –
ESSENDON BOMBERS: –

SUBSTITUTES
GEELONG CATS: Tanner Bruhn, replaced Jack Bowes (calf) in the first quarter
ESSENDON BOMBERS: Will Snelling, replaced Andrew Phillips in the fourth quarter

REPORTS
GEELONG CATS: –
ESSENDON BOMBERS: –

CROWD: 67,467 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG)

UMPIRES
FIELD Justin Power, Hayden Gavine, Robert Findlay, Jacob Mollison
BOUNDARY Joshua Furman, Matthew Jenkinson, Michael Saunders, Patrick Dineen
GOAL Michael Craig, Rhys Negerman EMER: Callum Leonard

PREDICTIONS
Ben – Cats 80 points
Oscar – Cats 43 points
Cassie – Cats 59 points

GEELONG CATS – SELECTED SIDE
IN:C Guthrie (injured), M Knevitt (sub) Jed Bews
OUT: Cameron Guthrie (toe), Mitch Knevitt (sub)

B: E Ratugolea, S De Koning, T Stewart
HB: J Kolodjashnij, M O’Connor, Z Guthrie
C: I Smith, T Atkins, Z Tuohy
HF: S Simpson, T Hawkins, G Rohan
F: G Miers, J Cameron, B Close
FOLL: M Blicavs, M Holmes, P Dangerfield
INT: J Bowes, M Duncan, O Henry, J Bews

ESSENDON BOMBERS – SELECTED SIDE
IN: Z Merrett, N Hind, A McDonald-Tipungwuti
OUT: J Laverde (shoulder), D Heppell (managed), J Menzie (managed), A Davey Jnr (omitted), W Snelling (omitted)

B: J Kelly, B Zerk-Thatcher, J Ridley
HB: A McGrath, M Redman, K Langford
C: S Durham, D Parish, N Martin
HF: D Shiel, S Weideman, J Caldwell
F: A Perkins, J Stringer, B Hobbs
FOLL: S Draper, Z Merrett, W Setterfield
INT: N Hind, A Phillips, M D’Ambrosio, A McDonald-Tipungwuti