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Brownlow Medal | 3 Joel Selwood (GEEL) | 2 Dan Hannebery (SYD) | 1 Mathew Stokes (GEEL) |
Geelong has maintained its perfect start to the 2013 season after it defeated Sydney in a highly entertaining match at the SCG on Friday night. The two sides put on a magnificent display of high-quality football, particularly in the first quarter, when the Cats kicked 7.2 but we still outscored by an amazing effort from Sydney, who kicked 8.1 in thew same period. The combined total of 15.3 was the 14th highest first-quarter total in VFL/AFL history.
Neither side could maintain the scoring frenzy in the second term. Sydney managed to shut Geelong's scoring ability early on and scored goals through Lewis Roberts-Thomson and Daniel Hannebery to grab a 19-point lead after 11 minutes. Steven Motlop replied for the Cats at the 15-minute mark and the match then took on the opposite complexion to the first quarter, with only one more goal - to James Podsiadly at the 23-minute mark - being scored prior to the main break.
A string of behinds opened the third quarter before Billie Smedts marked and goaled to give Geelong the lead at the eight-minute mark. The Cats then followed up with three more goals, two to Tom Hawkins and one to Paul Chapman, to jump out to a 20-point lead. Mike Pyke got one back for the Swans but further goals to Steve Johnson, Joel Selwood and Taylor Hunt saw Geelong take a commanding 31-point break into the final change.
To gives themselves any chance the Swans needed to kick the first goal of the last quarter but it was the Cats' Allen Christensen who did so at the six-minute mark, giving Geelong a 37-point lead and putting the result beyond doubt. Sydney fought on well, kicking five of the next seven goals but in the end the Cats prevailed by 21 points to become the first side in 2013 to have a 4-0 record.
Captain Joel Selwood was at his brilliant best for the Cats, with a 31 touches and a goal beside his name at game's end, while Motlop and Harry Taylor were also very good. Hannebery and Nick Malceski were amongst the best for Sydney.
The Cats next assignment will be to take on the 15th-placed Bulldogs at Docklands on Saturday night, while Sydney will "cross the ditch" to take on St Kilda in Wellington, New Zealand on ANZAC Day.
GOALS
Sydney: McVeigh 3; Goodes, Bolton, Hannebery, Malceski 2; Reid, Roberts-Thomson, Pyke, McGlynn, Kennedy
Geelong: Motlop, Hawkins 3; Taylor, Chapman, Stokes 2; Horlin-Smith, Podsiadly, Smedts, Johnson, Selwood, T. Hunt, Christensen
BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Sydney: Hannebery, Bolton, Pyke, O'Keefe, Malceski, Goodes
Geelong: Selwood, Taylor, Hawkins, Motlop, Corey, T. Hunt
BEST - SPORTAL.COM.AU
Sydney: McVeigh, Hannebery, Malceski, Jack
Geelong: Selwood, Stokes, Motlop, Taylor, Mackie, Horlin-Smith
COACHES' COMMENTS
John Longmire (Syd): [That was] not how we should be playing our footy. We didn't apply the pressure we should have, and when you come home with 47 tackles, I just think that's not the way we like to play our footy.
Chris Scott (Geel): Against really high quality opposition, when the game got a bit tighter, I thought our guys in close were really influential. We respect the opposition and they were playing pretty good football. In the congestion we started to look a little bit better and a little bit surer with our hands.
INJURIES
Sydney: Roberts-Thomson (right knee)
Geelong: Nil
SUBSTITUTES
Sydney: Lewis Roberts-Thomson (right knee) replaced by Mitch Morton in the second quarter
Geelong: Billie Smedts replaced by Josh Caddy at three-quarter time
UMPIRES: Donlon, Stevic, Stewart
Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of AFL Media.
Sydney | Match Stats | Career | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | Player | K | M | H | D | G | B | HO | T | FF | FA | Age | Games | G |
19 | Armstrong, Tony | 10 | 3 | 7 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 23y 202d | 25 | 2 |
24 | Bolton, Jude | 10 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 33y 35d | 305 | 176 |
37 | Goodes, Adam | 9 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 33y 101d | 323 | 395 |
39 | Grundy, Heath | 7 | 4 | 9 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 26y 321d | 118 | 21 |
4 | Hannebery, Dan | 13 | 5 | 16 | 29 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 22y 54d | 81 | 31 |
15 | Jack, Kieren | 20 | 4 | 9 | 29 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 25y 295d | 118 | 82 |
32 | Jetta, Lewis | 6 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 23y 350d | 69 | 63 |
12 | Kennedy, Josh | 6 | 2 | 17 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 24y 303d | 90 | 57 |
9 | Malceski, Nick | 24 | 6 | 4 | 28 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 28y 247d | 130 | 56 |
29 | Mattner, Martin | 11 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30y 256d | 219 | 40 |
21 | McGlynn, Ben | 7 | 4 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 27y 256d | 108 | 118 |
3 | McVeigh, Jarrad | 15 | 1 | 12 | 27 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 28y 12d | 198 | 151 |
10 | Morton, Mitch | 4 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 26y 81d | 77 | 110 |
41 | Mumford, Shane | 2 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 26y 288d | 82 | 31 |
5 | O'Keefe, Ryan | 9 | 1 | 15 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 32y 85d | 261 | 251 |
26 | Parker, Luke | 8 | 0 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 20y 176d | 36 | 17 |
38 | Pyke, Mike | 4 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 29y 26d | 50 | 18 |
43 | Rampe, Dane | 8 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22y 321d | 2 | 0 |
20 | Reid, Sam | 3 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 21y 113d | 50 | 57 |
25 | Richards, Ted | 11 | 6 | 9 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 30y 98d | 185 | 31 |
30 | Roberts-Thomson, Lewis | 4 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29y 223d | 174 | 52 |
40 | Smith, Nick | 5 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 24y 311d | 78 | 8 |
Rushed | 3 | |||||||||||||
Totals | 196 | 64 | 153 | 349 | 16 | 7 | 45 | 50 | 23 | 23 | 26y 339d | 2779 | 1767 |
Geelong | Match Stats | Career | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
# | Player | K | M | H | D | G | B | HO | T | FF | FA | Age | Games | G |
3 | Bartel, Jimmy | 9 | 7 | 8 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 29y 136d | 229 | 149 |
46 | Blicavs, Mark | 1 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22y 22d | 4 | 0 |
23 | Caddy, Josh | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20y 203d | 28 | 18 |
35 | Chapman, Paul | 10 | 2 | 12 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 31y 165d | 247 | 329 |
28 | Christensen, Allen | 13 | 2 | 7 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 21y 335d | 40 | 34 |
11 | Corey, Joel | 6 | 1 | 18 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 31y 61d | 257 | 74 |
22 | Duncan, Mitch | 13 | 6 | 10 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 21y 313d | 55 | 53 |
44 | Enright, Corey | 12 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 31y 217d | 248 | 53 |
26 | Hawkins, Tom | 5 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 24y 272d | 105 | 180 |
33 | Horlin-Smith, George | 10 | 1 | 13 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 20y 118d | 5 | 3 |
19 | Hunt, Taylor | 10 | 2 | 10 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 22y 165d | 45 | 14 |
20 | Johnson, Steve | 16 | 5 | 7 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 29y 289d | 198 | 383 |
13 | Lonergan, Tom | 5 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 28y 337d | 101 | 48 |
4 | Mackie, Andrew | 16 | 10 | 7 | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 28y 255d | 177 | 81 |
32 | Motlop, Steven | 10 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 22y 38d | 31 | 35 |
31 | Podsiadly, James | 11 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 31y 221d | 64 | 141 |
25 | Rivers, Jared | 4 | 1 | 7 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 28y 183d | 152 | 18 |
14 | Selwood, Joel | 12 | 2 | 19 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 24y 328d | 139 | 65 |
2 | Smedts, Billie | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20y 315d | 18 | 11 |
27 | Stokes, Mathew | 15 | 3 | 16 | 31 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 28y 148d | 135 | 183 |
7 | Taylor, Harry | 17 | 7 | 3 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 26y 311d | 116 | 27 |
12 | West, Trent | 3 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 25y 184d | 45 | 19 |
Rushed | 1 | |||||||||||||
Totals | 205 | 79 | 174 | 379 | 19 | 10 | 38 | 55 | 23 | 23 | 26y 28d | 2439 | 1918 |