AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game
Geelong vs Essendon
| Brownlow Medal | 3 Andrew Mackie (GEEL) | 2 Mitch Duncan (GEEL) | 1 Steve Johnson (GEEL) |
Match Report
Never write off a champion team. This Geelong side has been on the decline in 2012 after reaching the incredible heights of three premierships in five years. The previous month before this clash saw the Cats struggle, even in games against cellar-dwelling clubs. The Bombers had a long-list of injuries but they were still expected to easily account for the Cats, supposedly heading for demise. Geelong flew out of the blocks to race to a 28-point lead in the first quarter. It was a significant first quarter, particularly as the Cats’ starts had been extremely poor during recent weeks. Mitch Duncan (31 possessions) played his best game for the club, further signalling his improvement as one of Geelong’s brightest young stars. Essendon’s prime movers were well down and it cost them. Brownlow Medal fancy Jobe Watson was down on his usual high standards without being terrible. Steve Johnson was on fire before he was subbed out with a groin injury. He was in doubt for the Cats’ crucial clash with Adelaide in round 18, but coach Chris Scott expected him to take his spot in the side.
GOALS
Geelong: Hawkins 5; Smedts 3,; Johnson, Murdoch, Taylor, Chapman 2; Duncan, Mackie, Motlop, Walker
Essendon: Bellchambers 3; Crameri, Davey, Dell'Ollio, Gumbleton, Jetta, Monfries, Myers
BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Geelong: Duncan, Johnson, Smedts, Selwood, Mackie, Hawkins, Corey, Kelly
Essendon: Myers, Bellchambers, Stanton, Watson, Heppell
BEST - THE AGE
Geelong: Johnson, Duncan, Taylor, Kelly, Corey, Hawkins, Scarlett, Mackie
Essendon: Heppell, Fletcher, Watson, Bellchambers, Myers, Hardingham
COACHES COMMENTS
Chris Scott (Geel): It was really player-led. Our leadership group stood up and said, 'We're going to lead from the front and we're going to show the way.' And I thought they did that.
James Hird (Ess): We got beaten around the contest, and Geelong were better than us with their pressure around the contest and their ability to get the ball and get it going their way. Right from the start you could see they were better than us in that area.
Umpires: Rosebury, Nicholls, Hay
Source
Match report by Oliver CaffreyMatch stats
| Geelong | Match Stats | Career | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | K | M | H | D | G | B | HO | T | FF | FA | Age | Games | G |
| 35 | Chapman, Paul | 5 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 30y 258d | 237 | 311 |
| 11 | Corey, Joel | 12 | 2 | 15 | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 30y 154d | 249 | 72 |
| 22 | Duncan, Mitch | 20 | 7 | 11 | 31 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 21y 40d | 44 | 43 |
| 44 | Enright, Corey | 16 | 9 | 5 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30y 310d | 237 | 53 |
| 29 | Guthrie, Cameron | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19y 336d | 17 | 1 |
| 26 | Hawkins, Tom | 12 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23y 365d | 94 | 145 |
| 8 | Hunt, Josh | 3 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 30y 128d | 180 | 23 |
| 19 | Hunt, Taylor | 5 | 4 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 21y 258d | 35 | 7 |
| 20 | Johnson, Steve | 13 | 5 | 9 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 29y 16d | 190 | 378 |
| 9 | Kelly, James | 11 | 2 | 13 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 28y 204d | 207 | 77 |
| 13 | Lonergan, Tom | 15 | 9 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 28y 64d | 90 | 46 |
| 4 | Mackie, Andrew | 23 | 10 | 1 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 27y 348d | 166 | 73 |
| 32 | Motlop, Steven | 14 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 21y 130d | 20 | 23 |
| 21 | Murdoch, Jordan | 6 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20y 119d | 3 | 2 |
| 30 | Scarlett, Matthew | 12 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 33y 45d | 279 | 17 |
| 14 | Selwood, Joel | 11 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 24y 55d | 129 | 60 |
| 38 | Sheringham, Jackson | 6 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 24y 28d | 2 | 1 |
| 2 | Smedts, Billie | 11 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 20y 42d | 11 | 5 |
| 27 | Stokes, Mathew | 8 | 5 | 12 | 20 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 27y 241d | 124 | 173 |
| 7 | Taylor, Harry | 11 | 10 | 8 | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 26y 38d | 105 | 20 |
| 42 | Walker, Josh | 10 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 19y 251d | 2 | 1 |
| 12 | West, Trent | 8 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 24y 277d | 36 | 15 |
| Rushed | 4 | |||||||||||||
| Totals | 235 | 108 | 144 | 379 | 20 | 14 | 26 | 64 | 15 | 14 | 25y 235d | 2457 | 1546 | |
| Essendon | Match Stats | Career | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Player | K | M | H | D | G | B | HO | T | FF | FA | Age | Games | G |
| 46 | Baguley, Mark | 8 | 4 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25y 60d | 2 | 0 |
| 44 | Bellchambers, Tom | 8 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 35 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 23y 11d | 38 | 20 |
| 22 | Carlisle, Jake | 6 | 2 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 20y 293d | 24 | 7 |
| 12 | Crameri, Stewart | 5 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23y 345d | 37 | 62 |
| 29 | Davey, Alwyn | 5 | 1 | 6 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 28y 66d | 81 | 97 |
| 47 | Dell'Olio, Cory | 5 | 3 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 22y 225d | 6 | 8 |
| 15 | Dempsey, Courtenay | 9 | 3 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 24y 327d | 68 | 16 |
| 2 | Dyson, Ricky | 11 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26y 296d | 114 | 43 |
| 31 | Fletcher, Dustin | 20 | 2 | 4 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 37y 74d | 362 | 69 |
| 3 | Gumbleton, Scott | 3 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 23y 352d | 24 | 26 |
| 34 | Hardingham, Kyle | 8 | 6 | 7 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 23y 323d | 43 | 9 |
| 21 | Heppell, Dyson | 11 | 3 | 9 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 20y 67d | 37 | 5 |
| 19 | Hille, David | 3 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 31y 48d | 191 | 150 |
| 26 | Hooker, Cale | 3 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 23y 281d | 62 | 5 |
| 40 | Howlett, Ben | 7 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 23y 273d | 54 | 20 |
| 7 | Jetta, Leroy | 14 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 24y 14d | 77 | 70 |
| 42 | Lovett-Murray, Nathan | 2 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 29y 245d | 138 | 70 |
| 17 | Melksham, Jake | 3 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 20y 326d | 53 | 25 |
| 6 | Monfries, Angus | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 25y 183d | 145 | 160 |
| 23 | Myers, David | 12 | 3 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 23y 20d | 44 | 10 |
| 5 | Stanton, Brent | 15 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 26y 80d | 178 | 115 |
| 4 | Watson, Jobe | 16 | 7 | 13 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 27y 163d | 148 | 75 |
| Rushed | 1 | |||||||||||||
| Totals | 177 | 78 | 119 | 296 | 10 | 7 | 42 | 67 | 14 | 15 | 25y 102d | 1926 | 1062 | |
Match highlights
50,066 attended Geelong vs. Essendon at Docklands (AFL, Premiership Season, R17)Ricky Dyson played his last game for Essendon (AFL, Premiership Season, R17)