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Greater Western Sydney vs Geelong

Scoreboard | Match report | Match statistics

Round: 2   Venue: Manuka Oval   Date: Sun, 03-04-2016 1:10 pm   Crowd: 13,656  
Greater Western Sydney 2.1.138.4.5212.8.8013.11.89 C:  Leon Cameron
Geelong 1.5.115.7.378.8.5611.10.76 C:  Chris Scott
  GWS by 2GWS by 15GWS by 24GWS by 13  
Weather
min temp  12.2°C      max temp  25.0°C
rainfall  0mm    humidity  44%    air pressure  1022.7mb
wind speed 9km/h      wind direction  NNE
Brownlow Medal 3 Ryan Griffen (GWS)2 Shane Mumford (GWS)1 Tom Scully (GWS)

Match Report

As the old saying goes, a week is a long time in footy, and that adage couldn't ring any truer than for the GWS and Geelong football clubs. The Giants blew a chance to start their year off perfectly in round one when they kicked themselves out of a win against Melbourne while the Cats couldn't have started their season any better, a five-goal round-one win against reigning premier Hawthorn signalling a return to glory days. 

By the end of Sunday's match between the two sides at Manuka Oval in Canberra, though, it was Giants' fans talking about glory days, while the Cats went home with their tails between their legs after succumbing to an impressive GWS side that may well figure in September calculations this year. 

The first quarter was a relatively even affair, although Geelong squandered several chances in from of goal after Tom Hawkins marked and goaled to put the Cats ahead after just one minute. They had 1.3 on the board before GWS scored without at least two of the behinds being gettable shots at goal. The Giants then hit their straps and majors to Nathan Wilson and Ryan Griffen had them in front at the 24-minute mark before Mark Blicavs missed another shot for Geelong. At quarter time it was the Giants by two points, 2.1 to 1.5.

A goal from Darcy Lang put the Cats in front after just one minute in the second term but it was then that the Giants began to exert some significant influence on the match. Goals to Devon Smith, ex-Cat Stevie Johnson and Stephen Coniglio suddenly had them 14 points clear. Blicavs hit back with his second but to more GWS goals via Dylan Shiel and Tom Scully had the Giants ahead by 21 as the term ticked into time on. Blicavs third kept Geelong in touch and the two sides then added one further goal each, the Giants 15 points clear at the long break.

The first 15 minutes of the third quarter were the decisive ones of the match. In that period the Giants got right on top, attacking incessantly and peppering the goals. The net result of that onslaught was 3.4, perhaps not as productive as it could have been, but importantly, the Cats did not trouble the scorers at all in that period so it was enough to give GWS what looked like a match-winning 37-point lead. Three of the last four goals of the term went Geelong's way as the tide appeared to turn just before three-quarter time but the Giants seemed comfortable with a four-goal break at the final change of ends.

Geelong, however, had other ideas, attacking heavily early in the final term. With two goals to Hawkins and one to Rhys Stanley in the first 12 minutes, the difference was suddenly an even goal. The game became a titanic arm-wrestle from then on, the two sides trading only in behinds. Finally, with only a couple of minutes remaining, the deadlock was broken with a goal to Ryan Griffen, putting the Giants 13 points clear and giving them a highly meritorious victory. 

Griffen (32 disposals, two goals) was a standout and played possibly his best game for the Giants, while Hawkins (10 marks, three goals) was a fine player for Geelong. 

With the two sides heading into round three with a 1-1 record, both will be keen for a second early-season win, GWS against cross-town rivals Sydney at the SCG on Sunday and Geelong at home at Kardinia Park against Brisbane. 

GOALS
GWS: Griffen, Smith, Johnson 2; Wilson, Coniglio, Shiel, Scully, Mumford, Hoskin-Elliott, Lobb 
Geelong: Hawkins 3; Blicavs, Stanley 2; Lang, McCarthy, Caddy, Gregson

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
GWS: Griffen, Scully, Mumford, Johnson, Kelly, Greene
Geelong: Hawkins, Blicavs, Mackie, Enright, Guthrie, Lang

BEST - THE AGE
GWS: Griffen, Scully, Mumford, Johnson, Kelly, Greene
Geelong: Hawkins, Blicavs, Mackie, Enright, Guthrie, Lang

INJURIES 
GWS: Marchbank (ankle)
Geelong: Nil

UMPIRES: Stevic, Fleer, Mitchell

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Fox Footy

COMMENTATORS: Anthony Hudson, Dermott Brereton, Alastair Lynch, Barry Hall

Source

Match Report by Andrew Gigacz

Footnotes

Video sourced from YouTube, courtesy of the AFL

Match stats

Greater Western Sydney
Match Stats
Career
#
Player
K
M
H
D
G
B
HO
T
FF
FA
Age
Games
G
21 Buntine, Matt 8 1 4 12 0 0 0 1 1 0 22y 167d 29 1
3 Coniglio, Stephen 6 2 16 22 1 0 1 1 0 0 22y 110d 63 22
35 Corr, Aidan 6 3 6 12 0 0 0 5 2 1 21y 322d 35 1
1 Davis, Phil 10 3 4 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 25y 217d 78 6
4 Greene, Toby 16 4 18 34 0 1 0 4 0 0 22y 191d 77 35
32 Griffen, Ryan 12 2 20 32 2 0 1 4 2 1 29y 251d 225 139
33 Hoskin-Elliott, Will 11 5 1 12 1 0 0 2 0 0 22y 214d 51 42
17 Johnson, Steve 15 7 8 23 2 1 1 3 3 0 32y 274d 255 456
22 Kelly, Josh 11 5 12 23 0 0 0 5 2 0 21y 51d 38 20
40 Kennedy, Adam 5 5 8 13 0 0 0 1 0 0 23y 266d 63 4
37 Lobb, Rory 7 7 4 11 1 2 3 1 3 1 23y 54d 13 10
34 Marchbank, Caleb 4 1 2 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 19y 118d 7 0
41 Mumford, Shane 2 4 9 11 1 0 33 5 2 1 29y 273d 130 45
7 Palmer, Rhys 5 5 4 9 0 0 0 4 0 0 27y 50d 112 82
12 Patton, Jonathon 7 6 1 8 0 3 0 0 0 0 22y 319d 33 37
9 Scully, Tom 21 9 11 32 1 0 0 5 3 1 24y 324d 105 36
23 Shaw, Heath 13 5 2 15 0 0 0 3 0 1 30y 128d 215 38
5 Shiel, Dylan 14 4 13 27 1 0 0 2 0 1 23y 25d 66 34
10 Smith, Devon 11 1 5 16 2 0 0 3 2 1 22y 319d 81 72
8 Ward, Callan 6 2 17 23 0 0 2 3 2 0 25y 359d 145 71
6 Whitfield, Lachie 11 8 10 21 0 0 0 3 0 1 21y 260d 53 22
16 Wilson, Nathan 10 3 7 17 1 0 0 1 1 1 23y 87d 34 10
  Rushed   4  
  Totals 211 92 182 393 13 11 41 57 23 10 24y 182d 1908 1183
Geelong
Match Stats
Career
#
Player
K
M
H
D
G
B
HO
T
FF
FA
Age
Games
G
3 Bartel, Jimmy 8 1 10 18 0 1 0 1 0 0 32y 121d 285 191
46 Blicavs, Mark 9 3 8 17 2 1 5 7 1 0 25y 6d 68 19
23 Caddy, Josh 6 3 11 17 1 0 1 6 1 1 23y 188d 79 59
35 Dangerfield, Patrick 13 3 10 23 0 0 1 3 0 2 25y 364d 156 163
22 Duncan, Mitch 1 1 6 7 0 0 0 1 0 2 24y 298d 113 95
44 Enright, Corey 15 3 9 24 0 0 0 4 0 2 34y 202d 311 62
28 Gregson, Cory 7 0 4 11 1 1 0 2 1 1 19y 212d 22 14
29 Guthrie, Cameron 12 2 11 23 0 1 0 1 0 1 23y 228d 87 24
26 Hawkins, Tom 14 10 4 18 3 1 0 1 0 2 27y 257d 168 337
25 Henderson, Lachie 9 4 5 14 0 0 0 2 0 0 26y 111d 119 105
39 Kersten, Shane 4 3 3 7 0 1 0 1 0 0 23y 19d 22 19
8 Kolodjashnij, Jake 6 4 9 15 0 0 0 1 0 0 20y 238d 11 0
11 Lang, Darcy 12 7 8 20 1 0 0 2 0 1 20y 134d 23 19
13 Lonergan, Tom 7 5 6 13 0 0 0 1 1 0 31y 322d 166 54
4 Mackie, Andrew 15 9 7 22 0 0 0 2 0 0 31y 240d 237 96
6 McCarthy, Lincoln 8 3 5 13 1 1 0 2 2 0 22y 164d 7 3
32 Motlop, Steven 13 9 5 18 0 0 0 4 0 0 25y 22d 90 116
21 Murdoch, Jordan 5 5 7 12 0 0 0 2 0 0 24y 11d 62 46
14 Selwood, Joel 11 4 11 22 0 0 0 3 2 4 27y 313d 206 129
9 Smith, Zac 2 2 9 11 0 0 9 1 1 1 26y 41d 67 34
1 Stanley, Rhys 7 3 1 8 2 0 12 2 1 3 25y 124d 68 48
7 Taylor, Harry 4 4 8 12 0 0 0 1 0 2 29y 296d 182 41
  Rushed   3  
  Totals 188 88 157 345 11 10 28 50 10 22 25y 360d 2549 1674

Match highlights

Ryan Griffen had 20 handballs for Greater Western Sydney vs. Geelong (AFL, Premiership Season, R2)

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.