Australian Football

Match Report

A return to its home venue has brought Geelong a change of fortune with the Cats halting a three-game losing streak to defeat the Western Bulldogs at Kardinia Park on Friday night. The club launched its redeveloped stadium prior to the match, with the home crowd then watching on as the Cats broke away to a big lead early in the third term before being mown down, only to break away again in the final term and record an impressive 23-point win. Geelong had been criticised in recent weeks for poor tackling efforts but had a club record 132 on Friday night, rarely allowing the Dogs any space to create.

Patrick Dangerfield, who scored three Brownlow votes in each of Geelong's matches against the Dogs last year, got the Cats off to a great start with a beautiful long goal from well outside the 50-metre mark at the two-minute mark, but Tory Dickson, returning from injury and playing his first match of 2017, marked and goaled to give the Bulldogs at one-point lead after five minutes. Clay Smith followed up for the Dogs but Mark Blicav's first had Geelong back within a point after 10 minutes. A great centre clearance saw Smith kick his second for the Dogs but more Dangerfield magic had the Cats only a point behind after 18 minutes. A nice mark and goal to Tom Boyd and a couple of further behinds to the Bulldogs had them ahead by nine points at the first break.

A complete transformation of the match accompanied the start of the second term. Geelong utterly dominated the first 10 minutes of the quarter and goals to Harry Taylor, Dangerfield, Taylor again and Zach Tuohy saw the Cats out to a 15-point lead. The Bulldogs managed to stem the flow after that, the Cats kicking only one further major - again through Taylor - but could not get anywhere near the goals themselves and they went into half time trailing Geelong by 26 points.

Geelong looked like going on with the job when Tom Hawkins goaled after a free kick two minutes into the third quarter, but a defensive error four minutes later saw the Bulldogs finally score a goal to reduce the difference back to 26. That goal brought about another reversal of momentum, and the Bulldogs took complete control for the rest of the quarter. Redpath kicked his second six minutes later, and then Mitch Wallis (another player returning from injury), Lukas Webb, Travis Cloke and Wallis again all kicked majors as the Dogs turned a 32-point deficit into a nine-point lead at the last change.

The final change of ends brought another change of fortune, sparked by a free kick and 50-metre penalty paid against Bulldog Cloke which saw Geelong skipper Joel Selwood kick an easy goal. His brother Scott followed up with another, and then Taylor and Dan Menzel followed suit as the Cats jumped to a 16-point lead. The Bulldogs mounted a challenge with majors to Dickson and Boyd to cut the margin to just four points but Geelong owned the time-on period, and goals to Menzel, Taylor and Dangerfield saw the Cats to a 23-point win, their 11th in a row against the Dogs.

Dangerfield may well have earned another three votes from the umpires with a magnificent 12-tackle, 36-disposal game, while Tom Boyd had his best game for the Bulldogs this year, kicking two goals and having 33 hitouts. Wallis (26 possessions, six tackles) was also excellent in his return to AFL football.

Having arrested their slide the Cats will be confident of another win when they host Port Adelaide (sixth on the ladder with five wins) at Kardinia Park on Thursday. The Bulldogs now have a slide of their own to arrest, having lost two in a row. The eight-placed Dogs will face the ninth-placed Saints at Docklands on Saturday afternoon, both teams on five wins, separated by only a small percentage margin.

GOALS
Geelong: Taylor 5; Dangerfield 4; Menzel 2; Blicavs, Tuohy, Hawkins, J.Selwood, S.Selwood
Western Bulldogs: Smith, Redpath, Wallis, Dickson, Boyd 2; Webb, Cloke

BEST - AFL.COM.AU
Geelong: J. Selwood, Duncan, Dangerfield, S. Selwood, Stewart, Taylor
Western Bulldogs: Wallis, Daniel, Jong, Murphy, Macrae, Dale

BEST - THE SATURDAY AGE
Geelong: Dangerfield, Tuohy, J. Selwood, Taylor, Duncan, S. Selwood, Stewart, Menegola, Mackie
Western Bulldogs: Daniel, T Boyd, Wallis, Jong, Johannisen, Murphy, C Smith

INJURIES
Geelong: Jordan Murdoch replaced Cam Guthrie (illness) in the selected side. Cockatoo (hamstring), Motlop (finger)
Western Bulldogs: Easton Wood (shoulder)

UMPIRES: Williamson, Jeffery, McInerney

TELEVISION BROADCAST: Seven Network