Tiges vs Cats media articles

[one-eyed]

NAB Cup: Ottens leads romp at the cattery
By Paul Gough,
afl.com.au

The word all summer out of Geelong was that Brad Ottens was enjoying his best pre-season ever and finally ready to deliver on the potential that he first showed when he was named an All-Australian in 2001.

Five seasons may have passed since then and Ottens has since moved from Richmond to Geelong, but if Sunday's first-up NAB Cup performance against his old club is a reliable guide to the season ahead then Ottens may yet turn out to the match-winning forward the Cats have craved for the past decade.

Ottens played some of his best football since 2001 on Sunday as the reigning NAB Cup champions inflicted a humiliating first round loss on Richmond; 3.17.10 (139) to 1.14.3 (96)

And to cap off a disappointing day for the Tigers they also lost star forwards Matthew Richardson and Andrew Krakouer to injury.

Richardson limped off with what appeared a hamstring injury late in the second term while Krakouer injured his knee while attempting to kick the ball off the ground in a clash that also left Geelong defender Darren Milburn needing to go to hospital with a badly gashed eye.

GEELONG: 1.6.2, 2.11.3, 3.16.8, 3.17.10 (139)
RICHMOND: 0.2.0, 0.6.0, 0.10.0, 1.14.3 (96)

NINE POINT GOALS:
Geelong: Prismall, Enright, Bartel
Richmond: Tivendale

SIX POINT GOALS:
Geelong: Ottens 4, Mooney 4, G Ablett 2, Gardiner 2, Byrnes, Stokes, Prismall, Milburn, N.Ablett
Richmond: Brown 3, Deledio 3, Richardson 2, Tuck 2, Pettifer, Hyde, Foley, Meyer

BEST:
Geelong: G.Ablett, Ottens, Mooney, Kelly, Stokes, Byrnes, Enright, Wojcinski, Ling
Richmond: Foley, Brown, Howat, J Bowden, Deledio

INJURIES:
Geelong: Milburn (cut head)
Richmond: Richardson (hamstring), Krakouer (knee)

REPORTS: Nil

UMPIRES: Allen, Nicholls, Ryan, Lee-Archer

CROWD: Est 15,000 at Skilled Stadium, Geelong

Full article: http://afl.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=38370

[one-eyed]

Cats crush Tigers in NAB Cup clash
The Age
February 25, 2007 - 5:19PM

Geelong has opened its AFL NAB Cup campaign with a 43-point thumping of Richmond at Skilled Stadium today.

The defending pre-season champion dominated from the start for an encouraging 3.17.10 (139) to 1.14.3 (96) win.

Adding to Richmond's woeful day, key forward Matthew Richardson hurt a hamstring and Andrew Krakouer has a knee injury.

Key Cats forward Brad Ottens was awesome in the first half and finished with four goals, while Cameron Ling impressed with 33 possessions and Cameron Mooney also kicked four majors.

It was a perfect start to the season for Geelong, who disappointed last year when they finished the regular season 10th after their successful pre-season.

Their quarter-final will be against Port Adelaide next Saturday night in Darwin.

The Cats fielded a strong side, while the Tigers had several players missing through injury.

Richmond was particularly undermanned for tall players, leaving onballer Shane Tuck to share the ruckwork with Trent Knobel.

But Richmond's ball handling was also poor too often, especially in defence.

Only the Tigers' scoring accuracy prevented a much uglier scoreline.

Late in the second term, Krakouer tried to soccer the ball through for a goal and connected instead with the head of Geelong's Darren Milburn.

The impact left Milburn with a bloodied forehead and Krakouer also hurt his knee in the incident.

Joel Selwood, the young brother of AFL players Adam and Troy, impressed in his first game for the Cats, while Mathew Stokes was another strong performer.

Nathan Brown kicked three goals for the Tigers and Joel Bowden worked hard as always in defence.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Sport/Cats-crush-Tigers-in-NAB-Cup-clash/2007/02/25/1172338461957.html

[one-eyed]

The ABC have tried to put a positive spin on our last quarter to make the game sound interesting

Geelong staved off a late surge  ??? from Richmond to down the visitors by 43 points in their AFL preseason cup clash at Kardinia Park on Sunday.

A super goal to Greg Tivendale late in the fourth had the Cats scrambling to hold on to their lead, which they did so thanks to the late efforts of substitute Nathan Ablett.

http://www.abc.net.au/sport/content/200702/s1856441.htm

[one-eyed]

Geelong had 66 more possessions. Half our side had less than 10 disposals each

Team stats

Kicks: 158 - 181
Hballs: 145 - 188
Marks: 65 - 79
Tackles: 50 - 42
Hitouts: 29 - 42
Frees: 15 -15

Individual possessions

Tivs     25
Foley   25
Joel     23
Howat  22
Polak   21
Tuck    21
Raines 17
Newy   17
Polo     17
Browny 17
Tambo  12
Petts    11
Lids       9
Gas       9
Richo    9
Hyde     8
Harts     8
Moore    6
Knobel  6
Clever   5
Krak     4
Meyer   4
White   4
Jacko    3

[one-eyed]

Top 5's on the ground (Tigers)

Contested possies
4. Tivs   9
5. Foley 8

Uncontested possies
4. Foley 18

Effective kicks
1. Tivs  13
4. Howat 11

Inside 50s
2. Howat   6
4. Tambo  5
5. Tivs      4

[one-eyed]

Wallace: No need to panic
7:03:56 PM Sun 25 February, 2007
Paul Gough
Exclusive to richmondfc.com.au

As for the performance, Wallace said there was no reason to panic.

"We were the only side which had to play a team on its home ground this round and we knew they were playing a full squad and with them coming off the season they had last year (when the Cats' missed the finals after winning the NAB Cup) we knew it was going to be a difficult equation," Wallace said.

"But in saying that we were really poor in the first half and played some ordinary football."

The Tigers were missing most of their big men with Troy Simmonds, Adam Pattison, Jay Schulz, Ray Hall and Will Thursfield all out, along with new recruit Kent Kingsley, and with Richardson also off early, the Tigers' big man stocks were so low that midfielder Shane Tuck was used as a back-up ruckman.

But while Wallace said that problem would soon be rectified with the imminent return of his tall timber, he was disappointed some of his young players did not seize their opportunity on Sunday.

"What it showed today was seven or eight blokes didn’t step up and a few of the younger boys showed they aren’t ready for that level and that intensity of footy."

But while Wallace did not name those players, one player who did please him was returning defender Chris Newman.

"I thought he was terrific, to come off that broken leg last year and to play in that sort of form (in defence) when was under the pump most of the day I thought was outstanding."

Full article: http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=316175

[tigersalive]

Final clearance stats anyone?