Cats all class as Tigers labour
Nick Sheridan | March 8, 2008
CONVENTIONAL wisdom says you can't read too much into pre-season form. But when you are looking at two teams for whom, to all outward appearances, nothing seems to have changed over the summer, it is hard not to start drawing conclusions.
Such was the case yesterday afternoon when Geelong beat Richmond by 72 points at Skilled Stadium.
First, the good news. The Cats are still a force to be reckoned with. Their pressure is first rate, their disposal is clean, and they work together beautifully.
So well, in fact, it was hard to pick a stand-out. The midfield was superb — Jimmy Bartel, Gary Ablett, Cameron Ling and David Wojcinski all showed they are capable of brilliance. And then there was the forward line.
Cam Mooney was solid with four goals, and Steve Johnson is just one of those players who makes you wonder what on earth he is thinking the moment before he swings the ball on to his boot and slots through an improbable goal, as he did twice yesterday.
James Kelly was superb, but not just up forward — he also spends valuable time in defence and sweeping through the centre of the ground, and youngster Ryan Gamble was very promising with three goals.
Yet, as always with the Cats, it did not end there. All told, there were 13 goalkickers for the Cats, seven of those with multiple majors beside their name.
For Richmond the news was not so good. The day started well, as the Tigers caught the Cats napping in the first five minutes, with new recruit Mitch Morton scoring the first two goals. He put on a show for the first, taking a screamer and slotting it through, then finished calmly after a good pass from Kayne Pettifer for the second.
But this little spark from the Tigers woke up the home side with a start and it proceeded to do what it does best, kicking the next six goals straight — through five different players, as it does — and applying excellent pressure right across the ground.
From there the Tigers spent the next three quarters collapsing in on themselves. They overused the ball time and again with series of endless handballs that did not seem to go anywhere.
When they did find the space to move, it was often backwards. Those rare sorties forward were almost always cut short by the follies of imprecise disposal or the solid performance of the Cats' defence.
One positive for the Tigers was the return of midfielder Mark Coughlan, who is back after a nightmare run of two consecutive knee reconstructions that has kept him out of contention for more than a year.
While he started on the bench, he did get some good game time playing through the middle, gathering a handful of touches and kicking one goal.
Brett Deledio showed flashes of promise, with two goals, and new recruit Jordan McMahon picked up plenty of touches across half-back in the first half, although mainly due to a wealth of opportunity as the Cats continually ran the ball into attack.
Matthew Richardson laboured hard all day, and finished with three goals, although they were all scored in the final quarter, well after the result had been decided against the Tigers.
Predictably, neither side was prepared to make too much of then result, but Richmond coach Terry Wallace was reasonably frank in his assessment.
"You're playing the best side in the competition. I can assure the other sides in the competition that they're up and running and ready to go."
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