Tiges vs Cats game articles

[one-eyed]

Tigers push Cats all the way
3:39:35 PM Sun 28 August, 2005
Bren O'Brien
Exclusive to afl.com.au

Geelong has secured a home elimination final after staving off a determined Richmond to prevail by one point in a thrilling match at Skilled Stadium.

It was a match high on sentiment and possession but low on pure skill and scoring as both sides grappled with the gusty wind. Richmond, farewelling 297-game veteran Wayne Campbell, tried hard to shut down the September-bound Cats but after closing within three points at half-time, couldn't quite overhaul the home side. Geelong took the points 10.9 (69) to 10.8 (68) despite kicking just one behind in the final term.

Steve Johnson backed up with another dominant effort, sparking Geelong's strong start and proving a constant headache for the Tigers for much of the afternoon. Cameron Mooney marked his 100th game with a sturdy defensive effort backed up by Matthew Scarlett, who restricted Matthew Richardson to just two goals. Joel Corey was the best of a Geelong midfield which may not have got as much of the ball as their opponents, but was far more efficient. Cameron Ling stood up late with two crucial defensive marks.

Joel Bowden got a mountain of possession and provided much of the Tigers' run, while Shane Tuck's intelligent ball use troubled Geelong. Brent Hartigan offered plenty on the wing while Darren Gaspar had the better of the Cats' forwards.

Geelong's brilliant start was powered by the use of the breeze and an excellent first term from Johnson, who was felled in the opening minutes but responded by grabbing 11 touches before the first change. He kicked the match's first goal and then played a part as Mooney and the Ablett brothers - Nathan and Gary - added further goals within four minutes. Those four majors were the only for either team in the term and the Cats held a 24-point advantage at quarter time.

Richard Tambling got the Tigers' first goal, but Johnson was not going to be upstaged, fashioning an improbable goal when lying on the ground in the pocket. However, the Tigers, fuelled by Bowden's run from the backline, began to play more direct football with the breeze and were rewarded with five of the last seven goals of the half, including two from Richardson to close within three points at the main break.

Richmond closed the Cats right down in the third term with possession football after conceding an early goal to Darren Milburn. But after managing just one goal from their first seven scoring chances of the second half, the Cats broke the shackles through Milburn and Tom Harley in time on, and had a 26-point buffer going into the wind in the final term.

It would be enough, but there were more than a few nervous moments, especially after Bowden and Andrew Krakouer kicked the first two majors of the final quarter. The Cats could have had a sealer when Johnson looked to have threaded his third, but the umpire hadn't called advantage. Kayne Pettifer closed the gap to seven points with five minutes remaining and when Troy Simmonds snapped truly from a marking contest in the final minute, the home fans had their hearts in their mouths. But Ling's composure under pressure secured the win, with a gutsy mark backing into the pack.


GEELONG: 4.2, 7.2, 10.8, 10.9 (69)
RICHMOND: 0.2, 6.5, 6.6, 10.8 (68)

GOALS – Geelong: Milburn 2, Johnson 2, N Ablett, G Ablett, Harley, Kelly, Mooney, Riccardi
Richmond: Richardson 2, Krakouer 2, Pettifer, Campbell, Bowden, Kellaway, Tambling, Simmonds

BEST – Geelong: Johnson, Corey, Milburn, Mooney, Ling, Chapman, G Ablett
Richmond: Bowden, Tuck, Johnson, Hartigan, Coughlan, Deledio

INJURIES – Geelong: Nil Richmond: Hyde (corked thigh)
CHANGES – Geelong: Nil Richmond: Nil
REPORTS - Nil
UMPIRES - Grun, Nicholls, Head
CROWD - 24,096 at Skilled Stadium

http://richmondfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=225484

[one-eyed]

Tigers claw back credibility
29 August 2005   
Sunday Herald Sun
Trevor Grant

THE moment he put his nose to the wind just before lunchtime at Geelong yesterday, Richmond coach Terry Wallace smelt a massacre in the air.

A summer-style warm northerly had blown in a couple of months ahead of schedule.

And, according to the coach, on its arrival Richmond's game plan to take on the Cats in a free-flowing contest blew out the window.

Displaying admirable versatility, Richmond, which had kicked 20 goals the previous week to snatch defeat from Hawthorn, went from shootout to lock-down mode in the flick of a switch.

What then transpired for the next two hours would surely be judged by any objective observer as another blight on the great Australian game.

With two extra players playing loose in the backline and the rest of the team committed to possession at any cost in the first and third quarters (when Richmond kicked against the wind), the Tigers took the philosophy of defence to a new height – or low, for those who don't particularly enjoy the sight of players looking about as active as those bronze statues outside the MCG).

It was as if they had resolved to ice the clock from start to finish in those quarters, kicking just three points for the game when facing the breeze from the city-end goal.

As you'd expect, along with almost strangling the life out of Geelong, it slaughtered the game as a spectacle.

Even Geelong coach Mark Thompson expressed sympathy for those who had to watch it. "I feel for the supporters," he said.

But in the clash between the coaches' responsibility to the game and their own backyard, the latter triumphed yet again. While Thompson's feeling for the fans appeared genuine, he acknowledged he couldn't be absolved from blame.

"I have some input to what happens down there," he said, recognising the Cats' defensive response yesterday.

As for his counterpart, indignation was the best way to describe his reaction to questions about the tactic. And, after coming within one point of upsetting the highly favoured Cats, Wallace clearly believed he was expressing it from a fairly solid perch.

He reminded us that Wayne Campbell, who started in 1992, came as close as he's been to a victory at Kardinia Park yesterday. "Do you want to come down here and watch a nice blowout ? Or do you want . . . a game that is, right to the bitter end, a game that could be won?" Wallace said.

"We haven't won down here for 15 years. This side kicked 25 goals against us last time (Round 1) we played and (today) we got within one point. That's where my responsibility lies.

"This is a one-off circumstance. You've got a four-goal breeze. We planned to come down here and play them on their merits. I didn't blow the wind. I didn't put a big fan down from the other end and change the circumstances."

He also summoned history from another angle to reinforce his argument.

"How many games have you gone to at VFL Park where it was wet and windy and miserable, the ball's slopping along the ground and you get it again and again and kick it up the lines? It's been going on for 100 years," he said.

"There's a four-goal breeze going down one way and we decide to play a couple of blokes behind the footy.

"If we hadn't done that and we were eight goals behind at quarter-time you would have said: `Why are you leaving it so open?'

"It's very, very hard to win in this position (as coach). You can only win on the scoreboard and we didn't even get that."

While Wallace insisted he had reacted at the last minute to the conditions, Thompson wasn't so sure.

He said he'd been expecting it long before the wind whipped up from the north.

"I think they had a game plan of just trying to stop us from scoring; to make it a low-scoring affair and they did it pretty well," he said. "Terry has a history of doing it against Geelong and it was successful."

And but for two lousy points, it would have no doubt been hailed as a masterstroke.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,16414296%255E19771,00.html