ID :
48218
Sat, 02/28/2009 - 18:56
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/48218
The shortlink copeid
Cats muscle into NAB Cup semi-finals
Geelong muscled past Port Adelaide to advance to the pre-season cup semi-finals with an 18-point victory at AAMI Stadium on Saturday.
The Cats, who will now play either Carlton or 2008 grand final victors Hawthorn,
were ahead by a solitary point at halftime before pushing through the gears when it
mattered to win 11.6 (72) to 1.6.9 (54) in front of a paltry crowd of 8,341.
Cats goalsneak Matthew Stokes played a large part in the result, showing both
courage and opportunism in a four-goal performance, while upfield stalwarts Jimmy
Bartel, James Kelly and Paul Chapman were also influential.
The Power were set back by an apparent AC joint injury to their first round pick at
the 2008 national draft, Hamish Hartlett, who had his first pre-season interrupted
by his recovery from a shoulder reconstruction in September last year.
Hartlett crumpled under contact with Geelong's Ryan Gamble, and was promptly handed
a substitute's jumper to indicate he would not be back for the rest of the day.
Captain Dom Cassisi, Kane Cornes and Troy Chaplin all battled hard for Port, and
young livewire Wade Thompson added another two goals to his three last week against
Sydney.
Geelong took the field minus luminaries including Gary Ablett, Cameron Ling, Steve
Johnson and Matthew Scarlett, but would still have been confident of brushing aside
a young, fast Port Adelaide combination.
The early going was scrappy, Stokes opening the scoring with a neat crumb after a
Power turnover further upfield, before Port ensured they kept in touch at the first
change via neat efforts by Thompson and left footer Danyle Pearce.
They were to stay at Geelong's shoulder in the second, capitalising on a touch of
imprecision in the Cats' defence while also limiting the visitors' flow forward to a
handful of effective scoring thrusts.
Greater evidence of why the Cats have sat at the top of the league ladder for most
of the past two seasons emerged in the third, as they eked out a 10-point advantage.
Midway through the term they produced a flowing transition, no fewer than 12
handballs being used to convey the ball from one end to the other for Bartel to
finish off with a clinical running shot.
At the other end Port Adelaide were wasting chances, kicking 0.4 for the quarter,
and they probably should have been down by a greater margin given the Dockers-like
moment of indecision by Josh Carr that drew a turnover and resulted in a
straightforward set shot for Shannon Byrnes, which he wasted by palming off for an
unsuccessful supergoal effort.
Daniel Motlop floated through the only supergoal of the day early in the last to put
the Power within a point, but the Cats responded immediately through Stokes' artful
toe-poke, and coasted to the finish line.
Port coach Mark Williams said the club had lost their captain Warren Tredrea for the
match after he pulled up with hamstring soreness from training on Friday.
The Power have also been inconvenienced by a report for ex-Tiger Danny Meyer, who
was booked for forceful contact to the front of David Johnson in term one.
"Well I have to say we're really disappointed with the result today, we were
probably in the game until the last 10 minutes of the game but I think we had six or
seven points in a row and if you're going to keep in the game you can't ever score
that many points," Williams said.
"If you have a look at where we were and where they were last year you'd say 'gee
it's going to be a battle'.
"They had players out, we had players out as well but they had 15 or 16 premiership
or grand final players so we're a fair way away from them at the moment."
Cats coach Mark Thompson was satisfied with the progress of his side during a
pre-season characterised by scrappy play and widespread use of zones.
"Footy in general has been pretty scrappy over the whole (competition), people have
just been trying to work out new game styles," he said.
"We had a remarkably low forward 50m entry count and the competition has and there's
a high rate of turnovers so it's been pretty difficult but I was really thrilled
with some of the players.
"We asked for a special effort by some of our leaders and we asked the young blokes
just to go out and have a bit of fun."
The Cats, who will now play either Carlton or 2008 grand final victors Hawthorn,
were ahead by a solitary point at halftime before pushing through the gears when it
mattered to win 11.6 (72) to 1.6.9 (54) in front of a paltry crowd of 8,341.
Cats goalsneak Matthew Stokes played a large part in the result, showing both
courage and opportunism in a four-goal performance, while upfield stalwarts Jimmy
Bartel, James Kelly and Paul Chapman were also influential.
The Power were set back by an apparent AC joint injury to their first round pick at
the 2008 national draft, Hamish Hartlett, who had his first pre-season interrupted
by his recovery from a shoulder reconstruction in September last year.
Hartlett crumpled under contact with Geelong's Ryan Gamble, and was promptly handed
a substitute's jumper to indicate he would not be back for the rest of the day.
Captain Dom Cassisi, Kane Cornes and Troy Chaplin all battled hard for Port, and
young livewire Wade Thompson added another two goals to his three last week against
Sydney.
Geelong took the field minus luminaries including Gary Ablett, Cameron Ling, Steve
Johnson and Matthew Scarlett, but would still have been confident of brushing aside
a young, fast Port Adelaide combination.
The early going was scrappy, Stokes opening the scoring with a neat crumb after a
Power turnover further upfield, before Port ensured they kept in touch at the first
change via neat efforts by Thompson and left footer Danyle Pearce.
They were to stay at Geelong's shoulder in the second, capitalising on a touch of
imprecision in the Cats' defence while also limiting the visitors' flow forward to a
handful of effective scoring thrusts.
Greater evidence of why the Cats have sat at the top of the league ladder for most
of the past two seasons emerged in the third, as they eked out a 10-point advantage.
Midway through the term they produced a flowing transition, no fewer than 12
handballs being used to convey the ball from one end to the other for Bartel to
finish off with a clinical running shot.
At the other end Port Adelaide were wasting chances, kicking 0.4 for the quarter,
and they probably should have been down by a greater margin given the Dockers-like
moment of indecision by Josh Carr that drew a turnover and resulted in a
straightforward set shot for Shannon Byrnes, which he wasted by palming off for an
unsuccessful supergoal effort.
Daniel Motlop floated through the only supergoal of the day early in the last to put
the Power within a point, but the Cats responded immediately through Stokes' artful
toe-poke, and coasted to the finish line.
Port coach Mark Williams said the club had lost their captain Warren Tredrea for the
match after he pulled up with hamstring soreness from training on Friday.
The Power have also been inconvenienced by a report for ex-Tiger Danny Meyer, who
was booked for forceful contact to the front of David Johnson in term one.
"Well I have to say we're really disappointed with the result today, we were
probably in the game until the last 10 minutes of the game but I think we had six or
seven points in a row and if you're going to keep in the game you can't ever score
that many points," Williams said.
"If you have a look at where we were and where they were last year you'd say 'gee
it's going to be a battle'.
"They had players out, we had players out as well but they had 15 or 16 premiership
or grand final players so we're a fair way away from them at the moment."
Cats coach Mark Thompson was satisfied with the progress of his side during a
pre-season characterised by scrappy play and widespread use of zones.
"Footy in general has been pretty scrappy over the whole (competition), people have
just been trying to work out new game styles," he said.
"We had a remarkably low forward 50m entry count and the competition has and there's
a high rate of turnovers so it's been pretty difficult but I was really thrilled
with some of the players.
"We asked for a special effort by some of our leaders and we asked the young blokes
just to go out and have a bit of fun."
