It was a case of the Eagles taking their chances and the Cats ruing theirs when West Coast bounced back from their loss to Collingwood with an 18 point win over Geelong at Kardinia Park.
Glen Jakovich was arguably the difference between the two sides, with the hulking centre half back picking up 28 disposals and 10 marks in a best on ground display. Jakovich had the better of first Barry Stoneham and then Leigh Colbert with Geelong coach Malcolm Blight unable to diffuse the Eagle’s output.
“The biggest problem we had all day was Jakovich. Forget the rest,” an exasperated Blight remarked after the game.
Jakovich had spent much of the week in doubt with a shoulder injury, but he proved to be an integral part in the Eagles win. Jakovich combined well with Guy McKenna who rebounded strongly off the half-back flank, while Tony Evans produced his best performance of an injury-interrupted season with four goals up forward.
Evans was considered lucky to have held his spot after managing just five disposals the week before, but several others weren’t so fortunate as West Coast made a raft of changes. Karl Langdon, Paul Harding and Matt Clape were all dropped, while Brett Spinks was ruled out with concussion.
Coming into the Eagles line-up were Jason Ball, David Hynes, captain John Worsfold and debutant Paul Symmons. Symmons’ inclusion capped a whirlwind week for the skinny redhead, after he was named best afield for Western Australia in their state league match against South Australia the previous week.
The inclusion of Hynes and Ball was with the intention of giving the Eagles forward line greater presence after Mick Malthouse thought too much reliance had been placed on mid-sized forwards Chris Lewis and Brett Heady the week before.
Peter Sumich remained sidelined as the Eagles opted for caution on their full forward. Sumich, along with Worsfold and Shane Bond, had undergone a fitness test before the squad departed for Geelong, but only Worsfold was declared fit.
The Cats were missing their own spearhead in Bill Brownless, who had not made an appearance since being dropped after the round 10 defeat to Essendon. Geelong, though, still brought back three important players in Leigh Colbert, Leigh Tudor and Peter Riccardi, who was set to resume his battle on the wing with Peter Matera. Sean Simpson was then the Cats’ fourth inclusion when he replaced Leigh Pickering ahead of the bounce.
But while there was no consternation when the team was announced, there were plenty of raised eyebrows when the teams lined up at the opening bounce.
Blight – not immune to thinking outside the box – abandoned his traditional attacking nature by starting many of his playmakers in unorthodox positions in a bid to match the Eagles defensive style. Garry Hocking lined up at half-forward, Robert Scott was sent to a back pocket on Evans, while Paul Couch – who had shown form in the previous month that was reminiscent of his 1989 Brownlow win – started on the bench.
Steven Hocking and Sean Simpson were both moved into the middle in tagging roles on Dean Kemp and Don Pyke, while Grant Tanner was given a similar task on the wing opposed to Chris Mainwaring. Ken Hinkley went to half-forward matching up against McKenna, with Andrew Wills sent to defence on Chris Lewis.
The moves worked for the first 30 seconds when Mark Bairstow was able to win the opening clearance and find Gary Ablett, who snapped the opening goal. But that was about as effective as Blight’s changes got.
Dean Kemp had nine first-quarter possessions – trailing only Jakovich on the ground who had 11 – and Tony Evans was proving too elusive for Robert Scott in the forward line. Chris Lewis was proving equally as difficult for Wills and the Cats were lacking drive with Hocking and Couch not involved in the game.
Two late goals put the Eagles in front at quarter time and they continued to dictate play in the second term. The Cats stuck to the task for the majority of the term, but again West Coast were able to nab a pair of goals late in the quarter to head into half-time with a 17 point advantage.
Kemp had tallied 17 disposals in the first half as he shook off the tagging effort of Steven Hocking, as did Jakovich who had restricted Stoneham to just seven disposals and no marks. Mainwaring picked up seven kicks and three handpasses in the second term to take him to 14 for the half, with Matera also recording 14 disposals in the first half on the other wing.
With the Eagles midfield controlling the game, Blight was forced to do away with his defensive tactics and resort back to Plan A, bringing Couch off the bench and putting he and Garry Hocking in the middle. West Coast booted the first two goals after the main break to stretch their lead to a game high 29 points, but Hocking soon dragged the Cats back into the contest.
The Cats midfielder went head to head with Kemp and had the better of the Eagle as Geelong got more ball in their forward half. However, for all their ball, they were continually met with the imposing presence of Jakovich.
Stoneham was moved to centre half back at the start of the third term, switching positions with Leigh Colbert who had struggled to contain Ashley McIntosh. Colbert moved to centre half forward and tried to drag Jakovich out of the play, but it was to no avail.
The Cats though still managed to kick the final two goals of the third term and Mark Bairstow could have made it three in a row after the siren, only to see his set shot hit slam into the post. Trailing by 22 points at the final change, the Cats continued to push, closing within eight points.
But they failed to capitalise on their chances with Gary Ablett and Tim McGrath, in particular both missing gettable shots. West Coast finished with the final two goals of the game to seal the four points in Chris Mainwaring’s 150th game, but Geelong’s 2.6 in the last term blew any chance they had of stealing the win at the death.
“It was a game of chances, I thought. When we had control of the game in the last quarter we didn’t take ours,” Blight said. The Geelong coach refused to accept that his positional changes at the start of the game had played into the Eagles hands, instead saying they were in the game but couldn’t make their shots on goal count.
Garry Hocking ended with 33 possessions, 21 of which came in the second half, while Paul Couch collected 19, despite spending the best part of half the game on the bench. Gary Ablett finished with four goals, but was well held by Michael Brennan and John Barnes had 18 disposals to go with 25 hit-outs through the middle.
Jakovich’s 28 disposals was the second-best effort in his career and he was the leading ball winner for the Eagles, ahead of Kemp who had 27. Guy McKenna had 25 and Mainwaring finished with 22 touches in his milestone game.
Remarkably, the win was the Eagles’ fourth in a row against Geelong at Kardinia Park, stretching back to 1989. In that time, they had also won twice against the Cats at Waverley Park and twice at the MCG, making it eight consecutive wins over Geelong in Victoria. On the flipside, they had lost twice at home in that same period.
Mick Malthouse was confident that his side would bounce back from their disappointing showing against Collingwood. “We have very rarely lost two in a row. The players responded to direct criticism during the week,” Malthouse proclaimed.
“If that’s the character they showed, then Geelong showed it too. It was a tough game from go to whoa. It was only in the last minute that I put my headphones down.”
When asked about Jakovich’s performance, Malthouse was naturally understated. “Good young player.”
The win maintained the Eagles position at the top of the ladder, one game ahead of Carlton who had defeated North Melbourne by 18 points in their Friday night blockbuster. The Blues leapfrogged the Kangaroos into second spot, with North Melbourne dropping to third. The Hawks held onto fourth position despite having the bye.
Footscray were the big winners of the round, rocketing from ninth to fifth when they thrashed Fitzroy by 104 points. The Bombers defeated Sydney by 34 points but fell behind the Bulldogs on percentage, while the Magpies were the latest team to fall victim at the GABBA, losing to the Bears by 44 points.
Richmond’s narrow win over Melbourne had them knocking on the top eight, while Adelaide missed a golden chance to jump back into the finals spots when they were held to a draw by lowly St Kilda. The Cats remained in eighth spot on percentage, with Malcolm Blight under increasing pressure to hold his position as senior coach.
A fortnight earlier, Blight had been booed by his own fans at three-quarter time when Geelong trailed the Saints by 26 points at home, only to have his blushes saved when the Cats stormed home to win by three points. With a 6-6 record after 12 games, Geelong were well short of expectations and reports of tension between players and the coach were surfacing.
However, Geelong president Greg Durham allayed any suggestions that Blight’s position was under threat, confirming the experienced coach wasn’t going anywhere.
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