Geel vs. Ess

[Fall Out Boy]

We ended up winning by 5 points.

Geelong 12.12.94
Essendon 11.13.89

Goals: S Johnson, Ablett, Chapman 2, Kelly, Corey, Gardiner, McCarthy, Milburn, Hunt 1.

Haven't been able to find much info thus far, but i do know that Rooke ran with Hird and apparently gave him a touch up early.

 

[Keldar]

you little beauty

 

[Keldar]

This is from Essendon's (quite excellent) official website-

A final quarter on-slaught saw Geelong record a nine-point win over Essendon tonight at Lavington Sports Oval. It was a titanic struggle with the lead changing over 12 times during the second half. Essendon kicked the first two goals of the final term and looked to be on the way to recording its second pre-season win until a Geelong resurgence saw them kick the final four goals for the match.

Dean Rioli was in sensational form for the Bombers. He dominated throughout the middle and delivered the ball into the forward line with pin-point accuracy. He was clearly the best man on the ground and used his strength and speed to advantage. He finished the match with one goal.

Essendon went into its final practice match with a high calibre line-up but it still wasn’t enough to overrun the in-form Geelong. Dustin Fletcher, Mark McVeigh and Mark Bolton were the main absentees from the 26-man squad. The coaching panel opted to rest Fletcher in light of him being unavailable for the Round 1 match against Brisbane due to suspension. Bolton missed for similar reasons. McVeigh received a light knock to his knee and was given the week off despite the injury not being serious.

In warm conditions at Lavington Sports Oval, Geelong got off to a perfect start kicking the first goal in the first 30 seconds of the match. Essendon responded shortly after when Matthew Lloyd converted from 30 metres out after being awarded a free kick for an incident up field off the ball.

The Cats controlled most of the play in the first term and dominated at stoppages. The forward structure was left open for Matthew Lloyd to lead, however the delivery at times was poor. Paul Barnard provided a focal point in attack and took a few strong marks. He kicked the Bombers second goal in the dying moments of the quarter to bring the margin to 12-points at quarter time.

Essendon’s intensity significantly increased in the second term and won more of the ball out of the centre. Two quick goals from Lloyd in the first few minutes of the quarter put Essendon back in touch with Geelong. Rioli continued to dominant for the Bombers through the middle and his delivery of the ball was pin-point into the forward line. The lead changed several times before the Cats headed into half-time with a two-point lead when Joel Cory goaled just before the siren.

The Essendon line-up was strengthened heading into the second half with Jason Johnson, Damian Cupido and Sean Wellman all coming on after spending the first half on the bench. The Bombers’ started the quarter in a similar fashion to the second term. Adam Ramanauskas booted the first goal of the second half and put his side back in the lead in the opening seconds. Cupido showed how beneficial his speed will be to the Bombers this season when he crumbed off the pack and ran into goal to kick the Bombers’ second for the term moments later.

Rioli continued to notch up the possessions and use his strength through the mid-field. The 24-year-old has again been dynamic this quarter in winning the ball and is clearly best on ground. Paul Barnard fell awkwardly at the eight minute of the quarter and limped off the ground with a suspected ankle injury.

Essendon controlled the majority of the play but didn’t capitalise enough on the forward opportunities. Poor disposal into the forward line resulted in a number of wasted opportunities and could have been further ahead at the final change. The Bombers’ kept Geelong goal less until the 19-minute mark of the quarter. The goal resulting from a free kick against Dean Solomon. Essendon head into the final change with a five-point lead.

Geelong put themselves back in the lead in the opening minutes of the quarter when Darren Milburn goaled on the run from inside 50m. Essendon quickly answered the Geelong challenge when Sean Wellman was instrumental in the Bombers’ tenth goal. The All Australian defender ran the ball out of defence and delivered to Cupido on the lead. The former Brisbane Lions player used his lightning pace to fend off his defender and goal on tight angle from 30 metres out. Mark Johnson quickly followed suit when he snapped from 30 metres to give his team a 13-point advantage.

Geelong over ran the Bombers in the final five minutes and pegged the margin back. The Cats kicked the final three goals to record a nine-point win. Essendon will play an intra-club match next Friday, March 21st at Windy Hill before heading to Brisbane for the Round 1 clash against the Brisbane Lions.

 

[catattack]

After quarter time we played pretty well, and used interchange a lot. They gave players who didn't get much game time in the Wizard Cup a fair run.

Played pretty well, good run in 3rd quarter, and second half comeback in last quarter.

3 streakers provided other entertainment for the strong 15,000 crowd. The crowd were getting involved in the game, a majority were Bomber fans. Although a mini Geelong Cheersquad went up and were loud, and supportive for Geelong.

The ground was pretty good, good condition, and the lighting was excellent, almost as good as the MCG, could see everything well. Fencing was good, made lots of noise. Up to AFL standard.

Best players would be Ablett Jnr, Corey Enright, Milburn, David Johnson, Spriggs, and Rooke who shut down Hird.

Geelong had a few little skill errors, dropping easy marks, Ablett Jnr missed about 3 easy goals which he should have got.

Players got through pretty much un injured. Although there has been no reports on injuries, if there were any. No GFC players left the ground due to injuries.

There were many good chicks out in force to watch the game!

The umpiring was pretty fair, not too bad, or too good. Did miss some things though, as is common.

Great win for the Cats, hopefully this will help membership.


Go Cats!!
catattack

 

[X_box_X]

This mob kicked our ass by 12 goals last week...
Pre-season doesn't mean anything. I say - Let's bring on round one.

 

[ScouseCat]

Originally posted by X_box_X
This mob kicked our ass by 12 goals last week...
Pre-season doesn't mean anything. I say - Let's bring on round one.

Looking forward to it mate, Geelong should almost be back to full strength if Ling and Mooney can recover in time.

 

[Skilledfan]

Agreat win and an exciting game to watch!
A little biased but Geelong were obviously the better side on the night except for a patch in the third quarter when Essendon seemed to have a real run on the ball. Geelong had more of the ball but Essendon were converting easier!! _heard that one before!
Backline was excellent.
No Ben Graham,Ling,Will Slade, Rahilly or Peter Street

Ablett showed real touch tonight. Great game. Spriggs was good and really puts his body on the line. No hesitation!

The Bombers tried their typical 'Bully Boy' tactics early in the third term but our guys matched them well and were not intimidated!! Quite a few scuffles and mini melee situations for 5-10 minutes of the 3rd quarter but hopefully no one will be reported. I think our guys came out of it well and were fired up by it enough to start fighting back.

Half way through the last term I didn't think we had a hope in hell of winning but the guys really put themselves in and wanted the ball desperately. Great last few minutes of play.

Our win tonight shows that the depth of talent in the Club is very good. Considering the players that weren't playing we had a fantastic win!!
Go Cats

 

[ScouseCat]

Originally posted by Skilledfan
No Ben Graham,Ling,Will Slade, Rahilly or Peter Street

Apart from Cameron Mooney and Cameron Ling who are injired, were any other players missing from the game?? Did Kent Kingsley play??

 

[JUBJUB]

Originally posted by ScouseCat
Apart from Cameron Mooney and Cameron Ling who are injired, were any other players missing from the game?? Did Kent Kingsley play??

Kingsley was tipped to have a run in the VFL yesterday.I don't think Lord played.

 

[Skilledfan]

QUOTE]Apart from Cameron Mooney and Cameron Ling who are injired, were any other players missing from the game?? Did Kent Kingsley play??[/QUOTE]

Nope. Nor Lord, Street, Rahilly, Sanderson, Graham, Wojcinski.
Quite a few of the regular Wizz Fizz 26 out which made the win a very good one. The young guys- virtually the 2002 VFL Premiers with King, Ricco,Milburn, Harley and Scarlett along for the ride- didn't lose the plot when the pressure was on. Great Stuff!

Clarke and Bartel both played also Chambers and Playfair.

I wasn't sure who no. 31 was for a while. It sure looked strange! The pleasing thing was that Chambers seems to have really bulked up and is no longer the "string bean with dreadlocks'. He played reasonably well and King was given quite a long rest on the bench!!

 

[JUBJUB]

Wojcinski played in the VFL.