GEELONG’s VFL campaign got off to a rough start on Friday night, with the young side suffering a 14-point defeat at the hands of Richmond in its season-opening clash at GMHBA Stadium.
The Cats dominated the third quarter and led by as much as 20 points in the third quarter, but two quick goals from the Tigers before three-quarter time shifted the momentum.
And Richmond didn’t stop there, kicking six goals in the final quarter to hand Geelong a a 12.11 (83) to 14.13 (97) loss.
Geelong coach Shane O’Bree says his team couldn’t halt the Tigers momentum.
“We tried different mixes through the midfield, swung a lot of players around into different positions which got us back into the game at times,” he said.
Cats tall Wylie Buzza had a strong opening half as a forward before being moved into defence, while Nathan Kreuger went the opposite way, swinging from defence into the forward line in which he looked lively.
“Kreuger’s probably a more natural forward but he’s got to have the flexibility,” O’Bree said.
But these changes weren’t enough to curtail the Tigers in the end.
“Last quarter we put our guys on the ball who we thought would impact the game the most, but probably the work they had to do to get back into the game after the first quarter cost them a little bit,” O’Bree said.
It was this slow start which saw the Tigers dominate the opening term with greater speed and pressure, although the Cats were lucky that the lead didn’t extend past seven points at the first break.
“The first 20 minutes of the game was a lot of nervous young boys playing their first game that meant something,” O’Bree said.
“The Tigers got a hold of us around the contest, we couldn’t get our hands on it and they scored four goals.”
After an increase in physicality and evenness around the contest, Geelong started to match it with the Tigers.
And it was the third quarter where the Cats truly started to shine. They were able to get the game mostly on their own terms, kicking four unanswered goals by the 25th minute.
But the Tigers soon broke through with two late goals to erase the Cats three-goal buffer.
O’Bree called the moment “deflating.”
And it was this momentum that the Tigers carried with them into the final term as they run away with the match.
In a further blow for Geelong, Jordan Cunico could face extended time on the sideline after the midfielder went down with a nasty leg injury in the middle of the quarter.
“He’s gone to hospital; we don’t know what he’s done yet. It looks pretty serious,” O’Bree said.
VFL-listed player Jordan Keras had a team high 20 disposals for the Cats, although O’Bree admits Keras had let himself down in areas of the game that he was working on.
The Geelong coach said he had expected more out of Keras and his other VFL leaders.
“I think they let themselves down in a few areas today, which was pretty disappointing.”
Zach Guthrie, Sam Simpson and James Parsons were among the best of the Cats’ AFL listed players, while draftee Jake Tarca kicked two goals.
The Cats host the Northern Blues at GMHBA Stadium next Sunday.
Twitter: @megsaultry
RICHMOND 4.3, 6.6, 8.6, 14.13 (97)
GEELONG 3.2, 5.5, 9.9, 12.11 (83)
Goals: Richmond: M. Chol 3, C. Coleman-Jones 2, C. Moore 2, T. Silvestro, F. Turner, I. Soldo, C. Menadue, J. Townsend, C. Thompson, L. English
Geelong: J. Tarca 2, R. Abbott 2, N. Kreuger 2, W. Buzza 2, Z. Smith, J. Keras, J. Jones, D. Capiron
Best: Richmond: C. Coleman-Jones, J. Ross, H. Beasley, S. Bolton, P. Naish, J. Townsend
Geelong: Z. Guthrie, S. Simpson, C. Wilson, J. Parsons, W. Buzza, J. Kennerley
