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Cats hold off late Power surge |
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by Jason Czorny | behindthegame.com.au
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Geelong has picked up where they left off in 2007, dominant, merciless and brutally brilliant on their way to strangling yet another scalp. For the second sparring in a row, it was Port Adelaide.
The Cats had little trouble disposing of the Power in the Grand Final rematch at AAMI Stadium, downing Mark Williams' men with utter professionalism in their first season proper contest of 2008.
The 9-point victory does not do the clinical Cats' awesome first half justice. But a lackluster last quarter, in which Garry Ablett Jnr made a completely uncharacteristic error, opened the door to the Power with only momments remaining in the match.
Though Geelong proved their solidity soon after, with wonderkid Joel Selwood showing mydas touch and remarkable awareness in defence by classically tapping the ball into the path of a teammate.
With much to prove after a poor season last year, Power skipper Warren Tredea started his evening off strongly, marking promisingly before dishing off to Brad Ebert who made no mistake from point-blank range.
Typically, rigid Cat Paul Chapman soon kicked Geelong's first major of the season. Chapman would go on to continually frustrate Port Adelaide's charge to seize the sizable gap between the two teams throughout the contest, consistently rallying and denying the South Australians respite or a ticket of revenge on the side that cruelly defeated the Power by three figures on the last day of September only months ago.
Mark Thompson's well-drilled unit did enough and will take heart from such a win that did not see the likes of superstars Mooney, Ablett and Jimmy Bartel take control of the game. Matthew Stokes booted a bag of three and showed his very well-rounded game off with many assists.
Conversely, the Power have got holes to plug if the club is to match it with the Cats. A lack of mid-aged core players looks the obvious flaw in Williams' talented but young and inexperienced side, as does the loss of retired full-back Shane Wakelin.
Final Score
GEELONG 6.4 10.8 12.11 15.15 (105)
PORT ADELAIDE 4.0 6.1 10.5 14.12 (96) |
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