GeelongThree point win Melbourne Star defender Tom Stewart suffered a significant cost loss on Sunday. The two-time All-Australian backman was injured in an incident with Tom McDonald moving towards Stewart before the couple bumped their shoulders in an apparently harmless collision.
Stewart came out second best and was shut out at quarter of an hour. It was a sour note for the Cats on a day they couldn’t impress but did enough to survive Melbourne with a grumpy win of 7.5 (47) to 6.8 (44).
The match only came to life in the final minutes when Angus Brayshaw scored a goal in the back pocket due to the horror sales of Cats defender Mark O’Connor, which reduced the lead to four points. The off-season recruit, Adam Tomlinson, had a chance to win the match for Melbourne dying, but his 50-meter shot missed the mark.
Cam Guthrie, Joel Selwood, Sam Menegola and Patrick Dangerfield were all employed by Geelong when Darcy Fort and Esava Ratugolea worked hard to prevent Melbourne-Ruckman Max Gawn’s dominance. The demons had a lead of 32-23 and had eight more inside 50s, but were wiped out by their inefficiency.
Melbourne made five changes to its second game within three months after being suspended on round three when the clash with Essendon was postponed. They took time to calm down and went goalless in the first quarter, but flipped the screenplay in their second term to gain a half-time lead from 2.3 (15) to 2.2 (14).
The ugly competition got the lowest score in the first half of 2020 with few highlights, even though the game was played in perfect conditions. Ratugolea started the second half in a jerk and enjoyed a five-minute purple blot as the Cats slammed the first three goals of season three to give their opponents a break.
The Dees looked out into the last minutes as Brayshaw sniffed them. The tough on-baller kicked two majors as the only kicker with multiple goals for both sides that day.
Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney and Christian Petracca were among Melbourne’s best ball winners, and Kysaiah Pickett often looked dangerous in the attack without scoring a goal. Geelong hosts the form-fitting Gold Coast at the GMHBA stadium on Saturday, while Melbourne is about to travel north to take on Sydney at SCG.
It was a fourth consecutive loss for Adelaide On Sunday, however, coach Matthew Nicks could at least say that there were some fights and a peak of their potential at the Gabba. The crows were beaten from 10.23 (83) to 7.4 (46) Brisbanewho could have put the victorious visitors in the sword if dominant midfielders Lachie Neale and Hugh McCluggage (a combined 1.11) had been more accurate in the general game.
Decreased by 40 at halftime, the crows kicked four unanswered goals in a third season, taking a short break after a fortnight full of brutal losses to Port Adelaide and Gold Coast. Taylor Walker, who was under pressure this week to keep his place, kicked two of them and played one hand in another when the 2017 finalists looked just like their old self.
Nicks said it was a step in the right direction as they prepare to play Fremantle, the only other winning team in the competition, this coming Sunday.
“There were some positive signs; I thought we started well, matched Brisbane’s intensity, they were just faster on the ball, ”said the coach. “We were in a fight and managed to change the mindset slightly and see what Footy we are about. Hopefully our supporters have taken some confidence in what they saw. “
He said former captain Walker showed his true worth in the third term. “Tex is largely a product of the way we move the ball, and as we saw in this third, Tex is very valuable if we do our competition right and create a game plan that should suddenly be there “, he said.
“He is very good in front of the goal, is smart, has experience, unfortunately we ask him to compete in areas that are always very difficult to reach.”
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