A seven goal to two third term set up the win for the Cats, yet the biggest story to come out of the match will be the injury to Steve Johnson’s knee.
With Johnson feeding the ball off under pressure during the third term, his left knee got caught underneath the weight of Andrew Embley’s body and twisted awkwardly in the process.
Johnson was able to walk at the conclusion of the match, but he looks to be in some doubt for the grand final next week.
There were plenty of other contributors in the Cats’ victory, with James Kelly and Andrew Mackie each collecting 29 and 27 disposals respectively.
Joel Selwood shrugged off the tag of his brother, Scott, to also be among the best with 25 touches, while James Podsiadly kicked three for the winners.
Beau Waters was a stand-out for the Eagles with his uncompromising approach to his football, as the Eagles’ backman amassed 38 disposals and eleven marks, while Daniel Kerr fought tirelessly with 30 possessions and a goal of his own.
Geelong did all of the attacking in the opening minutes, and did so with aplomb piling on the first four goals of the match.
A free kick against Waters allowed Travis Varcoe to get the ball rolling for the Cats before Allen Christensen, James Podsiadly and Trent West each added further goals to give the Cats the ‘purrfect’ start.
For the second week running, the Eagles surrendered the opening four goals of the match, and were duly crying out for a response; up stepped Josh Kennedy who, after taking a strong contested mark against Andrew Mackie, booted a much-needed major for the West Coast.
Another free kick, this time against Chris Masten, gifted David Wojcinski with the Cats’ fifth, and with four seconds to go, the quarter looked to be done and dusted.
However, a centre-square infringement against Brad Ottens presented the Eagles with a gimme-goal.
Nic Naitanui was awarded the free kick, yet when Joel Corey didn’t return the ball correctly to the Eagle, an instant 50 metre penalty ensued, with Naitanui making no mistake in front of goal.
The Eagles’ defensive pressure had been sub-standard in the first term, with the inside 50 count a lop-sided 22-8 in the Cats’ favor.
Nevertheless, the Eagles put the first term behind them kicking the first two goals of the quarter through Mark LeCras and Luke Shuey to reduce the Cats’ lead to only ten points – Shuey’s goal, in particular, coming about from an errant kick from Geelong’s Harry Taylor after the Cat appeared to have more time than he thought.
Tom Hawkins hadn’t seen too much of the ball, with the typically reliable Darren Glass holding the big Cat to just two disposals half way through the second quarter.
However, when Hawkins’ towering mark and 55 metre bomb ended in a goal, you could see that Glass was clearly shattered.
Geelong set about restoring its dominance, and through a careful finish from Joel Selwood, the Cats enjoyed a 23-point lead.
Geelong’s profligacy in front of goals continued to be a concern for coach, Chris Scott, with the Cats boasting 19 scoring shots to nine at half time.
This was particularly apparent when Varcoe disappointingly kicking two behinds on either side of a wonderful long bomb by Jack Darling, which ended in a goal.
However, all fears of a West Coast comeback were allayed, with the Cats banging in seven goals to two to blow the margin out to 56 points at three-quarter time.
Johnson turned on the magic early in the third quarter with an intuitive snap on the left ending in a goal for the Cats.
Although, it was one of his last contributions to the match, with the lively Cat succumbing to an injury to his left knee.
Podsiadly and Mathew Stokes added further goals in the midst of Johnson being substituted for the Cats, as the Cats were coasting.
An excellent one-handed mark by West Coast’s Sam Butler set up Daniel Kerr for the latter’s first goal of the match.
However, it was hard to see how the Eagles were going to get back into the game, with the Eagles wasting opportunities of their own; on three separate occasions, Embley blazed away at goal unsuccessfully when he could’ve passed the ball off to a better option.
Evidently, Podsiadly was in no mood for a West Coast comeback either kicking his third of the match with a post-high snap from the boundary.
Kennedy, again, offered brief respite for the Eagles with his second of the match.
However, Kennedy’s goal was only a precursor to the Cats’ heaping on three goals in a row to effectively kill of the contest just prior to three-quarter time.
A red-vested Johnson was greeted to rapturous applause at the beginning of the final term, as the Geelong magician walked along the boundary.
That there was probably the highlight of the last quarter, with goals coming few and far between as the pace of the game considerably slowed down.
In a sense, it was probably a relief for the Eagles, with Kerr, Dean Cox, and Eric Mackenzie looking visibly wounded as the intense semi-final win over Carlton last week probably took its toll.
However, while the Eagles will live to fight another day, it will be the Cats who will now turn their attentions to next in attempting to stop the Collingwood juggernaut from rolling on.
Andy Paolacci - Hi there! My name is Andy Paolacci and I am a 26-year-old Monash University Arts/Journalism graduate from Melbourne, Australia. I have ...
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