Round 9 – Geelong Cats v Western Bulldogs: Stuck

 

Stuck

Geelong versus Western Bulldogs

7.15pm, Friday 19 May,

Kardinia Park, Geelong

By Aidan Hammond Aged 11

 

Do you remember my Western Bulldogs v Sydney report which was in round 2 2017? That was about how good the Western Bulldogs were at sticking in there, well I’m back with another Western Bulldogs report, this time against Geelong. Geelong is a very good team with Patrick Dangerfield the Brownlow Medallist. Geelong have finished Kardinya Park’s Brownlow stand. Kardinya now has a capacity of around 40,000.

 

I remember last year when I went to Kardinia Park to see Geelong and Sydney play, it was a pretty good game but Sydney ended up being victors. The stand was being built then. Geelong is a really nice city with Kardinia Park having a great atmosphere. My computer has been broken for a while now so today I asked the I.T. people at school to look at it and see if they can repair it. The back clip is broken so I don’t have my computer for the whole weekend. I am writing this on my family’s computer, (which used to be my old (Windows XP) computer (which used to be my Dad’s). So this means my Brownlow medal will probably not come out for another week or two.

 

I go to my stepsister’s netball game and they get thrashed 19 to 1. I get home and I go down stairs and I am missing the pre game! When I turn it on, I hear fireworks, I think, that is Kardinia Park, and last year the fireworks display was pretty awesome. Luckily I am there in time for the match to start. I’ve tipped Geelong. The commentators talk about how whoever wins the bottom 6 battle will win the game. The match starts off with Geelong getting the clearance out of the middle. Patrick Dangerfield ends up getting a mark on the right forward flank about 55 metres out.

 

He is the Brownlow Medallist, it would be fitting if he kicks the goal because 1, they just put up the new Brownlow Stand and 2, if he kicks it, it will land in the Brownlow Stand. He does kick it. It’s not a hugely high kick but it lands clear by quite a bit. I think that is pretty fitting, I am  thinking to myself that this is going to be all Geelong for this match, Bulldogs get a behind and  they still haven’t convinced me, maybe a seven point play and it will. Oh, yes! There it is, the seven point play. This is what Friday night football is all about.

 

I try not to but sometimes I am rooting in my head for teams that aren’t the Crows. Every time I see Geelong play (apart from against the Crows), I root for them in my head. I think it might be because Dangerfield used to be my favourite player at the Crows, (now it is Rory Sloane), or that when I went to Geelong, I had a great experience there with the locals and everything.

 

It also could be that the local club that I play for are blue and white and are the Cats, or maybe it is just the way that they play makes me like them. They may be good but they are never going to get ahead of my Crows. Crows are preaching on top of my favourite team’s mountain list. I don’t think the other 17 have even found the mountain. The Bulldogs are winning at quarter time. The next quarter out of nowhere Geelong just go bang with a lot of goals too the bulldogs zero points. Dangerfield kicks what could be goal of the year for his second.

 

He also racks up the possessions. Bulldogs need to just slow the game down and not attack the whole time, I praised the Bulldogs in one of my reports on how they are so good at sticking in there, well it looks like they are a bit stuck right now. Well it’s the third quarter and the Bulldogs are winning. Half the quarter was a nap. The last quarter we experienced two premiership contenders going at it, an amazing way to start the weekend off. But sorry to say Bulldogs, Geelong are just too hard to beat at Kardinia, 23 points too hard.

 

GEELONG                   3.0   8.5   9.5   16.8 (104)
WESTERN BULLDOGS  4.3   4.3   10.8   12.9 (81)

 

GOALS
Geelong: Taylor 5, Dangerfield 4, Menzel 2, Blicavs, Tuohy, Hawkins, J.Selwood, S.Selwood
Western Bulldogs: Smith 2, Redpath 2, Wallis 2, Dickson 2, Boyd 2, Webb, Cloke

BEST
Geelong: Dangerfield, J.Selwood, Duncan, S.Selwood, Stewart, Taylor, Tuohy, Smith
Western Bulldogs: Wallis, Daniel, Jong, Murphy, Macrae, Dale

INJURIES
Geelong: Jordan Murdoch replaced Cam Guthrie (illness) in the selected side. Cockatoo (hamstring), Motlop (finger)
Western Bulldogs: Easton Wood (shoulder)

Reports: Nil

Umpires: Williamson, Jeffery, McInerney

Official crowd: 30,275 at Simonds Stadium