Greater Western Sydney give AFL heavyweights a scare before running out of steam.
The Geelong Cats have again used a final quarter surge to seal victory as they romped home to a 59-point victory against Greater Western Sydney at Skoda Stadium.
Greater Western Sydney kicked the first five goals of the game to stun the Cats, before the home side faded late to lose 24.13 (157) to 15.8 (98).
The Cats regained the lead in the 15th minute of the second quarter thanks to the first of James Podsiadly’s five goals, but never managed to snuff out GWS’s resistance until the final quarter.
The visitors played most of the fourth term with only one man on the bench.
Nathan Vardy was substituted off late in the third term, while Steve Johnson and Allen Christensen were involved in an accidental clash of heads.
Johnson and Christensen, who were among Geelong’s best, knocked each other senseless in the eighth minute of the final quarter when they both bent over to collect a ball in dispute.
The pair eventually rose to their feet and were helped off the ground, but took no further part in the match.
Despite the side having lost just once this AFL season, Geelong were not happy with certain aspects of their performance.
“The win-loss is certainly a positive, but I’d rather be playing better footy to be honest,” Geelong coach Chris Scott said of his team conceding the opening five goals.
“I’d even be happier if we had of dropped a couple of extra games, but were playing better footy.
“I hope everyone at our club is living in the real world. Because the type of footy we’re playing at the moment is not top-four standing.
“We’re really confident we can fix that and turn it around quickly, but it’s not a given.
”…But beggars can’t be choosers. We’re 10-1 and we’re in pretty good shape.”
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