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Eagle roadkill for Cats

Mark Duffield, Perth | June 22, 2008

ONCE upon a time in the AFL, a star-studded Geelong team that, like this one, contained a champion Ablett, was regarded as West Coast's bunnies.

The Eagles won two flags against the men from sleepy hollow in the 1990s, then quite famously chased down a 10-goal margin at Skilled Stadium in 2006.

You can safely regard those ghosts as laid to rest now.

If Geelong wasn't clear flag favourite before last night it is now, on the back of a 28.14 (182) to 5.17 (47) whipping of the Eagles. Gary Ablett jnr firmed further in Brownlow calculations after another stellar game, finishing with 37 possessions and two goals.

In fact, after the carnage the Cats visited on the hapless Eagles last night, the rotting carcass that is the 2008 West Coast team may well have been stuffed into the grave alongside those now dormant ghosts.

It was a display so dominant and clinical that West Coast's parochial fans, known for clapping their own team's points and booing opposition champions, sat in quiet awe as Geelong ran up a 10-goal half-time lead that was never going to be run down or threatened.

It was achieved off just 31 extra possessions, an exhibition in slick ball use and clinical finishing.

The only damage suffered by the Cats was self-inflicted. Darren Milburn swung his arm back after a marking contest on the quarter-time siren and smacked Tom Harley across the bridge of the nose and Cameron Ling was cleaned up by Max Rooke in the third.

Harley didn't know where he was for a minute or two but he only needed to glance at the scoreboard to know his team wasn't in any trouble, leading 7.3 to 1.5 in an utterly dominant display. Meanwhile, Ling limped for a few minutes but continued to put the squeeze on Daniel Kerr well into the last quarter.

As slick as the Cats were, the Eagles were clumsy, uncompetitive and sloppy. Ten of the Cats' first 13 goals came from Eagle turnovers and only three goals from Mark LeCras and an encouraging effort from young defender Will Schofield were bright spots among the gloom.

The turnovers were suicidal for the Eagles, who didn't have to give the ball to Geelong for the reigning premier to show its brilliance.

James Kelly kicked two first-quarter goals, while Steve Johnson added his own touch of magic with a banana kick from deep in a pocket. And one of Paul Chapman's three first-half goals came from a delightful step inside a floundering Matt Priddis followed by a 40-metre snap.

By half-time, Ablett had had 18 possessions and kicked a goal — from a turnover, of course — and Geelong's lead was a crushing 63 points. It was a public flogging, and the Eagles fans who stuck around thinking it had to get better were sorely disappointed.

By the 18-minute mark of the third quarter, Geelong had added seven goals to nothing and blown the lead beyond 100 points.

By three-quarter-time, the good news for West Coast was that it had managed a third goal. The bad news is that Geelong had added three more, the lead was now 116 points and the Eagles were looking down the barrel of their worst ever loss at Subiaco Oval — eclipsing the 89-point belting Essendon had dished out in 2001.

Cam Mooney had five goals, Chapman four and Ablett, who was sweeping the ball clear from scrimmages and stoppages as if he were playing against statues, had built his possession count to 27 with umpteen goal assists. At the other end, West Coast's few attacks were mostly dismissed contemptuously by a defence led by an authoritative Harley.

The Cats eased up a little in the last term but still inflicted West Coast's worst home loss. Mooney finished with five goals, as did Chapman, and Kelly four. It was a massacre.

GEELONG 7.3 13.6 23.10 28.14 (182)
WEST COAST1.5 2.9 3.14 5.17 (47)
GOALS — Geelong: Chapman 5, Mooney 5, Kelly 4, Rooke 2, Ablett 2, S Johnson 2, Lonergan 2, Varcoe 2, Taylor, Prismall, Mackie, Bartel.
West Coast: LeCras 3, Cox, Hunter.
BEST — Geelong: Ablett, Chapman, Kelly, Harley, Mooney, Wojcinski, Enright. West Coast: LeCras, Embley, B Jones, Cox.
INJURIES — Geelong: Stokes (knee) replaced in selected side by Wojcinski. West Coast: Selwood (throat).
UMPIRES: Donlon, Rosebury, Kamolins.
CROWD: 38,414 at Subiaco Oval.