Wrooster Geelong historian and previous vice-president, Bob Gartland, informed the ABC in March that “the stadium precinct is most definitely the glue that holds us all in combination”, it’s not likely that he had in thoughts the dust at Kardinia Park.
While you feed a stadium off the general public handbag like a foie gras goose, something you don’t be expecting is a floor that was once as redolent because the guernsey the Cats wore to have a good time Edward ‘Carji’ Greeves and the centenary of his Brownlow Medal triumph.
“It was once [like] operating out in a paddock with how muddy it was once,” Western Bulldogs ahead Jamarra Ugle-Hagan stated. “It was once beautiful bad in the market – clearly simply needed to stay your ft, but it surely was once in point of fact rainy in the market.”
There was once a time when soccer was once smartly familiar with dust. A malodorous muck that drove gamers to stay their head over the ball, and to get it ahead with out fuss. A dirt that was once lower up in curtain raisers – as we had between the VFL Cats and Canines in any other nod to nostalgia on Saturday night time. A dirt that caught, clods of it the scale of a ruck’s fist.
The soccer would possibly not had been as adroit, but it surely was once soaking up. And, as Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “even within the dust and scum of items, one thing all the time, all the time sings”.
On a chilly Saturday night time on Moorabool Boulevard, that one thing was once the Western Bulldogs.
The Canines are probably the most highest stoppage groups within the AFL – in particular in relation to scoring from them – and regardless of going into the sport with 3 tall forwards, gave the look to be higher suited for the stipulations. After 1 / 4 of soccer, it was once perceptible. Adam Treloar, Marcus Bontempelli and Tom Liberatore cowed their Cats opposite numbers, as did Ed Richards, who’s rapid turning into a a very powerful cog within the Canines’ midfield. By means of night time’s finish, Richards would get the ball 29 instances and kick two objectives.
This laid the groundwork for a group that was once a lot more attached – ahead with with Ugle-Hagan (4 objectives) and Cody Weightman (whose ball dealing with belied the stipulations); and again with Rory Lobb.
The oft-maligned Lobb has been a revelation in defence after escaping MRO scrutiny for a cringing mid-season efficiency on TikTok, and on Saturday night time took extra marks than his opponent, Jeremy Cameron, had possessions. Cameron’s teammates throughout half-forward, Olivers Henry and Dempsey, best had the ball 10 instances between them.
Geelong captain, Patrick Dangerfield, additionally had a grimy night time, and may best in finding the ball 1/2 a dozen instances in the second one 1/2. However he had a number of corporate, with the Cats soundly dismantled on on the subject of each and every class that issues, no longer least the scoreboard in a 47-point defeat. Not one of the Cats’ objectives got here all the way through both the primary or remaining quarter – one thing that hasn’t came about since 1970.
The win places the Bulldogs inside of 1/2 a recreation of the highest 8 and – having overwhelmed the second- and third-placed groups in consecutive weeks – they are able to flip to a skilled, balanced record that would take them an excellent approach come September.
However what of Geelong?
after publication promotion
“We had a in point of fact unhealthy night time and that was once transparent from early within the recreation,” stated Cats trainer Chris Scott, dabbling in understatement. “In case you are off, you’ll be able to lose to someone, and if the opposition are in point of fact just right, you’ll in finding your self underneath power, however I believed it was once an uncharacteristic efficiency. If that occurs steadily, you simply change into a nasty group. I don’t assume this is us nowadays.”
In a yr the place the variation between a win or a loss can imply a transfer between 1/3 and 8th, definitive statements on a group’s potentialities may also be fraught.
The Cats have a beneficial sufficient draw over the approaching 5 rounds to proper the send, however their shape at their as soon as just about impenetrable house flooring is, dare we labour the metaphor … muddy.
Geelong’s house file this yr is 4-3, with the losses together with a couple to guests from interstate in Port Adelaide and Higher Western Sydney. Western Bulldogs have now gained consecutive fits on the flooring, having no longer triumphed there in 11 makes an attempt within the earlier twenty years.
Geelong’s two ultimate fixtures at GMHBA Stadium this yr are in opposition to Adelaide and West Coast – each video games they’d be anticipated to win to certain up their spot within the best 8. However the method of losses like on Saturday night time make you query simply how some distance they could pass.
In years long gone by way of, it’s worthwhile to depend on per week’s price of editorials on Geelong having the correct to play a last at GMHBA Stadium. Must they earn a house ultimate this yr, you’d have to wonder whether they’d be grimy in the event that they did.
