Geelong has finished season 2011 on a high, producing one of the year's more memorable comebacks to defeat Sandringham by four points at Skilled Stadium last Saturday as Kane Hunkin reports.
A 10 goal third quarter from the Zebras and subsequent 44 point lead late in the same term proved no hurdle for a fast finishing Cats side, with Geelong storming home to see their win tally finish at six for season 2011.
While Geelong entered the game with only pride at stake, Sandringham were motivated by the small prospect of stealing the coveted eighth spot from Box Hill Hawks.
The first half belonged to neither side, with both teams having equal amounts of possession. The wind though, proved a factor with forward deliveries often troublesome.
Geelong and Sandringham traded goals early in the second quarter. A late Dawson Simpson major gave the home-side a narrow three point half-time lead.
Buoyed by optimism and a chance of claiming the last finals spot, Sandringham started the third quarter accordingly. A four goal burst to begin the term, sparked a charge that led to a 10 goal quarter for the visitors. With the margin beyond seven goals the game appeared to fade from Geelong's reach.
However, a Ben Johnson goal on the three quarter-time siren followed by another conversion in the first two minutes of the last term gave Geelong hope. After controlling most of the second half the Zebras were powerless to stop a determined Cats side who kicked the last six goals of the contest to ensure the season finished on a positive note.
After the game, Geelong coach Dale Amos affirmed the collective belief of the side, noting that the game was still within reach at the final change.
"We felt like if we were able to sustain it [intensity] for long enough we would be able to score enough goals to win. You don't necessarily expect to win but we thought we were some sort of chance and we talked about the possibility of winning the game from where we were [at three quarter time]," Amos said.
Moreover, the coach observed that Geelong's poor third quarter was attributed to the team's lack of run.
"We were just really slow. Our defenders were under real pressure because we didn't give them any real help down there, which made life quite difficult for us and they [Sandringham] beat us around the footy and got lots of it and plenty of entries, they had 25 entries or something for the quarter."
Throughout the afternoon, the use of Geelong's tall key-position players changed regularly, with back man Andrew McLean starting up forward. Amos stated this structure was more about helping "rotations."
"We had a couple of injuries early on which affected our rotations a little bit and then we were just plugging gaps. We ended up going a little bit taller. We felt like we had to kick a score to win in the last quarter," he said.
Lively midfielders Josh Cowan and Jonathan Simpkin had a big say in Geelong's comeback, while Jack Shannahan topped Geelong's goal kicking list for the day with three. For the Zebras, Michael Lourey was clearly the dominant forward on the ground kicking six goals.
The win helped Geelong leap frog Sandringham to finish the home-and-away season in ninth spot. Despite missing the finals, a promising second half of the year - which netted Geelong wins in five of their last seven games - proved an encouraging sign going forward. In contrast, Sandringham's loss was symptomatic of an unfulfilled season that saw the side only register one win after round 13.
Geelong 19.10.124 def Sandringham 18.12.120
Last Modified on 29/08/2011 09:21
