WHEN Geelong defender Jed Bews failed to recover from an ankle injury in time to play against Adelaide, the Cats went searching for someone to man Adelaide superstar Eddie Betts.
The spinning wheel stopped on Zach Tuohy's name, a former teammate of Betts at Carlton.
Tuohy, who is enjoying an outstanding first season at Geelong, was happy enough to take the role once it was up for grabs.
After all, Betts used to tell Tuohy that the Irishman's debut only came about in round 11, 2011 because he had managed to beat him at training.
But Tuohy understands too well that beating someone such as Betts in a game is a different proposition altogether.
He set himself for what is one of the biggest challenges in the game for a defender.
"He is one of the trickiest players I have ever played on. He might be the most brilliant forward in the game so it is a tough one to prepare yourself for," Tuohy told AFL.com.au.
"It was more just about getting the result and hopefully he didn't win it off his own boot."
By the end of the game after 80 minutes matched up on Betts, the new Cat had achieved both objectives so successfully that his coach Chris Scott described his game as "outstanding".
Betts had kicked just one goal and, while he worked hard to have an impact, he was largely ineffective as the Cats cruised to a 22-point win.
Tuohy was relieved and credited his fellow defenders and the pressure applied by the midfield.
"I played on [Betts] over the last few years and I haven't always got the better of him that is for sure," Tuohy said.
It was another excellent performance from the former Blue who has now played 101 consecutive games and is performing well in a top-four team after being off-Broadway to some extent with the battling Blues in recent seasons.
Tuohy agrees he's hit a consistent vein of form as he settled into the new environment and would be a part of All Australian discussions at the halfway mark of the season.
He is averaging 26 disposals a game, six more than he has in any other year of his career and 5.2 marks a game.
He is also stopping opponents weekly and proving as valuable as the Cats thought he might be during the trade period.
"I am just loving it," Tuohy said.
