GREATER Western Sydney coach Leon Cameron admits he decided against tagging Brownlow medallist Patrick Dangerfield because it's just about an impossible task.
Dangerfield had just three kicks in the first half to go with 15 handballs, and went on to rack up a game-high 45 possessions, 25 of those contested, in Saturday night's draw with the Giants at Spotless Stadium. The Cats superstar also grabbed 13 clearances in what was another dominant performance.
Cameron elected to send his co-captain Callan Ward to Dangerfield for most of the match, instead of using Sam Reid in a stopping role after he kept Brisbane Lions star Dayne Zorko to just five touches last week.
Full match coverage and stats
The Cats gun had 26 disposals and seven clearances in the second half alone, and Cameron was honest as always post match when asked why he didn't give Dangerfield a shadow.
"Sometimes you just say 'why run with someone like that? He's still going to get it 30 times', and you back in (Callan) Ward and (Dylan) Shiel and those guys," he said.
"It's always a hard one, we were monitoring him every five minutes.
"We were really pleased that he was handballing a lot, his effectiveness probably wasn't there at the start, but the accumulation of his possessions after half-time really started to hurt us.
"He's a superstar and our guys will learn from it, but it wasn't just Dangerfield, it was him and (Sam) Menegola, they were really good around the stoppage.
Five talking points: Greater Western Sydney v Geelong
"I think our mids will be really honest with their review on Monday and admit that their three to four mids beat ours, and that’s the good thing about our group.
"They put their hand up when it hasn't worked."
GWS forward Jon Patton looked like being a match-winner when he booted his fourth goal late in the final term to level the scores, but he was immediately taken from the ground for a planned rotation.
That turned out to be a problem for the home side when Patton was unable to get back on, with a host of stoppages keeping play on the opposite side of the ground.
"It was disappointing," Cameron said.
"We've got to take (responsibility for) that as a coaching group. (If we had our) time again we would probably stop it happening, but we were hoping he'd only have a one or two minute spell, come off to compose himself, then have another crack again.
"Little did we know there was going to be so many stoppages in a row which made it hard for him to get back on again, but that’s footy.
WATCH: The thrilling last two minutes
"As a coach I've got to accept that one."
Cameron said he expects star forward Toby Greene (ankle) to be available for next week's clash with Hawthorn after he was a late withdrawal on Saturday, while Zac Williams (hamstring) is also a chance to be fit.
