The Blues had the better of the Cats for much of the third quarter but just could not convert their chances in front of goal.
As so often happens, Mathew Stokes scored as soon as Geelong got the ball up the other end and the reigning premier went on to kick six of the next seven goals.
Coach Brett Ratten spoke after the game about missed opportunities, but it wasn’t the poor kicking for goal in the third term to which he was referring; rather, it was a lack of defensive pressure in the first half that concerned him.
“When you have 18 tackles in a half of footy you are miles off the benchmark. We could then get some heat on the footy and turn some of the footy over we got our opportunity," he said.
"We weren’t polished enough to finish off that third quarter when we dominated for about 20 minutes but outside that, I was really disappointed in that first half with our heat on the footy.”
After showing his players footage at half time of their inability to lay a tackle, Ratten says the difference in pressure was obvious in the third term.
“I was really proud of the players in their ability to switch over and muster up that effort," he said.
"In the first half we had 18 tackles for a half and in the third quarter we had 17 in the one quarter so it showed the mindset and the ability of the players to really get back in and change that. That’s what allowed us to get back in the game,” he said.
Ratten said the 42-point margin wasn’t indicative of the way the game was played, as the Blues clearly had the better of the Cats in several bursts throughout the game.
“I thought it was probably 28 points, somewhere around that mark. About a five goal defeat. At the end we were kicking the ball in our 50 and it went under blokes’ feet or we didn’t get that opportunity,” he said.
“I thought we played a little bit better than what the scoreboard said. We were still off the pace in the first half. If we didn’t kick straight it might have been a different proposition going in to the second half of the game.”
