GEELONG coach Mark Thompson believes his team’s tough slog against Melbourne might be just what it needed in the lead-up to next week’s bumper clash with St Kilda at Telstra Dome.
The Cats were tipped to smash the struggling Demons but Thompson said he knew the match would be no cakewalk.
Instead, the reigning premiers were made to work hard for their five-goal win, taking more than three quarters to seal their 16.16 (112) to 12.10 (82) win.
“It was an honest game,” Thompson said afterwards.
“Melbourne came to play and they were really physical and hard … we were hoping to get over them a bit earlier, it didn’t happen but in the end we’ve got the four points.
“We’ve won four quarters of footy and we’ve worked a few things out as the day went on and we’ll be happy to move on to next week.”
Geelong looked as though it would cruise away from Melbourne on a couple of occasions on Sunday but the Dees wouldn’t go away.
A determined Melbourne outfit fought especially bravely in the first half, booting the first three goals of the match as they won plenty of the ball around the packs and frustrated the odds-on Cats.
By half-time the Demons had racked up 196 disposals and, despite trailing by 27 points at one stage early in the second term, Dean Bailey’s men had clawed their way back to as close as 10 points shortly before the main interval.
But Thompson saw positives in his side’s shortcomings.
“I’m glad we didn’t start well,” he said.
“I’m glad we didn’t play that well in the first half because it gave us something to work on in the second half and we certainly fixed up a lot of our game style [issues] and our processes in the second half and it’s just a good build into next week’s game against St Kilda.
“We needed to spend as much time in defence as we did in attack. They were on track for 400 possessions.”
Thompson admitted his team didn’t have its normal edge before the game or early in the contest.
“We shouldn’t get irritated by that or disappointed by it, it’s just a very natural thing to happen.”
The Cats had assembled on the ground 30 minutes before the game to watch their 2007 premiership flag be unfurled – something the coach was sure the players “respected”.
“It’s not just about the game sometimes,” he said.
Thompson also praised the contribution of young forward Tom Hawkins, whose five goals proved vital in the final wash-up.
“He’s been working pretty hard and he’s been starved of goals a little bit,” he said.
“To see him have a bag of five is a good thing for him because he has been doing the right things, he just hasn’t been getting the rewards through the goals.”
