A six goal burst in only 10 minutes of football set up the Bendigo Bank Cats’ second win of the season on Saturday.
In wet conditions at Skilled Stadium, Geelong had to fight very hard for their 36 point win against a determined Frankston side that were coming off a bye and a first round win against Port Melbourne.
The round 3 clash saw the VFL debut of Tom Couch, son of club champion Paul. Couch worked his way into the game to collect an impressive 21 possessions and just as importantly, made some dashing chases and well-waited handballs to show that he has all the talent to belong at this level.
Kane Tenace was simply everywhere for the Cats, racking up a remarkable 47 possessions in the win. Playing as a sweeper across half-back, Tenace set up countless attacking forays for the home side and showed the sort of form that would warrant a call-up to the AFL.
After a promising first quarter where the Dolphins seemed to have more players at every contest, they were simply blown away at the start of the second term by a Geelong side playing a direct and attacking style of football.
The goal-scoring onslaught shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone, as it has become a trend in season 2007 for the Cats. 10-goal quarters against Sandringham and Tasmania preceded this contest, evidence that when the Cats use their superior leg speed and skill to full advantage they are simply unstoppable.
Todd Grima kicked an outstanding five second quarter goals to follow up his last quarter effort in Tasmania last week. However, it was the pace and deft touch of Geelong’s indigenous players Travis Varcoe and Nathan Djerrkura that set up the win. ‘Their footy nouse and skills in the wet were fantastic. They won the game for us in the first ten minutes of that second quarter,’ Tudor said after the game.
Stephen Owen worked tirelessly in defence and Sam Hunt managed an outstanding 11 rebounds out of defensive 50 for the game.
Geelong’s attack on the football was ferocious, as they tallied a whopping 45 tackles to 13 for the game, lead by their inspirational skipper James Byrne.
Charlie Gardiner provided a target in the Geelong forward line all day taking 11 marks, and when he kicked his second goal for the day to put the home side 32 points ahead, it looked to be a finished contest.
Other young guns to impress on the day were ruckman Trent West with 14 possessions and 17 hit-outs, and Liam Bedford with 29 disposals.
Tudor was relieved to come away with the four points after the match’s conclusion. “It took a while for the players to work out what style we needed to play to win, but once we played direct and kicked it to Todd Grima one-on-one it paid off. It was a bash-and-crash game, and we’ll need to recover well to beat a well-coached side in North Ballarat next week.”
Like everyone at the ground, Tudor was impressed with young Couch’s debut. The debutant found VFL footy a little different to playing at TAC Cup level.
“There’s definitely a lot more tactics involved, and players demand more from you as well,” Couch explained.
“I’d just like to stay in the team as long as I possibly can.”
Next week the Bendigo Bank Cats play host to North Ballarat on the Sunday as a curtain raiser to the Geelong and Kangaroos AFL game. The first bounce will be at 10:40am local time.
Geelong 1.1 9.3 10.5 13.6 (84)
Frankston 2.4 3.6 4.9 6.12 (48)
Goals: Grima 5, Gardiner 2, Varcoe 2, Johnson, Clarke, West, Couch
Best: Callan, Tenace, Owen, Bedford, Gardiner, Djerrkura
