After last week’s spirited performance, the Cats were brought back to earth by the vastly improved Bendigo Bombers, going down 8-11-(59) to 23-9-(147) at Skilled Stadium in stifling hot conditions last Saturday.

The Geelong side featured eight AFL listed/rookie listed players including Simon Hogan, Mark Blake and Trent West, while a host of VFL listed players including Troy Selwood, Matthew Firman and Jackson Sheringham played their first practice games of the pre-season.

Former Geelong All Australian defender and Geelong VFL graduate Matthew Egan took the reigns for the second practice match of the year as part of his coaching development. Hopefully he doesn’t have many days as tough as this one - as right from the outset it appeared that it was going to be a very long afternoon for the Cats. Constant turnovers, missed tackles and a lack of intensity plagued the tired looking Cats throughout.

The first term started in disastrous fashion for the home side, conceding seven turnovers and two quick goals in the first ten minutes of the game. The Cats finally got on the scoreboard through some Troy Selwood grunt work and some blistering running from youngster Garreth Phillips and midfielder Casey Tutungi. The resistance was shortlived as the bombers piled on four goals through Ariel Steinberg, Matthew Little, Kyle Reimers and Tory Dickson to end the term 17 points in front.

The second term reflected the gap between the two VFL sides with the Essendon aligned Bombers going on a seven goal to two onslaught that left the small crowd shell-shocked. The Cats were being smashed in all of the indicators as the relentless Bendigo pressure was bringing the home side undone with relative ease.

Matthew Egan changed the team structure around at half time as he searched for answers and this seemed to have an immediate, if somewhat short lived impact. AFL ruckman Trent West stepped up and imposed his big frame on numerous marking contests throughout the term while for the second week in a row VFL listed player Tom Maas put in an eye catching performance and made the most of his opportunities as he slotted three majors for the quarter.

Late in the quarter the Bombers hit back with goals to PNG recruit David Meli and AFL regular Kyle Reimers. The late fight back saw the Bombers take a 52 point lead into the last quarter.

With only pride to play for in the last quarter, it was the Bombers who took up the running early with the three opening goals of the quarter through Duscher, Steinberg and Carlisle. The Cats hit back with late goals to Phillips, West, Jonathan Simpkin and Mark Corrigan to restore some respect to the scoreboard as the Bombers ran away with an impressive 88 point victory.

The Shannon Grant led Bendigo Bombers showed that they may be one of the team’s to beat in 2011 with a fantastic performance. The VFL listed forward trio of 2010 Frosty Miller Medallist Matthew Little, former Frankston dynamo Tory Dickson and local star Justin Maddern showed it had the potential to wreak havoc on the rest of the competition.

The Geelong Cats have a week off next week before taking on the reigning premiers the North Ballarat Roosters in their final practice match at Eureka Stadium on March 26.