On the back of a six goal haul from former Werribee skipper Podsiadly, and a four goal haul from Tom Lonergan, the Cats were able to pick up their first four points of the year with a 15.8.98 to 13.14.92 win.
Geelong got off to a slow start but were lucky to be down by only 18 points with Werribee having 11 scoring shots to 3 in the first quarter. Podsiadly got the Cats first major but Geelong were finding it hard to enter the forward 50 only having six entries to 14. Kane Tenace was the Cats leading possession getter for the quarter with nine.
Geelong lifted in the second quarter dominating in all areas of the game to have a six goal second quarter to be down by only six points at half time. Ben Raidme, Ryan Gamble, Tenace, David Johnson and Nathan Djerrkura all found plenty of the ball in the second quarter.
Trent West was again dominating the hit outs and giving his players first use of the ball. He ended up with 33 hit outs for the game. Podsiadly also took control in the second quarter booting four off his own boot.
The Tigers got away to an early lead in the third quarter but Lonergan’s third and goals to Adam Donohue and Taylor Hunt got Geelong back to two points at three quarter time. Gamble, Brodie Moles, Bryn Weadon and Jon Simpkin found plenty of the footy in the third quarter.
The final term was a hard slog. Podsiadly provided the match-winning highlights in the final term after Jackson Hollmer took a strong grab on the wing and booted it long. Podsiadly grabbed his sixth mark before bombing a penetrating goal from outside 50 to give the Cats the lead. The Tigers then kicked another one before a late goal on the run from Moles gave the Cats the lead and ultimately the win.
Dale Amos was pleased with the result and relieved to get his first win as coach on the board. “It was great to get the first win under the belt, it was a nice reward for the boys after a good performance that didn’t get anything last week, it’s good to get some reward this week.
For the Cats, Tom Lonergan kicked four goals up forward which was a change with him playing all last week in the backline. This helped Podsiadly out with the loss of Scott Simpson last week.
Coach Dale Amos made reference to the advantage Skilled Stadium had for the team after the game.
“We want to make it a pretty tough place for other sides to come to play, we certainly want to make it a home ground advantage and make it hard for sides to play here.” Amos said.
Ryan Gamble’s was performance was another highlight of the win.
“He was an absolute stand out, it was a great four quarter performance. He worked really hard on the things he wasn’t great at last time, him and Pods were probably our best.” Amos said.
Podsiadly, who was the Tigers captain for the last four years, was happy to get his first win as captain of a new club.
“It’s a good feeling seeing some of the young boys stand up and now know what it takes to win against a good side. We rate Werribee as a top four side, so to beat them on our home deck from that point of view from where Werribee are and how good they are, it means a lot to these guys knowing they knocked off a good side.” Podsiadly said.
The Cats take on last year’s premiers North Ballarat in another curtain raiser next week.
