Geelong’s rollercoaster 2011 season took another enthralling turn on Saturday afternoon when they surrendered a 29 point third term lead, to go down 15.7.97 to 15.12.102 at the hands of the second placed Northern Bullants in front of a vocal home crowd at Skilled Stadium.

The return of Simon Hogan from personal leave and the highly touted Jack Weston from leg injury provided the home side with more structure and midfield options.

33 disposals to ex-Demon Brock Mclean and 29 to the experienced Denis Armfield provided the Bullants with run and precision through the middle of the ground all afternoon, and the use of the forward press caused the Cats some big headaches early on.

The opening quarter was a case of ‘what if’ for the innacurate Bullants, as they piled on six behinds before imposing Cat Cameron Mooney intercepted a wayward defensive pass to setup Mitch Brown for the first goal of the afternoon and land a big blow to the confidence of the Bullants players who held all the early momentum. The early work of premiership half forward Shannon Byrnes kept the Cats in the contest whilst the strength of stand in skipper Tom Gillies repelled many Bullants forward thrusts and kept the sluggish Cats within 5 points at the first break.

After a tight and tough opening term the floodgates opened in the second as Geelong piled on 6 goals to 5 in one of the most entertaining quarters this season so far. For the Cats, goals to Mitch Brown, Jonathon Simpkin, Shannon Byrnes, Ben Raidme, Cameron Guthrie and a late free kick and major to Mark Corrigan capped off their best 30 minutes in 2011 and gave them a 1 point lead heading into half time. The work of the mercurial Steven Motlop was vital, his ability to extract the ball out of situations many couldn’t, set the foundation for Geelong’s competitive attitude.

With the scores locked at 44 apiece at the main break, the Cats were in need of a gamebreaker and it arrived in the form of Guthrie and the enigmatic Hogan. Guthrie’s goal at the five minute mark of the third term pushed the margin out to 12 points and with all the momentum it looked like a considerable upset was in the cards. Motlop’s attempt at goal at the year fell just short as he weaved past three Bullants opponents only to spray the finishing shot, whilst small Bullants forward Ahmed Saad, who had been well held all afternoon by Casey Tutungi, kicked an opportunistic off the ground goal to keep the visitors within arm reach late in the term. It looked as if the teams would go into the final change locked together until mobile forward flanker George Burbury lit up Skilled Stadium in a five minute burst that brought the crowd and his teammates to life. Burbury collected 5 disposals, kicking 2 goals and setting up another 2 to give Geelong the biggest lead of the game, a confronting 29 points. A Rhys O’Keefe long goal on the siren brought the margin back to 23, and gave the Bullants something to work with.

Hogan’s 9 touches, 4 tackles and 4 hard ball gets for the term setup the Cats dominance, with first use of the ball from ruckman Dawson Simpson who was superb in the ruck all afternoon.

Sitting on a four goal advantage and with the home crowd behind them, the Bendigo Bank Geelong Cats could smell their second victory of the season. Unfortunately due to coming off a 6 day break and a heavy training block, the young Cats ran out of legs as the Bullants kicked the first five goals of the quarter in a powerful fifteen minute display. In an amazing turnaround it was the Cats who couldn’t get out of their defensive fifty, and when the visitors edged in front after a Jarrod McCorkell goal, it looked like the Geelong were done and dusted.

Desperately needing leadership and direction the home side looked to giant ruckman Dawson Simpson who began to dominate his highly fancied opponent Robbie Warnock. Simpsons tap work in the final stages of the game showed why Geelong has shown so much faith in the talented big man and will perhaps become a turning point in his young career. A Jack Weston goal setup by a brilliant Raidme tap put the Cats back in front, but it was short lived as O’Keefe slotted through a difficult set shot almost instantaneously. With 5 minutes on the clock and the game well and truly in the balance, key forward Mitch Brown soared over three defenders to pull down a brilliant contested mark and set up a goal that brought the home crowd to their feet. The elusive and opportunistic Saad snapped truly to put the visitors back in front before veteran forward Cameron Mooney had a set shot to lock the score up with a minute remaining. Unfortunately the shot sailed wide and the siren beat the brave Cats who for the second time in two weeks fell just short of a brave win against quality opposition.

The work of Josh Cowan (23 disposals, 7 clearences), Jaxson Barham (22 disposals) and Shannon Byrnes (22 disposals) through the midfield accompanied with Dawson Simpsons dominance in the ruck were the instigators for Geelong’s late surge. The work of defenders Andrew McLean (18 disposals, 6 spoils), Casey Tutungi (12 disposals, 6 tackles) and Tom Gillies (15 disposals, 7 spoils) repelled Bullants forward thrusts all day, and gave teammates upfield first use for the majority of the contest.

With three much improved games behind them, Geelong travel to TEAC Oval next Saturday afternoon to take on the top of the table Port Melbourne. Match kicks off at 1pm.

Geelong Cats 15-7-(97)
Northern Bullants 15-12-(102)
Goals: Brown, Guthrie 3, Byrnes, Corrigan, Burbury 2, Weston, Simpkin, Raidme 1
Best: Tutungi, Simpson, Cowan, Byrnes, Corrigan, Burbury