GEELONG suffered its fifth loss of the season on Friday night going down to GWS by 19-points at GMHBA Stadium.

Here are some of the statistics that stood out in the loss, presented by Deakin’s Centre for Sport Research.

Contested Possessions Hold The Key

Geelong now has an 0-3 record this season when it has lost the contested possession count after the Giants onballers helped edge the Cats (154 to 136) on Friday night.

It is a statistical area that has proven a barometer for the Cats in 2021 and when they’ve won the contested possession tally, they hold an 88% (15-2) winning record.

“They were pretty good around the ball and that’s something we pride ourselves on so we will not be too happy about that, but we will just try to get back to the training track to work on that and go again next week,” defender Jack Henry said post-game.

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Henry Post Match

Jack Henry speaks after the round 21 loss to GWS. Presented by Ford.

Inaccuracy Another Factor

Contested ball and ground ball gets aside, the Cats dominated most of the statistical areas including inside 50s (64 to 44), clearances (39 to 32), marks inside 50 (12 to 5) and tackles (77 to 71).

After trailing by 31-points going into the final term, the Cats came hard in the last quarter, kicking 3.7 (25) from 22 inside 50s but inaccuracy proved costly in the end.

The Giants (13.6) took their opportunities in front of goal better than the Cats (8.17) and that proved decisive in the end.

“When they went forward, they had better looks than we did. Even with the deficit in the contested ball and the ground ball battle we were still able to go forward much more than they were, but they made more of their chances,” coach Chris Scott said post-match.

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Chris Scott Post Match

Watch Geelong's press conference after round 21's match against GWS

Skipper Stands Up

Geelong didn’t have too many winners, but skipper Joel Selwood is one player that could hold his head high at the end of the night. The 329-game veteran led the Cats in just about every statistical area including disposals (27), score involvements (10), clearances (9) and metres gained (518).

Jack of All Trades

Not for the first time this season defender Jack Henry proved his versatility with a two-goal cameo in attack to be named in Geelong’s best. He finished equal fifth for total ratings points (15.1) after gathering 16 disposals, seven marks and six intercepts for the Cats.

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Cats Goals R21

Watch every Cats goal from our R21 game against GWS. Presented by The Gordon.

Kolodjashnij Ends Goal Drought

Finally, it was the moment we’d all been waiting for. After 126 games without a goal Jake Kolodjashnij only had to wait 31 seconds into his 127th outing for the Cats to break the duck and kick his first career goal. It was a nice finish too with Patrick Dangerfield finding Kolodjashnij in space and the boy from Launceston ran to 50 and kicked a long-range finish on the run. It was a moment which brought Chris Scott to his feet in the coaches’ box and every single teammate got over to join Kola in the celebration.