Western Bulldogs and Geelong will find themselves in a box office hit Friday night that has major ramifications for the AFL scale.
The Dogs (6-5, 121.8%) are two games out of the top four and only one percentage point in the top eight, but a win on Friday would make it a record of 5-1 wins and losses in the last six weeks.
Geelong (7-4, 128.4%) has shown sporadic form in 2022, but is winning straight wins for the first time since the third and fourth rounds. The Cats will be without Jake Kolodjashnij for Friday night’s blockbuster, with the defender withdrawn hours before the match according to AFL safety and health protocols.
Luke Dahlhaus has joined Quinton Narkle, the diver.
For the dogs, Mitch Wallis will be the deputy medical director.
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The match starts at 19:50 EST from Marvel Stadium.
Watch it live on Fox Footy (channel 504) or play it on Kayo, starting at 7:00 PM EST.
Follow Western Bulldogs v Geelong on our live blog below!
Geelong got off to a quick start at Marvel Stadium on Friday night, with three early goals making the match look like a “workout”.
Despite having four in the early 50s, all four were chosen by the defensive duo of Cats by Tom Stewart and Sam de Koning (two interceptions each).
But at the other end, the free ball movement ensured that Geelong could hit targets within the 50’s.
The first goal, the 499th goal of Jeremy Cameron’s career, came from a great lead game by Tom Hawkins.
Hawkins easily worked on rival Ryan Gardner under the ball in what commentator Matthew Richardson described as a “recipe for disaster.”
Tom Atkins added the second for the night – his second goal of the year before Gary Rohan scored third in the Cats after scoring from center.
“That sounds a little easy,” said commentator Brian Taylor.
Mitch Duncan was a nail in the coffin of Geelong’s quarterback.
“Four-zip is not where (dogs) want to be,” said commentator James Brayshaw.
The Bulldogs had chances in the middle of the first season, but were unable to convert in front of goal.
Geelong’s only concern early on was an injury to the big man Hawkins, who appeared to have dislocated a finger before stepping off the ground.
But he was able to get back on the field and beat Gardner again from behind to set up another goal from Cameron.
“I understand the assertive defense, but you can’t play Hawkins in that way,” Richardson lamented.
“It’s too good.”
The goal raised Cameron’s 500th in his career.
And we didn’t finish there.
Cameron threw his third for the term just 90 seconds later and handed one to Brad Close as the Cats turned out to be a “scary” proposal.
“What a great team man to want to give it the way it is,” Taylor said.
“He encouraged (close) to go.
“Jeremy Cameron’s willingness to give it away is absolutely exceptional.”
Tom Liberatore was able to get one back for the Dogs, but Mitch Duncan’s shot a few seconds into the quarter brought the Cats’ lead back to six goals in the first half.
“I think the Bulldogs have gotten a little scared,” Pearce said.
“They are trying to force speed on the ball.
“I think they just have to settle down and ask their aerial players for a little more to give a contest.”
Hawkins had his first goal of the night to take the Cats’ lead in the second term before Bulldogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli sparked his team.
Bontempelli kept his remarkable streak of goals alive in all his 2022 games when he went home from outside the 50’s.
Buku Khamis found himself in the back of the group minutes later, when the Dogs scored consecutive goals to reduce the margin to 28 points.
Already without Jake Kolodjashnij, who came out late under AFL health and safety protocols, the Cats lost star defender Tom Stewart early in his second term.
Stewart charged at Bulldog Bailey Smith and as he applied the tackle, his head crashed against Smith’s shoulder.
Quinton Narkle came on, Geelong had to leave the fray.
Koning’s talent at pressing frustrated the spectators as the game became a dire midfield struggle.
“Half can’t get fast enough for cats,” Pearce said.
The Bulldogs were able to get numbers for the contest at the end of the second, and began to win offices.
With Mark Blicavs returning to the defense and Gary Rohan switching to midfield, the remodeled Cats struggled to get the ball back.
“Right now they’re outpacing Geelong in every contest,” commentator Luke Hodge said.
The Cats had two chances at the end of the half to push the margin, but Tyson Stengle fired his shot wide as Hawkins sent his deflected shot after the half-mermaid siren.
For the main change, Geelong rose 24 points.
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