Rd 1 - Easter Thursday Geelong v Port

[Strawb]

Good win to the cats Great to see Port fight unlike the Grand Final. Port will do good this year but September for them isn't like September for the Magpies.

[hearts on fire]

Geelong Cats 15. 15. 105 defeated Port Adelaide Power 14. 12. 96

Considering where Port were earlier on, that wasn't a real bad loss.

[devilsadvocate]

Little disappointed, but Geeleong are class all over the park.

Sounds like not much has changed at Alberton with Port persisting with the million handballs backwards, sideways then turnover.........present up forward and give something to KICK to!!!

Hopefully Chaplain is back sooner rather than later as our backline is clearly missing some presence, particularly without Wakes.

Onwards and upwards from here.

[Wedgie]

Man, that was beautiful. Port supporters around us really enjoyed the first half when they showed the skills of an under 8s.
I spent the 2nd half in the bar and am now stuck in traffic.
Cant wait till Geelong get match fit and get a few more premiership players back.
Port will never go anywhere with a captain that cant be arsed chasing.
Also smart move by Choke-o taking the huddle to the outer at 3/4 time only to have Geelong dominate early in the last and sew the game up. WADH!
So bewdiful.

[woodwt]

well done to Matthew Stokes, another great game.
Well done to Stewy on his debut
Both great talent from oval ave

[brod]

Two things that stand out for me from that game

1. Travis Boak could be All Australian HBF
2. Port wont be as bad as many are predicting, and me hoping. They will be there in September again.

[mighty_tiger_79]

very enjoyable game to watch

before the game thought it could go either way and even leading by 37pts was never really all that confident as Port had a lot of the ball but just turned it over, sooner or later passes were going to stick. and stick they did from the middle of 3rd 1/4, the cats were gone, no legs at all but managed to get goals to hold the power.

[mighty_tiger_79]

plus who saw the idiot in a western bulldogs white shirt at the geelong race at half time when the mini-league lined up!!!!

i mean seriously, i think you were at the wrong game and then when the cameras started rolling interviewing Bomber thompson his eyes lit up and thought ill be on tv here walking behind!!!!

[fester69]

If thats the best a Power side "looking for redemption after a hard pre-season" can dish up then they will go nowhere!
Geelong's 3rd qtr was poor, sometimes we play on too much. Still a good first up win. Thank God Motlop cant kick within 40m of goal!
Took my daughter to the changerooms after the game to let traffic clear and she had one mission - to get Tom Harley, Norwood Superstar, to sign her badge!
Glad to report, mission accomplished!
Tom Hawkins is a VERY big boy in person and still growing!
Wedgie you should have done the same, after 30 - 40 mins the players come out, you get your pics and autographs, then go to an empty carpark and cruise home!

[mighty_tiger_79]

Wedgie you should have done the same, after 30 - 40 mins the players come out, you get your pics and autographs, then go to an empty carpark and cruise home!

did that last year after the port game

got my training guernsey signed by the lads

its the way to do it, meet the lads and drive home in peace

[Wedgie]

Wedgie you should have done the same, after 30 - 40 mins the players come out, you get your pics and autographs, then go to an empty carpark and cruise home!

True mate, but it was a late enough night for Master 8 as it was and I can't down a free ride home to Happy Valley.
It was actually the first time young Matty had seen the Cats win live.
We went a couple of years ago thanks to Constance Perm and got to see the Crows beat us by over 90 points so we stayed away for the preseason GF which we won then we stayed away for the 2 games last year which we won.
Needless to say if we'd lost tonight we would have never been back!
I have about a 3-20 win loss ratio at Aami but luckily my win loss ratio is well in the positive in Victoria.
Couldn't believe the smell outside the southern gates but the Port supporters assured me that it was West Lakes and not them!
I gave heaps to them tonight but full marks to them I enjoyed many a beer with many Port supporters tonight.
I must admit I was surprised to read on Bigfooty that Cats fans enjoy Port games here much more than Crows supporters and I can well understand why.
I even got a few laughts at quarter time in the outside bar where you can smoke when they started putting the shutters down on Gate 2. One Port supporter asked why they were closing it, I told them it was to keep the Port supporters in! They laughed!
Mind you a few didn't appreciate my laughter and clown music when some of Ports "skills" were on display in the first half.
A great win with a team missing a lot of quality, I really enjoyed that we gave their supporters a sniff, it made the finals siren all the more enjoyable.
Another win for the good guys!

[Macca19]

Considering we could have been 10 goals down had Geelong not hit the point 4 times in the first half, Im pretty happy with how we fought out the game. In the end it was our poor kicking in the last 10 minutes which could have cost us a win.

Tredrea was fantastic last night. Moved the best Ive seen him since 05. Looks so much fitter and stronger and has that pace off the mark back. 2 goals and 3 goal assists was a fantastic return.

Boak was good but is a bit sloppy at times. Still, he is pure class and will be a great footballer. K Cornes did an awesome job on Bartel. Thomas added much needed grunt even though he was destroyed by Chapman in the first quarter.

Stewart was great for a first gamer. The thing I liked most was his willingness to jut back into the corridor, run the lines and he has incredible courage as well. Will be a player.

Our skills let us down at the moment but our style of play was alright. It was a much better style than last year.

Im quite confident we will win a lot of games this year.

As for Geelong. They are good. We all know that. Like all excellent sides of the past they play arrogant football and it comes off. They have full confidence that they will win the ball or force the opposition into a turnover, then they run in droves through the middle which is very hard to stop. They deserve to be favourites again this year.

Chapman was great. As was Ling and Kelly playing a loose man in the centre. Surjan killed Ablett in the first half, but Ablett had a top 2nd half. Mooney and Hawkins looked like they would tear the game apart in the first half but were unsighted after half time. Gamble did alright in his debut. Stokes was impressive as he always is.

[MightyEagles]

well done to Matthew Stokes, another great game.
Well done to Stewy on his debut
Both great talent from oval ave

Did you expect anything less from them both?

[fester69]

If Tredrea looks fantastic and the best he's been since 2005 then he must have been a lazy, non-chasing player back then as well!

[Rushby Hinds]

plus who saw the idiot in a western bulldogs white shirt at the geelong race at half time when the mini-league lined up!!!!

i mean seriously, i think you were at the wrong game and then when the cameras started rolling interviewing Bomber thompson his eyes lit up and thought ill be on tv here walking behind!!!!

Really?

What a wanker!

[am Bays]

plus who saw the idiot in a western bulldogs white shirt at the geelong race at half time when the mini-league lined up!!!!

i mean seriously, i think you were at the wrong game and then when the cameras started rolling interviewing Bomber thompson his eyes lit up and thought ill be on tv here walking behind!!!!

Really?

What a wanker!

yeah I saw some bloke with a briefcase, Doggies shirt and Doggies white guernsey in the city yesterday at about 7:30 am....gee if it was they same bloke he would have been pretty on the nose (BO) come 8:30 last night....

[Thiele]

Thought it was a good game. Thought the power were going get thrashed but well done for them comming back.

[Booney]

Good game last night.

Geelong showing they will be the team to beat this year,and not too many missing for them.Ottens and Wojinski come back in,Rooke and maybe Egan if they have room for him.

Ablett,what a star that bloke is,a pleasure to watch guys like him play the game,fast (not sure what Wedgie is talking about Tredrea not chasing,did you not see him chase Ablett down in the North-Western pocket to cause a turnover and goal for Port? Must have been when you were in the bar.. ),skillful and the balance Ablett displays is outstanding.

Our game plan needs to develop a little to get the ball forward faster,because the third 1/4 showed slick movement to Ebert,Motlop,Lade,Tredrea and co can cause real headaches for the opposition.Geelong's back 6 is the best going around and 14 goals against them is a good effort,not many sides will kick that many aginst them.Handball and run are great to watch when it works,but can be horrible when it goes wrong.Find the right balance and our attack will be much more potent.

Stewart looked good,loved his last 1/4 burst through the middle when he took on the on coming tackler.Cassisi was good,a very consistent performer and underrated by many scribes I think.As someone said,we need Chaplin back to give that big body across CHB some presence and his return will help us no end.Thurstans is hit and miss,as it Carlisle (who shows alot of promise) but we need a steady head back there soon.

All in all,Geelong are the benchmark but we showed last night we are still right behind them in the chasing pack and Port will be one of the sides to beat this year.

It takes time to develop a squad capable of winning a flag,I know Port have the talent(and not many would disagree),half a dozen young blokes (Boak,Stewart,Pettigrew,Surjan,Thompson and so on) need to add some muscle to the frames (ala Ablett,Chapman and co.) but this does not happen overnight.

[Wedgie]

(not sure what Wedgie is talking about Tredrea not chasing,

I can tell you sitting at the southern end that when he was playing on Harley, Harley ran up to the wing several times with the play while Captain Couragous just stood in the forward pocket with his hands on his hip, happened several times.
Great example, no wonder he captained a side to the worst ever GF loss with that sort of effort.

What's with the crowd? North and Central draw a bigger crowd there!
28k at Round 1 versus the greatest team of all with everything to play for at a night game at a latter time so people could get there with kids costing $2.75 to get in!
The experiment has failed, time to dump the Powder and bring in another compositie side. Embarassing and a waste of a license.

[Booney]

Three hooks,all baited,but I aint biting.