Cats spoil Harvey milestone

Geelong 12.10 (82) def. St Kilda 9.10 (64)

Geelong have spoiled Robert Harvey’s record-breaking night with a grinding 18-point victory over St Kilda at the Telstra Dome.

The Cats snapped their four-game losing streak with a committed team effort, gradually breaking the Saints’ resistance en route to 23-point lead at three-quarter time before withstanding a late St. Kilda charge to record a vital triumph.

Geelong now move to 3-4 on the season and momentarily into the AFL top eight, ahead of the 3-4 Saints on percentage.

The Cats’ Paul Chapman was influential up forward, starring with three important majors, and he was matched by livewire Steve Johnson, who returned to form with three goals of his own.

Darren Milburn, Joel Corey and Cameron Ling also won plenty of the footy, and they were aided magnificently by ruckman Brad Ottens, who helped his fleet of runners dominate the clearances with 20 well-directed hit-outs. Geelong’s defence, led by Matthew Scarlett was also near impenetrable and restricted the Saints to just nine goals for the match.

Harvey’s club-record 324th game for St Kilda did little to lift the men from Moorabbin, while the 34-year-old midfielder also struggled with only 13 possessions for the evening. Brendon Goddard, Nick Dal Santo and Lenny Hayes each garnered near 30 disposals but the Saints were second to the ball all night and failed to generate any meaningful run until the final quarter.

Their forward line was also a disappointment, with Fraser Gehrig kept to two kicks and one goal by Scarlett, while Aaron Hamill didn’t reappear after quarter-time with an apparent knee injury. Nick Riewoldt battled hard for three goals from a number of different positions, but missed the key shot in the last term when the Saints were making a charge.

The Saints, sporting special guernseys with the silhouette of a free-wheeling Harvey on the front, did much of the early attacking but they failed to make the most of their forays forward. A quick turnaround from a St Kilda point led to Geelong’s Jarad Rooke booting the game’s first major as the frenetic pace of the first quarter had both sides gasping for breath.

With Nick Riewoldt at centre-half-back, Troy Schwarze started inside fifty and was proving too tall for David Johnson, outmarking the Cats’ defender and opening the Saints’ account.

The bruising nature of the contest claimed an early scalp in Aaron Hamill (knee) and good pressure from Geelong in their forward line was rewarded with a goal to James Kelly. The rest of the quarter was marred by terrible inaccuracy from both outfits, as Henry Playfair, Riewoldt and Steven Johnson all developed the stutters in front of goal.

The Cats’ six-point margin at the first break was doubled after just 30 seconds, courtesy of a Steve Johnson crumb and goal, however, Riewoldt drifted down to reply almost immediately to set the Saints on their way.

They proceeded to dominate general play for the next 10 minutes, but once again, they couldn’t make the most of their opportunities, booting four behinds, as Geelong slowed the game down to halt St Kilda’s momentum.

The Cats chipped it around with numbers in defence, before gradually going longer and employing precise foot skills to penetrate the Saints’ defence. They kicked three consecutive majors through Playfair, Chapman and Steve Johnson to burst to a 21-point buffer, only to have Fraser Gehrig slot through his first goal to reduce the lead to 15 at half-time.

Geelong’s smaller brigade were in good touch, with Chapman, Kelly and Cameron Ling gathering 13 disposals each to the long interval, while Steve Johnson was the game’s only multiple goal kicker with two.

For the Saints, the silky Nick Dal Santo and Lenny Hayes shared 32 touches between them to half-time, but many of those were ineffective as St. Kilda struggled to find fluency going forward.

Cain Ackland gave the Saints the perfect start to the third term with a surprising snap, however, with Brad Ottens taking control in the ruck, the Cats began to pull away. They won the clearances decisively, particularly the centre breaks, and ran forward in numbers to an attack sparked by the nuggety Chapman.

He kicked two goals and cleverly set up another for Ling as Geelong broke open the contest with four of the next five majors and a commanding 29-point advantage. Gram manufactured a long-range goal inside the quarter’s final minute to give the Saints some hope of a comeback, down by 23 points at the last break.

Saints coach Grant Thomas swung the changes for the last quarter, loading up his forward line with Gehrig, Riewoldt and Matt Maguire, as St Kilda made one final run at the Cats.

Maguire converted from an impossibly tight angle, and he was followed by Goddard, who slammed one home from just inside fifty to the roar of the parochial Saints’ home crowd.

The margin was just 13 points when Riewoldt marked dead in front, but his contentious miss would prove to be the critical moment. Minutes later, Geelong took the ball the length of the field and Kane Tenace finally closed the door on St Kilda, the Cats securing a well-earned victory after a month of disappointment.

Next Saturday night, Geelong tackle Collingwood in a blockbuster clash at the MCG, while St Kilda face the struggling Carlton at the same venue on Sunday afternoon.

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