IS it as simple as saying the premiership is Geelong’s to lose?
At the moment, there’s no real argument against that statement considering it blew away another premiership contender – Williamstown – by 49-points on Sunday.
The Cats are the team to beat and are three games clear on top of the ladder. The minor premiership is there’s to keep at least and the major one appears on its way too.
Cats VFL coach Matthew Knights said he didn’t want the group to get ahead of themselves; nor have they given their performance against the Seagulls. They could have curled up and taken their foot off the pedal – like Essendon did just a day before them and unlike the Bombers, they had an excuse to. The Cats are miles ahead of the rest and this result against Williamstown proves it.
“Obviously if you’re the top team on the ladder, there is expectation around that,” Knights said.
“I didn’t think there was any relaxing, taking the foot off the pedal today, the boys endeavoured to play the right way. I suppose people would think that we are favourites but there’s still a long way to go in the season. It’s good to be playing good footy. We’ve got a pretty good group that are pretty humble and if you get ahead of yourself, you’ve got people around you that bring you back to earth pretty quickly, it’s a good culture that way,” he said.
We spoke about North Ballarat’s powerful era in the past which netted three premierships in a row. Geelong is on the path to something similar.
The only team that seem capable or even likely to compete with the Cats in the finals is Box Hill.
The second placed Hawks have a team and a game plan that matches up well against the Cats. They just need to get some of their guns back from injury which they are slowly doing. Xavier Ellis will be another it gets back in the next fortnight.
Box Hill’s 72-point win against the Bombers was somewhat of a breeze considering Essendon spent at least half of the match in second gear. It was in complete contrast to the momentum that Essendon had in the past month and unfortunately the external issues have taken a toll on its playing group – it was evident in the VFL and in the AFL.
Let’s hone in on the race for the top eight which is now intriguing given North Ballarat’s thrilling five point win over Collingwood. Collingwood, which appeared on the cusp of the top four not so long ago, is now outside the eight on percentage with both the Northern Blues and North Ballarat jumping into the eight at the expense of Essendon and Collingwood.
Let’s rule out Essendon because no performance like the one on Saturday is going to mean it can win the next two matches – and by substantial margins needed to make up its percentage.
It means Collingwood, who face Sandringham and Werribee in its final two matches, may miss out. It will come down to percentage with my predictions showing that all three – the Blues, Roosters and Pies are likely to win one more game each.
Hero of the week: Liam Anthony (North Ballarat) – He amassed 38 disposals and was undoubtedly the match winner for the Roosters in a close contest.
Villain of the week: Essendon’s senior players – Surely there was more effort and intensity in them than there was on the weekend. We feel a little sorry for what they’ve had to go through but does it really have to affect the VFL group too?
Photo of Geelong’s 2012 Premiership win appears with approval and courtesy of Bendigo Bankers Images. All Rights Reserved