The young VFL Cats have put in a fighting performance against a strong Brisbane outfit, but it wasn’t quite enough as they fell to the Lions by 35-points on Saturday afternoon.
Facing a tall task against the experienced Lions who sit third on the VFL ladder, the Cats lost no admirers with a spirited performance under the Queensland sun.
After getting jumped early in the opening quarter, the Cats stuck with Brisbane for most of the game, going on to win the second half in an impressive showing from the inexperienced Geelong side.
All the Stats: Geelong vs Brisbane
Mitch Knevitt put together another strong four-quarter effort, collecting 28-disposals and six clearances through the midfield.
Geelong welcomed back Brandon Parfitt from injury, while Esava Ratugolea added valuable depth down back in his first VFL game of the season.
The Cats were unable to halt Brisbane’s momentum early, trailing by 28-points at the first break.
After a slow start, the Cats hit the scoreboard late in the opening term through a nice passage of play that ended with Ollie Dempsey, who converted a nice set-shot for Geelong’s first goal.
Brandon Parfitt put together an extraordinary first quarter, amassing 16-disposals and five clearances.
Dempsey was again instrumental in Geelong’s second goal, weaving through traffic before finding Ted Clohesy who went back and nailed the set-shot early in the second term.
Clohesy and Dempsey would then link up once more following a clean centre clearance from Toby Conway, finding Brandan Parfitt who added a goal to his impressive first half.
A beautiful piece of play late in the quarter from Dan Capiron opened up Brayden Ham inside-50, who converted the Cats fourth goal as Geelong trailed by 40-points at the main break.
Brandan Parfitt and Mitch Knevitt combined for 37-disposals and 10-clearances in the opening half, while Ollie Dempsey found 12-possessions and numerous score involvements.
Toby Conway took another positive step in his second game back from injury, winning a game-high 20 hit-outs and four clearances in the first half.
The Cats started the second half with a bang, winning a beautiful centre clearance and finding Shannon Neale who made no mistake, kicking the first goal of the half inside a minute.
Ben Lloyd and Mitch Hardie both put through their first goal of the afternoon midway through the quarter, but the Lions had all the answers to close the door on a potential comeback.
Shannon Neale took a strong grab at the top of the goal square and put through his second late in the term, but the Cats found themselves 45-points adrift at the final break.
It was Neale again who got the Cats started in the final quarter, slotting his third goal in an impressive second half from the big forward.
Another clean passage of play through the midfield finished with Ben Lloyd, who converted another Geelong set-shot for his second of the game.
Cooper Whyte launched home another for the Cats, before Lloyd booted his third to close out a strong second half for Geelong.
Shannon Neale kicked three goals and clunked eight-marks, while Parfitt toiled hard laying eight-tackles and collecting a game-high eight clearances.
For the VFL Cats, Ben Lloyd was outstanding racking up 26-disposals, booting three goals and taking an incredible 13-marks in his best performance of the season.
The VFL Cats will return home next weekend for a Sunday afternoon clash with the Northern Bullants, with a 12:05pm start at GMHBA Stadium.
VFL Round 18
GEELONG 1.0 4.2 8.3 12.5 (77)
BRISBANE 5.4 10.6 15.6 17.10 (112)
GOALS: Neale, Lloyd 3, Dempsey, Clohesy, Parfitt, Ham, Hardie, Whyte 1
DISPOSALS: Knevitt 28, Parfitt 27, Lloyd 26, Herbert 25, Ham 23, Dempsey 21
