Match

Geelong Cats vs Essendon

Commentary / 03 Jul 2021

Pre Game

00:00
Essendon did not score a point from a Centre Bounce Clearance against Melbourne in Round 15 last week. In 2021, they have averaged 14 points per game from this source, the third-highest average of any side from Centre Clearances.

Quarter 1

00:00
Q1 is now underway.
00:44
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
01:01
Jake Stringer opens the scoring with his 100th career goal for Essendon, becoming the 79th Bomber to reach this milestone.
05:30
Essendon have dominated the contested possession count early in this match, recording 12 of the first 15 contested possessions in this match. Geelong have won the contested possession count by an average of just under 15 per game in 2021, and are the league-leaders in this category.
12:50
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Brayden Ham)
14:53
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
15:24
Jeremy Cameron has been the only player targeted inside 50 for Geelong, but has failed to take a mark from four attempts. Geelong are one of five sides to have recorded over 100 marks inside 50 since Round 7 in 2021.
18:15
SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Tom Hawkins)
19:51
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
20:27
Another goal for Jake Stringer, both of which have been launched from defensive midfield Intercept Possession chains. The Bombers have averaged a score from 17 per cent of Intercepts in defensive midfield, the third-highest conversion rate of any side from this zone in 2021.
23:17
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti)
26:30
Darcy Parish has recorded eight contested possessions in the opening quarter, leading all players on the ground. This is a new career-high figure for any quarter in his career, surpassing his previous best of seven contested possessions in a quarter which he has recorded on eight previous occasions.
27:45
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti)
29:01
Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti kicks his second goal of the game and the 150th goal of his career, becoming the 24th Essendon player in the club's history to reach this mark. Tonight he is playing his 121st game of a possible 122 since making his debut in 2016 as a top-up player.
30:19
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Jeremy Cameron)
31:23
Essendon kicked 3.0.18 from snap shots at goal in the first term. Essendon have scored 40 goals from this shot type in 2021, the fourth-most of any side in the AFL prior to Round 16.

Quarter 2

00:00
Q2 is now underway.
02:55
SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Luke Dahlhaus)
04:42
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Zach Tuohy)
06:41
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Jeremy Cameron)
08:34
Geelong make it three goals in a row either side of the quarter time break, all three of which have come from set shots at goal. Geelong have scored 49 per cent of their goals since Round 7 from set shots, the equal third-lowest ratio of any side in the AFL from this shot type.
10:15
Geelong have scored 2.1.13 to 0.0.0 for Essendon in the first part of this term. Since Round 7, Geelong has averaged 5.4 points scored in the first 10 minutes of the second term, the second-lowest average score of any side in this period of the match.
10:40
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
13:20
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Jeremy Cameron)
15:23
SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Isaac Smith)
18:14
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Tom Hawkins)
18:28
Cats Interchange - Jeremy Cameron off due to an injury.
19:11
Geelong have won eight of the nine clearances from secondary stoppages in this term, and scored 3.1.19 from this source. By comparison, Essendon have won three of the four Centre Clearances in this term but have not registered a score from any of these Clearances.
20:32
Jeremy Cameron (hamstring) has been subbed out of tonight's match, replaced by the medi-sub Max Holmes.
21:21
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Patrick Dangerfield)
22:07
That goal to Patrick Dangerfield is the Cats' third goal from five total attacking midfield possession chains in the second term. They average a score from 26 per cent of these possession chains since Round 10, the eight-lowest conversion rate of any side in the AFL in this time from attacking midfield.
24:29
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Gary Rohan)
27:52
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Harrison Jones)
28:22
Harrison Jones gets a goal for the Bombers from his first touch fo the football tonight to end a run of seven straight for the Cats. He has now kicked 15 goals from marks in 2021, the second-most of any Bomber this season behind Cale Hooker.
29:26
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Tom Hawkins)
31:44
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Tom Hawkins)
31:48
That goal to Tom Hawkins makes this a 50-point quarter for the Cats, the third time they have accomplished this feat in 2021. The last time they scored 50 points in a quarter was in the third quarter against Richmond in Round 8 (52).
33:56
Essendon have lost 42 per cent of their defensive one-on-one contests in the first half of tonight's match. They rank in the top five of all teams in this metric in 2021, losing just 25 per cent of their defensive one-on-one's on average prior to Round 16.

Quarter 3

00:00
Q3 is now underway.
03:05
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Zach Merrett)
03:32
Zach Merrett gets the first goal of the second half for Essendon. That is his fourth score involvement for the game, drawing him level with Jake Stringer and Darcy Parish to lead the Bombers in this category in tonight's match.
05:42
SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Zach Tuohy)
06:59
Tom Atkins has already recorded five disposals and six pressure acts early in the third term. No other player on the ground has recorded more than three disposals or pressure acts since half time.
09:55
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Devon Smith)
11:05
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Darcy Parish)
13:54
Mark Blicavs has taken over in the ruck in this term with Rhys Stanley off injured. Stanley won a hitout from just 39 per cent of his ruck contests in the first half, while Blicavs, who recorded just three disposals in the first half, has won nine hitouts from 17 ruck contests (53 per cent) in the third quarter.
14:08
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Peter Wright)
18:56
SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Max Holmes)
20:50
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Alec Waterman)
23:11
Geelong was just awarded their first free kick of the third quarter after being awarded 11 free kicks in the second term out of a total of 17, which is the third occasion in 2021 they have been paid 11 free kicks in a quarter. By this time in the second quarter, 12 free kicks had been paid.
23:14
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Gryan Miers)
24:20
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
27:07
Tom Hawkins gets his fourth goal of the match after taking his first mark on the lead for the match. He leads the league in 2021 with 39 marks on the lead, eight more than any other player prior to Round 16.
29:46
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Rushed)
30:21
Geelong won the pre-clearance contested possession count 18-11 in the third term, after winning this count by one in the first half. Geelong have won this count by an average of four per game since Round 10 (ranked third in AFL) and Essendon have lost this count by three per game in the same period (ranked 15th in AFL).

Quarter 4

00:00
Q4 is now underway.
00:59
SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Rushed)
02:23
SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Rushed)
06:13
Nik Cox (three disposals this quarter) has equalled his disposal count for the previous three quarters. He has struggled to go with Geelong's Sam Menegola, who has recorded 11 disposals to Cox's five in almost 43 minutes matched up on each other in tonight's match.
09:55
SCORE BEHIND - Bombers (Devon Smith)
11:30
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Isaac Smith)
12:35
Isaac Smith gets the first goal of the final term for Geelong, and the Cats seventh goal without a behind from shots at goal between 30-40 metres out from goal. Geelong have a goalkicking accuracy of 47.3 per cent from this distance, the fourth-highest accuracy in this zone of any side in the AFL in 2021.
13:14
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Tom Hawkins)
13:30
That goal to Tom Hawkins was the first goal of the game scored from a Centre Bounce Clearance tonight. Essendon have outscored their opponents by 7.2 points per game from Clearance chains in 2021, ranked third in the AFL. Geelong have outscored them from Clearances by 13 points to zero in this quarter alone.
19:42
SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Gary Rohan)
21:45
SCORE GOAL - Bombers (Jake Stringer)
23:21
Essendon get a goal through Jake Stringer to bring the margin back under five goals. That goal makes it 38 points launched from their defensive midfield zone. Surprisingly, the Bombers have failed to launch a score from their defensive 50 zone in tonight's match.
23:55
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Tom Hawkins)
29:00
SCORE GOAL - Cats (Gryan Miers)
30:14
Three marks inside 50 for the Cats in the final term have translated into three goals straight to ice this game for Geelong. They kicked nine goals from this shot source for the match to just one for Essendon to propel them to a dominant victory.
30:19
Despite losing the inside 50 count by 45-62, Geelong controlled the tempo of tonight's game, taking 99 marks to 66 for Essendon and scoring a goal from a third of their inside 50's, compared to Essendon scoring a goal from one in eight entries.
30:21
The siren has sounded to end Q4.