Match

Melbourne vs Geelong Cats

Commentary / 10 Sep 2021

Pre Game

00:00

Since Round 20, Melbourne has won both the inside 50 count and time in forward half differential in every game. It has won the time in forward half by an average of 17 minutes and 24 seconds in this time - the best five week average since Adelaide in 2016.

Quarter 1

00:00

Q1 is now underway.

01:09

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Ben Brown)

07:20

SCORE GOAL - Cats (Jeremy Cameron)

07:45

The Cats kicks the opening goal of the night through Jeremy Cameron. They applied pressure on the Demons in defence generating six inside 50s in a row before scoring the goal.

08:55

Melbourne are finding its forward targets early. It has had four inside 50s and taken three forward 50 marks.

09:28

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Ben Brown)

13:22

SCORE GOAL - Demons (James Harmes)

14:10

Geelong leads the clearance count 7-3, but the Demons lead the scores from clearances 2.0 to 0.0.

15:27

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Alex Neal-Bullen)

15:55

Melbourne's third goal of the night comes from a free-kick at a stoppage. Its third goal from a clearance for the game.

19:30

Demons Interchange - Steven May off due to an injury.

21:45

Jack Viney has had team-highs of seven disposals and five contested possessions so far in the game.

22:41

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Christian Petracca)

24:06

Melbourne has won four forward half clearances and has kicked 3.0 (18) from these.

25:22

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Charlie Spargo)

26:11

Joel Selwood leads the Cats with seven disposals so far but he needs to tighten up his ball use, committing a game-high four turnovers so far.

28:31

Geelong has taken just five marks so far in the game. It has taken at least nine marks in every quarter this season, taking fewer than 10 on just one occasion.

28:47

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)

32:22

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)

32:24

Christian Salem finished the opening quarter with nine disposals, three score launches and 165 metres gained. He won eight uncontested possessions - three more than any other Melbourne player.

Quarter 2

00:00

Q2 is now underway.

02:27

SCORE GOAL - Cats (Rhys Stanley)

02:39

Geelong links up with four marks in a row to keep the opening goal of the second quarter, Mitch Duncan and Patrick Dangerfield have had six of the Cats' 12 disposals of the second term.

03:03

Cats Interchange - Mark Blicavs off due to the blood rule.

03:47

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Charlie Spargo)

04:24

Another goal for the Demons from a stoppage. They have now completed the trifecta with a goal from a centre bounce, a throw-in and a ball-up already tonight.

05:40

SCORE GOAL - Cats (Gryan Miers)

09:50

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Tom Sparrow)

10:35

Christian Petracca has won an equal team-high 11 disposals and leads the side with five groundball-gets and four score involvements.

11:29

SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Rushed)

12:48

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Max Gawn)

14:19

Melbourne leads the groundball-get count 13-6 so far here in the second quarter.

19:15

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)

21:45

So far this quarter, Melbourne has won six uncontested possessions in the forward 50, Geelong has won zero. Across the game, Melbourne has won 11 and Geelong has won four.

22:23

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Christian Petracca)

23:30

The Demons' ball movement has been clearly superior to the Cats this season. They have generated 12 inside 50s from defensive half chains while the Cats have generated just five entries from chains starting in their back half.

23:57

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)

24:43

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Ben Brown)

27:58

Geelong kicks a late first half goal. It has taken 12 marks across the past 10 minutes of the game after taking just 13 in the opening 47 minutes of play.

30:55

SCORE GOAL - Cats (Isaac Smith)

31:10

Geelong kicks consecutive goals for the first time in the game, They lead the uncontested possession count 16-8 across the past 10 minutes.

32:44

Jack Viney finished with a team-high 22 disposals in the opening half. The second most disposals he has ever won in a first half of a game across his career.

Quarter 3

00:00

Q3 is now underway.

01:01

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Ben Brown)

03:21

SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Rushed)

04:12

Melbourne has kept the Cats to just 20 inside 50s so far across the game. Geelong's lowest inside 50 count in a game this season is 42 against Collingwood in Round 11.

04:43

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)

05:56

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Max Gawn)

06:41

Two of Melbourne's first three goals of the quarter have come directly from centre bounce clearances.

07:09

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Tom McDonald)

08:22

Ten different Melbourne players have kicked a goal so far tonight, only the second time this season they have had at least 10 players contribute a goal across a game.

11:47

Melbourne has gone inside 50 five times in the third quarter - scoring a goal on each occasion.

12:08

Demons Interchange - Steven May off due to an injury.

13:32

So far in the third quarter, Melbourne has recorded a kicking efficiency of 75 per cent, Geelong is down at 38 per cent.

14:24

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Max Gawn)

15:17

Max Gawn grabs the ball straight out of the ruck and kicks a goal. The Demons have now kicked 75 points from clearances, one point below the season-high of the Bulldogs who scored 76 points from clearances in Round 10.

16:28

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Max Gawn)

16:52

Max Gawn is having a night out, booting his fifth goal of the night and the fourth for the quarter. He has never kicked more than three goals in a game before tonight.

18:16

Cats Interchange - Patrick Dangerfield off due to an injury.

18:56

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Christian Petracca)

21:33

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)

24:06

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)

25:18

The Demons have had eight more disposals than the Cats this quarter, but also lead the tackle count 10 - 5 for the term.

27:32

Cats Interchange - Gary Rohan off due to an injury.

31:14

Steven May has been subbed out of the game with injury and James Jordan has been activated.

31:53

Gary Rohan has been subbed out of the game with injury and Shaun Higgins has been activated.

32:26

Melbourne has scored from 18 of its 35 clearances. The competition average for scoring from clearances this season was 23 per cent.

Quarter 4

00:00

Q4 is now underway.

01:46

SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Rushed)

04:16

Christian Salem has taken two intercept marks already in the fourth quarter. He has won a team-high seven intercept possessions so far across the game.

09:25

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Rushed)

09:56

Geelong has been outscored 8.3 to 0.2 from half-time, but the forward 50 disposal count is only 13-12 in Melbourne's favour.

11:53

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (Tom Sparrow)

13:48

Melbourne leads the contested possession count by six this quarter, extending its lead across the match in this are to 38 - on track to be the only team to beat the Cats by at least 20 contested possessions in a game this season.

15:23

SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Tom Hawkins)

18:30

SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Rushed)

19:29

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Kysaiah Pickett)

20:03

Kysaiah Pickett has had six score involvements from 12 disposals across the game.

21:33

Max Gawn and Kysaiah Pickett have kicked each of the past five goals of the game between them.

21:45

SCORE GOAL - Demons (Bayley Fritsch)

23:16

SCORE BEHIND - Cats (Tom Hawkins)

23:49

Melbourne has kicked six goals directly from centre bounces tonight. Overall it has scored 100 points from clearances - the first team to do this since Geelong in Round 19, 2011.

24:50

SCORE BEHIND - Demons (James Harmes)

27:30

SCORE GOAL - Cats (Jeremy Cameron)

28:14

Isaac Smith has been involved in eight of the Cats 12 scoring chains tonight. He also leads them with 20 effective disposals and 19 uncontested possessions.

30:28

Melbourne is through to its first Grand Final since 2000 with a comprehensive victory over the Cats. The Demons scored 101 points from clearances - the fourth most points scored from clearances ever recorded.