Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron have kicked four goals each as Geelong opened Gather Round in style with an entertaining 19-point win over Adelaide.
Both sides showed plenty of attacking flair and the Cats outlasted their opponents in an 18.11 (119) to 15.10 (100) victory at a sold-out Adelaide Oval on Thursday night.
Geelong trailed by as much as 30 points when Crows forward Darcy Fogarty kicked four goals in a stunning second quarter.
But the visitors, who suffered a pre-match blow when star defender Tom Stewart was ruled out with illness and were without hamstrung defender Jack Henry, surged back in a game of swinging momentum.
Cats captain Dangerfield was a constant threat against his former club and key forward Cameron kicked two crucial goals at the start of the final quarter.
Dangerfield kicked the next two as four in a row to Geelong tilted the match in their favour before Cameron slotted the sealer in the dying stages.
“I’ve got admiration for the players that meet the moment,” Cats coach Chris Scott said.
“Jeremy wasn’t dominating the game by any stretch of the imagination.
“It’s a really good example of how sometimes you can not have a great game overall but a few good moments make it really important.”
Geelong were cleaner when it mattered, handling the pressure better in front of 50,073 fans and kicking five goals to one in the final term.
The result left both sides with 3-2 records.
“It was good to play on that stage in a really hot environment,” Scott said.
“It was finals-like in terms of the pressure.
“There were some errors but it did look for big parts of the game like two pretty good teams going at it.”
Bailey Smith (35 disposals), Max Holmes (32) and Gryan Miers (21) were influential for the Cats alongside Tom Atkins, who had 24 touches and nine clearances while also trying to limit Izak Rankine’s influence.
Adelaide’s Matt Crouch (28 disposals, 11 clearances) shone on return with Rory Laird (23 touches) and James Peatling (22) also busy.
Fogarty (four) and Ben Keays (three) were the best of the Crows’ goal-kickers and Rankine kicked two from 25 disposals.
Taylor Walker also finished with two after slotting the first of the night when he ran rings around Mark Blicavs and produced a brilliant snap.
It was the first of 20 goals between the sides in an entertaining first half.
The Crows led by eight points at halftime after giving up key goals late in the second term, and were in front in the final quarter until Cameron kicked the second goal of that period.
Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks refused to use his side’s short five-day break as an excuse for letting the result slip.
“We got a lot wrong in that last quarter – some decision making, our execution – it was really uncharacteristic of us,” Nicks said.
“It wasn’t us, so it’s going to be a hard one for us to go through.
“But when you play teams like Geelong, if you make a mistake you’ll be punished. They did that to us.
“For three quarters it was a really good game of footy but I didn’t enjoy the last quarter at all.”
