Geelong veteran Patrick Dangerfield has produced a powerhouse display – and an unexpected blooper – to guide his team to an 11-point victory over Fremantle and open the door to the AFL top two.
In Jeremy Cameron’s 250th game, Geelong kicked three goals to one in the final quarter of Saturday’s match at Optus Stadium to secure the 10.13(73) to 9.8(62) win.
The result lifted the Cats (14-7) above Brisbane on the ladder, leaving them just percentage adrift of second spot.
And with games against strugglers St Kilda and West Coast to round out the season, Geelong is right in the mix to not only secure a top-four berth, but lock in second spot.
With Geelong leading by just three points, Dangerfield sprinted forward to run on to a bouncing ball at the top of the goal square.
But instead of gathering the ball to run in for an easy goal, he unleashed a volley that missed.
So what was going through Geelong coach Chris Scott’s mind in that moment?
“The same thing that every armchair expert with the benefit of watching the game from a bar … yeah if he grabbed it and kicked it, it would have helped,” Scott said.
“But he’s got a fair few credits in the bank.”
Dangerfield’s miss mattered not, with Shaun Mannagh kicking the winning goal a short time later to seal a crucial victory.
In the last quarter alone, Dangerfield tallied seven possessions, three clearances, two contested marks and a goal in a match-winning display.
“The game was red hot at the start of the last quarter, and as much as anyone, we thought he was the one that took the game away from them,” Scott said.
“In the last quarter, those big contested marks … for a guy with that sort of speed and for such a renowned ground level player, his ability to go forward and trouble the opposition is a strength that’s nice for us to have.”
The Dockers were forced into a late reshuffle when ruckman Sean Darcy was ruled out just 30 minutes before the opening bounce.
Fremantle rushed veteran Matt Taberner into the side, leaving Luke Jackson as the No.1 ruckman and Patrick Voss as his back-up.
Cameron started his milestone game in style, nailing a 40m set shot from the boundary line to spark a four-goal run from the Cats.
Trailing 24-1, Fremantle worked its way back into the contest with goals to Serong and Jordan Clark, reducing the margin to 13 points at quarter time.
Fremantle continued to make inroads and took a four-point lead into the final change, but Geelong were hungrier in the last quarter when the game was on the line.
It marked the fifth time this season Fremantle had led at three-quarter time but lost the match.
“Clearly it’s disappointing. We didn’t finish off the game the way we wanted to finish, but the start comes back to bite you,” Longmuir said.
“You give a team in this sort of game a four-goal head start and you’re on the back foot from the very start.
“So we need to be better than that.”
Fremantle midfielder Caleb Serong led the way for his side with three goals to go with 22 disposals and six clearances.
Dockers forward Bailey Banfield could be in strife after pushing his elbow into Zach Gurthrie’s head after the Geelong defender had taken a mark.
Geelong lost Tanner Bruhn to concussion from a second-quarter collision involving Andrew Brayshaw.
