In a trend that is becoming familiar for Cats fans, Geelong left its charge a little too late as it fell to the Western Bulldogs on Friday.
Kept goalless for the first three quarters at Whitten Oval in the round seven marquee game, the Cats challenged the Dogs in the final quarter but came away with a 2.4 (16) to 3.10 (28) defeat.
Trailing by 25 points at the final change, with just two behinds on the scoreboard, the Cats kicked two goals about five minutes into the fourth quarter and brought the margin back to 11 points.
But the Cats were unable to capitalise on the momentum, with the Dogs locking down defensively and kicking the only score, a behind, for the rest of the game.
The Cats’ defence was its standout, as has been common this season, Maddy McMahon and captain Meg McDonald combing for 11 intercept possessions.
The defensive pressure meant the Cats conceded just three goals from 32 forward 50s.
However the Cats were only able to enter their own forward 50 just 19 times across the night.
Coach Dan Lowther said it was a “frustrating” game.
“Clearly it’s disappointing [to have] another loss by a couple of goals and the fact for three quarters we played pretty ordinary to be fair, but then in the last quarter [we] come out and show the fight and fire and method and style that we brought last week and in the first few rounds,” he said.
“It’s frustrating but there are some good signs.”
Lowther said the team needed to have more urgency to get the ball into the forward half.
“Fundamentally I thought we were really poor,” he said.
“It comes with consistency.
“The message over the last six or seven weeks has been about us driving the ball forward … whether it be by hand or foot … but there were times [on Friday night] we just refused to do it.
“[When] you’re not doing those things consistently enough, you’re going to find it difficult to get the ball inside 50.
“They’re decisions we have to be better at around the ground and that is something we need to improve – our decision-making to have urgency around getting the ball inside 50.”
Rebecca Webster, who finished with a team-high 22 disposals, as well as five clearances and five tackles, and Amy McDonald (19 disposals, eight tackles, five clearances and five intercepts) were again the Cats’ standouts in the midfield.
Georgie Prespakis and Julia Crockett-Grills led the way with pressure, laying 11 and 10 tackles respectively.
Chloe Scheer and Phoebe McWilliams were the Cats’ goal kickers.
McWilliams’ goal was her seventh for the season, which has her placed equal fifth of the season’s goal kicking tally.
Geelong will be back on the road this weekend, heading to the Swinburne Centre to play Richmond on Saturday evening.
Both teams will go into the game with one win and five losses.
