Sport

AFL 2021 preliminary final: Melbourne Demons v Geelong Cats – live!

Published




11:19

1st quarter, 4 minutes remaining: Demons playing a blinder. Conceded the first goal, then kicked five in a row. Ground ball again inside 50, Blicavs hacks it out off the ground, but it comes straight back in onto the chest of Charlie Spargo. Set shot, goal. Steven May is back on the bench with a lot of strapping on his thigh.

Melbourne 5.1 (31) to Geelong 1.0 (6)




11:16

1st quarter, 5 minutes remaining: Another one for the Demons! Petracca again, at a contest inside 50 again, the ground level ball that ends up in his hands and he charges through traffic to kick one around the corner. Melbourne dominating with pressure around the ball early.

Melbourne 4.1 (25) to Geelong 1.0 (6)




11:15

1st quarter, 6 minutes remaining: Stephen May has come off with a hamstring injury. Huge for Demons fans, their fullback pulled up sore trying to contest with Hawkins for that mark a minute ago.

Melbourne 3.1 (19) to Geelong 1.0 (6)




11:14

1st quarter, 7 minutes remaining: Tom Hawkins has had an absolute shocker: ball slides off the boot as he shoots from 50, and sprays out on the full. Anyone in Perth tonight? Is it damp there? Looks it on the screen, but who knows.

Melbourne 3.1 (19) to Geelong 1.0 (6)




11:08

1st quarter, 10 minutes remaining: Three in a row for the Demons! The Cats looking flat at the minute. Brown marks again strongly 55 metres out. The ball in hits another pack and again it’s all about placement to rove it, Neal-Bullen this time with the flying snap.

Melbourne 3.1 (19) to Geelong 1.0 (6)




11:06

1st quarter, 11 minutes remaining: James Harmes scores from the stoppage up forward. Max Gawn punches a ball-up away from goal towards the arc, where Harmes is poised to swoop.

Melbourne 2.1 (13) to Geelong 1.0 (6)




11:05

1st quarter, 14 minutes remaining: Ben Brown strikes early, important for him. Marks it strongly after Petracca burns away from a stoppage and gets a clean entry. Converts the set shot.

Melbourne 1.1 (7) to Geelong 1.0 (6)




11:03

1st quarter, 17 minutes remaining: The Cats score the first goal of the night. Menegola roves a stoppage on the wing, handball finds Stanley who thumps a long high kick inside 50. It gets spoiled free but Jeremy Cameron in there to find the loose ball and dribble a left-footer home.

Melbourne 0.1 (1) to Geelong 1.0 (6)

Updated




11:02

A technology drop at just the wrong moment, apologies… we’re up and running now.




10:25

Geelong team

Full-back: Jack Henry, Lachie Henderson, Zach Tuohy

Half-back: Jake Kolodjashnij, Mark Blicavs, Tom Atkins

Centre: Mitch Duncan, Cameron Guthrie, Isaac Smith

Half-forward: Esava Ratugolea, Jeremy Cameron, Gary Rohan

Full-forward: Zach Guthrie, Tom Hawkins, Gryan Miers

Followers: Rhys Stanley, Joel Selwood, Patrick Dangerfield

Bench: Max Holmes, Jed Bews, Sam Menegola, Brad Close

Medical sub: Shaun Higgins




10:23

Melbourne team

Full-back: Michael Hibberd, Steven May, Jake Lever

Half-back: Jake Bowey, Harrison Petty, Christian Salem

Centre: Angus Brayshaw, Christian Petracca, Ed Langdon

Half-forward: Kysaiah Pickett, Tom McDonald, James Harmes

Full-forward: Alex Neal-Bullen, Ben Brown, Bayley Fritsch

Followers: Max Gawn, Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney

Bench: Luke Jackson, Charlie Spargo, Trent Rivers, Tom Sparrow

Medical sub: James Jordon




10:19

Preamble

Geoff Lemon

Shall we prepare to rumble? Nothing thrills the soul like the word ‘preliminary’, and here we are – the prelim finals for the AFL season of 2021. Another season of wildly fluctuating schedules, last-minute changes, dashes for borders, and strange combinations of teams with grounds. Melbourne and Geelong in Perth? Why not.

Geelong have an interesting recent relationship with preliminary finals. No problems at all with them from 2007 to 2011, winning through to four grand finals out of five. Prelims became a hurdle from then to 2020, with the Cats often dropping out at that stage. Then they cleared it last year to once again play for the cup. They’ve been very consistent this season, but a bit below their best in the last few weeks, and have lost a couple of key players in Brandon Parfitt and Tom Stewart.

Melbourne have been exciting all season, even with a wobble in the middle that saw it threaten to fall away, but they came back strongly at the business end. They’re like the Cats of 2007: a team that hasn’t won a flag since the 1960s, and has a dedicated legion of fans desperate to celebrate away that gap.

And of course, these teams played a corker in the final round of the regular season, with the Demons winning after the siren off the boot of Max Gawn.

It promises much, tonight. Let’s go.

source: theguardian.com