Geelong Well Aware 'millionaire' Teams Can Pay A High Price
The Age
Monday August 20, 2007
Geelong has become its own hardest marker as the winning roll gathers even more momentum.
INVERTING an old football paradigm, Geelong is the team that has forgotten how to lose. With its streak now at 15, the Cats are in the luxurious position of choosing not between victory and defeat, but degrees of victory."Not our most convincing day," said coach Mark Thompson of yesterday's eclipse of the Kangaroos. "A good win, but not a great win," said match-winning forward Cameron Mooney. As it happened, Geelong lost percentage on the day. Considered so, it is easy to overlook the magnitude of the Cats' achievement this season. The more they win, the more prized a scalp they become. Each win is harder earned than the last. The Kangaroos came hard at them at the start yesterday, harder again in the third quarter, and had one last sally in the last quarter when the Cats' endeavour lapsed. Yet still they won again. So instead of tearing themselves apart - as is sometimes their wont - the Cats are nitpicking at themselves. It helps to concentrate their minds, and it keeps the coaching staff busy. "I thought our last quarter was pretty ordinary," said Mooney, by way of example. "We spoke about it as a group on the ground. When we start playing like millionaires, teams come at us pretty hard and North Melbourne did that." Since form is a given for Geelong, Thompson can concentrate on fine points, such as discipline. Early in the last quarter, he benched Mooney, his five goals notwithstanding, for upending Daniel Pratt, yielding a free kick downfield, leading to a Kangaroos' goal. "He told me to tell myself to pull my head in a bit," said Mooney. "We gave away silly free kicks." Paul Chapman and David Johnson also were dragged and upbraided. These, of course, were wise precautions, for indiscipline, if not addressed, might achieve against Geelong what no opponent has since April. The Kangaroos prodded and niggled at the Cats yesterday as a schoolboy might at his older brother. Thompson said many of his team had been frustrated, but stopped short of calling the Roos' tactics unfair. Mooney said he did not sense that opponents, unable to put a mark on the Cats, were trying to get under their skin instead. "No. It was a hard game," he said. "We were both going at each other." But in classic Mooney fashion, he issued a plea for umpires to exercise discretion. "I think umpires have got to stop paying free kicks when they know they're playing for them," he said. "It's disappointing." His case in point was his clash with Pratt. After a heated exchange, Mooney braced himself as Pratt launched at him, whereupon the Roos player went to the ground, sprawling spectacularly. "It was very obvious (that it was staged) and I explained that to the umpire," said Mooney. "He said he still thought he had to pay it anyway. It's really disappointing." Mooney's five goals yesterday made 50 for the season for him. Importantly, they came without a miss. Again, this is the result of fine tuning. "The last month, I've kicked more points than goals," he said. "It's been very, very frustrating, but it's something I've worked pretty hard on lately." The secret, he said, was not to think that there might be a secret. "I've just got it out of my head," he said. "At the moment, I'm in my head too much. We say down there: it's the embarrassment factor when you miss one from 10, 15 metres out." Late in the last quarter, Mooney marked again, comfortably within his range, but on an acute angle. He unexpectedly handpassed to Jimmy Bartel, who goaled on the run. "I was on a tight angle and he is a beautiful kick for goal," he said. "I thought I'd give him a bit of responsibility. "We're always confident that when someone comes at us, we've got the ammunition to go back at them again," said Mooney. Everyone is happy at Geelong, but no one is getting ahead of himself. Winning is a hard habit to acquire, but easy to lose. The Cats still have their guard up.
© 2007 The Age