The Cats Grind Out Another One, But At What Cost?
Geelong got what they came to Sydney for — four points and a spot in the top four they can feel a little more comfortable about — but if you watched that contest at ENGIE Stadium and walked away thinking the Cats are a genuine premiership certainty, I’d love some of whatever you’re drinking.
Look, I’m a Carlton man. Have been since long before most of the kids writing about this game were born, back when we called it the VFL and you could still get a meat pie at half-time without taking out a small mortgage. So take my view on Geelong with whatever grain of salt you see fit. But I’ve watched enough football over the decades to know the difference between a team that’s humming and a team that’s just getting the job done, and on Saturday afternoon, the Cats were very much the latter.
The First Half — A Whole Lot of Nothing to Write Home About
It didn’t take long to work out that this wasn’t going to be a classic. GWS, to their credit, came out with some real intent in the first quarter — their midfield brigade worked hard to establish a foothold, and for about fifteen minutes you could genuinely argue the Giants were the better side. They had the ball moving through the corridor and their pressure around the contest was exactly the kind of thing that gives polished Geelong outfits headaches.
But then the Cats settled. As they always bloody do. There’s something almost maddening about watching Geelong go through the gears — there’s no great fanfare, no sudden shift in momentum you can point to. One minute the Giants look competitive, and the next Dangerfield has swooped on a loose ball thirty metres out and the scoreboard has quietly moved against you. It’s been that way for about fifteen years and it doesn’t get any less impressive or any less irritating, depending on which side of the fence you’re sitting on.
At half-time the Cats led by a couple of goals, which felt about right. Not a blowout. Not a cliffhanger. Just Geelong, doing Geelong things, accumulating a lead the way an accountant accumulates interest — methodically, without drama, with just enough margin to make you nervous if you’re trying to chase it.
GWS Made a Fight of It — And That’s Worth Acknowledging
Back in my day, losing sides used to be given a bit more credit in the match reports. So let me say this plainly: the Giants were not embarrassing. They pushed hard in the third quarter, got the margin back to under two goals at one point, and their forwards created enough chances that on another day you could see a different result.
The young fellas they’ve been blooding through the middle of the year showed again why the Giants’ list management deserves respect. They’re building something up there in Western Sydney, and I know that sounds like faint praise from a Carlton man, but credit where it’s due. They’ve got some genuine talent coming through and a system that doesn’t ask players to do things beyond themselves.
What killed them in the end, as it so often does when you play Geelong, was the stoppages. The Cats won the clearance count convincingly and every time GWS looked like making a run, Geelong would reset through the middle and grind the life out of the next sequence. It’s not glamourous. It’s not always pretty. But my word, it is effective.
The Cats’ Forward Line — Still Not Quite Right
Here’s my honest assesment: Geelong’s forward setup still doesn’t look settled, and that has to be a concern heading into the back half of the season. They won this match because of their midfield dominance and their defensive structure, not because their forward line tore the Giants apart. When you’re relying on the same formula every week — grind it through the middle, work it inside fifty, manufacture something from a stoppage — you become a little predictable, and good sides in September will work that out quickly enough.
Don’t get me wrong, they’ve got quality up there. But there’s something missing in terms of the kind of forward who can take a game by the scruff of the neck and put it to bed in a quarter. The great Geelong sides of the Ablett era — and yes, I’m going back that far — had that X-factor up forward that meant even when the midfield was under pressure, one passage of play could turn everything. This Cats outfit hasn’t quite found that yet in 2026.
The Umpiring — Don’t Even Get Me Started
I promised myself I’d keep this brief because once I start I tend not to stop. But there were two decisions in the third quarter that had me out of my chair, and not in a good way. The free kick count at three-quarter time was the kind of statistic that raises eyebrows regardless of who you barrack for, and the less I say about the holding-the-ball interpretation being applied to GWS players versus Geelong players in the final term, the better for my blood pressure.
I’m not saying the umpires deliberately favoured anyone — that would be a serious thing to assert and I’m not in the business of making claims I can’t substantiate. But I will say that the inconsistency in interpretation has been a feature of the 2026 season that head office really ought to have a hard look at. The rules tinker they introduced at the start of this year around the mark and the play-on decision has created more confusion than clarity, and games like this one — where the whistle seemed to blow more than the play demanded — are the result. Back in my day, you knew where you stood with the rules. Now you need a law degree.
What Does This Mean for the Cats’ Season?
They’re in the eight, comfortably. This win puts some distance between themselves and the sides sitting just outside the top four, and with the fixture shaping up reasonably well over the next few rounds, you’d pencil them into September without too much trouble. Whether they make the granny is a different question entirely.
The sides that have been the most impressive through 2026 — and you know the names — have a different gear that Geelong haven’t yet shown. The Cats can absolutely beat any of them on a good day. But good days have to arrive on cue come finals time, and right now I’m not convinced this group has the reliability to string four big performances together when it matters most.
For GWS, it’s a painful loss in the context of their finals hopes, but not a disastrous one. They played with enough fight and enough quality to suggest they’re not out of the picture. If they can tighten up in the stoppages and give their forwards a cleaner supply over the next month, they might just sneak in.
Trev’s Final Word
Geelong win. Of course they do. And I’ll grudgingly tip them again next week. But I’ll tell you what — if the Cats think this performance is going to frighten the top two, they’ve got another thing coming. This was a workmanlike four points against a side that’s still developing. The real tests are still ahead, and based on what I saw at ENGIE Stadium on Saturday, I’m not entirely sure the Cats are ready for them.
But what would I know. I’m just an old VFL man who still thinks a contested ball and a clean handball is the most beautiful thing in football. And apparently that makes me a relic.
Fair enough.
