Really bizarre game today at Skilled Stadium.
Geelong kicked all of their 9 goals for the match in the space of about 15 minutes. They kicked 5 in 10 minutes to close out the first term, and 4 in time-on in the third. Aside from that, they were goalless, including just three behinds combined across the second and final terms. Yet, they still managed to win.
Matthew Scarlett played an absolute blinder from full back, and was BoG by a mile. 14 marks and 30 disposals. Chapman and Ling respectively were the catalysts for the two Geelong goal sprees, and both had good games.
For Adelaide, Thompson was fantastic with 34 possessions, 9 marks and 3 goals, and Goodwin was good through the middle as well, while Bassett and Bock were great across half-back. The difference between the sides in the end was that when Adelaide has periods of dominance, which they did far more often, they couldn't convert it into goals. Welsh had just one kick for the whole match, and it was a shot on goal in the final term that could have won the game, but he missed. Perrie and McGregor were decent but couldn't convert their touches into goals often enough, while players like Playfair and Riccardi for Geelong managed to score goals from limited opportunites, both being quiet for most of the game but kicking back-to-back goals at crucial stages.
Adelaide were better in most aspects of the game and could probably take a lot of positives from the match, but it's one they definately should have won, going into the last term with the wind just 10 points down and keeping Geelong goalless.
Mostly though, it was a very entertaining defensive contest, with high skill from defensive players more than flooding and negative tactics keeping the scoring down.
Geelong go to 8 and 4 and go a game clear in third, while Adelaide drop to 7 and 5 but stay in the top four on percentage ahead of Richmond and Sydney.
