Ablett stars in Cats' win over Lions
Gary Ablett put on another masterclass as Geelong made light of tough conditions to drub Brisbane by 93 points in the AFL match at Skilled Stadium on Sunday.
Ablett finished the match with 42 possessions - only four less than he accrued in last week's remarkable performance against Adelaide - as the Cats won 18.18 (126) to 5.3 (33).
To cap off a great day, one of Ablett's two goals was a contender for goal of the year as he split the posts with a 40m running shot from just inside the boundary line in the final term.
"Has anyone kicked a goal from that pocket the way he did today when the wind was blowing in that south-westerly direction?" pondered Cats coach Mark Thompson.
"It's just an amazing goal."
Brisbane's score was the lowest by the club since the merger of Fitzroy and the Brisbane Bears 13 years ago, falling two points short of the 5.5 (35) they kicked against the Cats at the same venue in 2007.
Geelong finished the match with a stunning 490 possessions, compared to just 257 from the hapless Lions, who had only two scoring shots in the second half.
"We were just quite clearly smashed in every area - possessions say so, inside 50s say so, contested ball says so, handball receives say so," said Lions coach Michael Voss.
"... clearly they are the best team in the competition, I have absolutely no doubt about that, they probably have been for the last couple of years."
Voss was equally unequivocal about Ablett's status.
"He's a super player," he said.
"Probably wrapped up in it is the fact that he kicked that goal from the boundary line.
"They do bring him into the game, but why wouldn't you?
"He keeps his feet, I said last week he's the best player in the competition.
"So you put the best player in the competition in the best team in the competition."
Cameron Mooney (three goals), Joel Selwood and defenders Andrew Mackie and Darren Milburn were also among Geelong's best.
Fourteen Cats, headed by Ablett, had more than 20 disposals, compared to only one Lion - Simon Black with 24.
The match started in dreadful conditions, with heavy rain, a strong cross-wind and the temperature struggling to reach double figures.
Not that it appeared to trouble the home side, who booted the first five goals of the game while holding the Lions to just two points in the opening quarter.
The weather improved somewhat after quarter-time, although the same could hardly be said for the visitors, who trailed 13.8 (86) to 3.3 (21) at the long break.
The one-way traffic continued in the third quarter although the Lions managed to stem the Cats' scoring somewhat by playing Josh Drummond and Daniel Bradshaw as spare men in defence.
Ablett's stunning goal was a rare highlight of the final term.
Captain Jonathan Brown kicked three of Brisbane's five goals in a match watched by a crowd of 15,580.
"To kick 18 goals and have 75 (forward 50m) entries, to only concede 30 entries, to keep them to 33 points, it was a really good solid performance," said Thompson.
"It wasn't just based purely on seeing how many goals we could score."
There was a suggestion that young Lion Lachie Henderson made contact with an umpire, although Voss did not see the alleged incident and no report was laid.
The severity of the knee injury that saw Brisbane utility Brad Dalziell end the game on crutches will be determined in the next couple of days.
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