By Jack Kovacic
Coburg has suffered its biggest defeat of 2019 at the hands of a tough Geelong side at GMHBA Stadium.
The Cats got off to a flying start kicking the first four goals of the day as Coburg struggled to get its hands on the ball.
Coburg’s first came through Peter McEvoy after he took a strong contested mark and cooly converted the set shot.
Luke Bunker covered the ground well in the first quarter having two rebound 50’s and two inside 50’s to go along with his six disposals.
The second quarter got off to a much better start for the Lions when Sam Lowson marked inside 50 but unfortunately couldn’t find the big sticks from his set shot.
Moments later, Mitch Podhajski put himself in the perfect position at a throw in deep in the pocket and then read the hitout beautifully and slotted a tough banana.
This goal put Coburg right back into the contest trailing by just a goal, but the momentum could not be sustained as the Cats kicked the next three goals of the contest.
The Lions defence struggled to find an answer for Geelong big man Nathan Kreuger who kicked three of his six goals for the game in the second term.
Although Coburg had picked up its play around the contest, its accuracy in front of goal (2.8 for the half) meant it still trailed at half time by 50 points.
Coburg again scored the first goal of the third quarter after some slick ball movement down the wing led to Sam Binion kicking a nice goal on the run.
In almost a mirror image of the previous quarter, Geelong again stole the momentum back kicking the next three goals.
Peter McEvoy then took one of his six contested marks for the day before going back and booting his second goal.
This was quickly followed up by Sam Lowson’s first of the day from long range deep in the pocket.
Geelong continued to flex their muscle in the last quarter, but Tyson Old was able to get his first VFL goal on the board and give Lions fans something to cheer about.
Marcus Lentini was one of Coburg’s best with the midfielder doing a lotof the heavy lifting in and under.
He finished with 24 disposals while also having 14 tackles and seven clearances.
Lochie Dickson (24 disposals and seven clearances) was another standout on a tough day for the Lions, showing why he was moved into the midfield this season.
Speaking post-game assistant coach Brent Taylor said the execution early really hurt Coburg.
“Early, especially in the first quarter we had more scoring shots and unfortunately we weren’t able to execute and put a bit more scoreboard pressure on and from there the perceived pressure started to pick up and we started to lose a bit of our structures,” he said.
Taylor said that the work rate especially early, was not at the level the team wants to be at.
“All week we identified that we needed to get to the outside and cover width and length but unfortunately our work rate wasn’t up to standard for much of that first half,” he said, “We worked back into it in the second half in terms of work rate but the damage was already done.”
Geelong 20.11.131
Coburg 7.12.54
Best: Swierzbiolek, Weightman, Dickson, McEvoy, Lowson, Donaghey
Goals: Lowson, McEvoy 2, Binion, Old, Podhajski
