Giants stun Cats with 13-point AFL win

Steve Johnson claimed a victory over his former AFL club at the first attempt as Greater Western Sydney stunned Geelong by 13 points in Canberra.

Off-season signing Johnson booted two goals and laid a few hard hits on ex-teammates in the hearty 13.11 (89) to 11.10 (76) victory at a sold-out Manuka Oval on Sunday.

It was the Giants’ first win of the season and their first in five clashes against Geelong.

The Giants almost let slip a 37-point lead in the third term but some solid defensive work and a late goal to Ryan Griffen sealed one of the biggest wins in the expansion club’s brief AFL history.

GWS hardly saw the ball early but managed to take a two-point lead into the first break.

After kicking the first goal in the first minute, Geelong failed to add another in a term of wasted opportunities.

It came back to hurt them in the second quarter as GWS dominated the stoppages and booted six goals to four.

A major to ruckman Shane Mumford on the siren gave them a 15-point advantage at half-time.

They enjoyed a near-perfect third term, but let slip a couple of late goals.

The Cats rode that momentum into the final quarter with five unanswered majors, two of them to forward Tom Hawkins, but it was too little too late.

Johnson, who finished with 23 disposals, made sure he made the highlights reel with a crunching tackle on Cory Gregson early in the game, as did Mumford with a flooring ball-and-all tackle that knocked out Mitch Duncan and forced him off in the third quarter.

A superb mark and goal to Will Hoskin-Elliott moments later capped off an entertaining few minutes of footy.

Johnathon Patton had an indifferent first senior game of 2016 for GWS, missing a few shots at goal.

The Cats’ star recruit Patrick Dangerfield was limited to just 22 disposals, a far cry from his 43 in last week’s win over Hawthorn.

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