The fifth game on Saturday for AFL Round 15 is between Geelong Cats and Hawthorn Hawks. The match is to be played at MCG with the opening bounce set to commence at 7:40pm local time with away team Hawthorn Hawks currently holding favouritism in the market. View our AFL live scores, odds and results for the game between Geelong Cats and Hawthorn Hawks.
WHERE AND WHEN: MCG, Saturday 6 July, 7:40pm
Opening odds comparison:
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| Geelong Cats | 2.15 | 2.15 | 2.12 | 2.15 | 2.15 | 2.17 |
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Hawthorn Hawks
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1.70 | 1.70 | 1.72 | 1.70 | 1.70 | 1.70 |
Preview:
Geelong play Hawthorn on Saturday, 7.40pm at the MCG. This is the match of the round for many, with both teams evenly matched across much of the field. The Hawks will go into this game as slight favourites, however, but no matter who wins, it will be a fiery encounter. Geelong have dominated Hawthorn in recent years, and that is the first hurdle the Hawks will have to overcome. Saying that, however, the Hawks are in great form after winning their last 12 games and will be very tough to beat. This will be a close contest and offers Hawthorn the best chance of beating the Cats since the 2008 Grand Final.
Teams:
Geelong Cats:
B: Cameron Guthrie, Tom Lonergan, Corey Enright
HB: Joel Corey, Harry Taylor, Taylor Hunt
C: Andrew Mackie, Joel Selwood, Mitch Duncan
HF: Mathew Stokes, James Podsiadly, Mark Blicavs
F: Josh Caddy, Tom Hawkins, Steven Motlop
Foll: Dawson Simpson, Allen Christensen, Jimmy Bartel
Int: Josh Hunt, Jordan Murdoch, James Kelly, Jesse Stringer
Emerg: Billie Smedts, Travis Varcoe, Nathan Vardy
In: –
Out: –
Hawthorn Hawks:
B: Ben Stratton, Brian Lake, Brendan Whitecross
HB: Sam Mitchell, Josh Gibson, Shaun Burgoyne
C: Isaac Smith, Luke Hodge, Bradley Hill
HF: Jack Gunston, Lance Franklin, Luke Breust
F: Shane Savage, Jarryd Roughead, Cyril Rioli
Foll: Max Bailey, Brad Sewell, Jordan Lewis
Int: Taylor Duryea, David Hale, Paul Puopolo, Jonathan Simpkin
Emerg: Kyle Cheney, Will Langford, Brent Guerra
In: M.Bailey, P.Puopolo, C.Rioli
Out: X.Ellis (calf), L.Shiels (ankle), J.Ceglar (hip)
Geelong coach Chris Scott believes the Cats’ game is heading the right way as they seek to extend their extraordinary AFL winning streak over top-placed Hawthorn at the MCG on Saturday night.
While the Hawks are premiership favourites, the Cats have won their past 10 meetings and tuned up beautifully with Saturday night’s 11.19 (85) to 7.2 (44) thrashing of Fremantle.
It was Geelong’s best defensive performance of the season, an area in which they copped what Scott admitted was deserved criticism after the previous round’s fade-out loss to Brisbane.
“Most things are moving in the right direction,” Scott told reporters.
“It’s a long way to go, a huge game this week against the best team in the comp.”
Scott said keeping the potent Hawks in check would provide a very different challenge.
“They attack differently to Fremantle, extremely dangerous, guns on every line,” he said.
“It’s going to be important that we stop their scoring.
“We’re reasonably confident that we can score against most teams.
“But I think even (against Fremantle) we played well and we kicked (only 11) goals, so there needs to be a balance.
“We need to make sure that we defend well but if we concentrate on just stopping the Hawks scoring then it could be a tough night because we’ve got to score ourselves.”
The Cats’ ability to stifle the Dockers was remarkable, particularly after halftime, when they had 18 scoring shots to three and rarely let Fremantle even enter their attack.
Dockers coach Ross Lyon admitted his side was monstered in the second half and probably should have lost by 80 points.
But with captain Matthew Pavlich, ruckman Aaron Sandilands, midfield keys David Mundy and Michael Barlow and Lee Spurr – a late withdrawal on Saturday night- all expected back against against St Kilda next Sunday, he wasn’t too despondent.
“We’ve got five of our very best players coming back in,” Lyon said.
“We’re in pretty good shape.
“We know at our best we can compete with teams like Geelong.”
Not helping Lyon’s night, he had to ask security personnel to intervene to stop Cats fans from standing in front of the coaches box to take photos of him during the game.
“I just think it’s inappropriate isn’t it, I don’t really need it, half a foot away and the flash,” Lyon said.
“We all have our moments in the sun, everyone’s pretty brave behind glass.”