Geelong had a narrow win and loss against West Coast and Fremantle respectively in the AFL pre-season cup on Saturday night.
The Cats came back from a 22-point deficit in the opening game to beat West Coast by two thanks to a last-minute nine-point super goal from captain Joel Selwood, and then fought back from another 20-point deficit in the second match against Fremantle.
The Cats closed to within six points in the dying stages, but the Dockers steadied with late goals to Tendai Mzungu and Michael Walters to prevail 0.7.6 (48) to 0.4.6 (30).
Jimmy Bartel, Jared Rivers and Matthew Stokes were among the Geelong players to take part in the first game against the Eagles but not the second against the Dockers when Joel Corey, Steve Johnson and Steven Motlop ran on.
Selwood was the star for the Cats, kicking the winning goal in the first match against the Eagles, kicking the Cats’ first two against the Dockers and picking up a combined 14 possessions throughout the two games.
Geelong would have also been happy with the efforts of recruit Josh Caddy both off half-back and in the midfield.
He picked up just two possessions against the Eagles, but kicked the opening goal against the Dockers within 20 seconds and then had five disposals.
Jared Rivers was solid on debut as well with the veteran defender from Melbourne doing well in just the first game against the Eagles.
James Podsiadly looked good also with two goals against West Coast with Mitch Brown impressing at both ends.
Johnson might have a nervous wait now after an apparent open-handed strike to Fremantle antagonist Hayden Ballantyne while the Cats will also be hoping that an ankle injury to Matthew Stokes is not too serious.
The Dockers looked good as well in their first competitive hit out for 2013 with Michael Barlow picking up 15 possessions against the Cats showing that he’s ready for a big season in the midfield.
Small forward Michael Walters kicked two goals.
Considering Matthew Pavlich, Nat Fyfe and David Mundy were missing for Fremantle against the Cats, the signs were good.
However, mid-size forward Chris Mayne was helped from the field in the second game after appearing to hurt his ankle in a tackle.