From the Geelong Advertiser
Reported by Michael Auciello
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GEELONG has crashed out of the VFL finals series after going down to Box Hill by 34 points in yesterday's elimination final.
Despite a positive start, the Cats were run over the top of in the middle two quarters of the game, to have their season ended in the first week of September.
Geelong led 4.3 to a wasteful Hawks' scoreline of 0.6 at quarter time, but were to be blown away in the next two quarters at Port Melbourne's TEAC Oval.
The Hawks piled on 12 goals to three in the second and third quarters to take a commanding 35-point lead into the last change.
A Tom Lonergan goal in the dying stages of the third term gave the Cats a small glimmer of hope, but when Box Hill's Matt Suckling kicked his third goal of the day four minutes into the last quarter to extend the lead to 42 points, just about all hope looked gone.
Tom Allwright, who was drafted onto the Cats' rookie list at the end of last year, did some nice things yesterday and responded with a goal within a minute to keep the Cats in it, before a brilliant effort by captain James Podsiadly followed.
The reigning Liston Trophy winner turned two opponents inside out near the boundary before snapping a left-foot banana goal to reduce the margin to five goals 10 minutes in.
But when Hawthorn premiership play Mark Williams booted a running goal three minutes later, the game was gone.
In a marathon last quarter, the Cats went on to boot another four goals to three, but the Hawks ran out comfortable 17.19 (121) to 13.9 (87) winners.
Podsiadly finished with four goals, while Ryan Gamble, Allwright and Lonergan kicked two each. The loss is bad news for the likes of Gamble and Shane Mumford, because they will no longer have the chance to put in good VFL performances to push for a senior recall in the next few weeks.
Gamble was among Geelong's best couple of players yesterday but faces an uphill battle to regain a place in a senior team that must still squeeze Max Rooke and Steve Johnson in.
