Rory Sloane says the Crows have to be stronger at the contest for longer after being “flogged” in contested ball during the final quarter at Simonds Stadium on Thursday night.
Patrick Dangerfield kicked the opening goal of the last term to put Adelaide ahead by one point, but Geelong piled on six unanswered goals to storm to a 38-point win.
At one stage in the last quarter, Geelong led the contested possession count 17-4 for the term. The Cats won the statistic overall 149-134, and also claimed tackles (81-58), clearances (38-34) and inside 50ms (62-47) largely because of the one-sided final term.
“We were clearly in it. After Danger kicked that goal, we hit the front,” Sloane told FIVEaa after the game.
“Our contested ball was minus-15 or something in the last quarter and you can’t win games of footy when you’re not winning the contested ball. That’s what we pride ourselves on, so it was pretty disappointing that we let that happen in the last quarter.
“The rest of the game, we kept coming back after Geelong got in front. For some reason we didn’t hold strong in the last quarter. The contested ball numbers … they absolutely flogged us in the last quarter.”
Matthew Wright topped Adelaide’s possession count with 31 disposals, five marks and five tackles. Young duo Sam Kerridge (24 possessions, five marks and four tackles) and Mitch Grigg (21 possessions, six marks and 1.0) also found plenty of the ball, while Matthew Jaensch amassed 25 possessions at 100 per cent efficiency and a nice long-range goal playing across half-back.
However, there weren’t enough contributors across the board, particularly in the midfield.
“As a group, we did get beaten in the midfield,” said Sloane, who laid a game-high 12 tackles.
“Joel Selwood played extremely well and so did Steve Johnson and a few others. Our defensive stuff wasn’t good enough and we weren’t winning our fair share of first ball either. It’s a big focus for us as a midfield group and that’s what was most disappointing, the last quarter got way out of hand.”
The match was played at a frenetic pace, with both teams moving the ball quickly.
Geelong was cleaner with the ball in hand and also generated a number of easy goals from Adelaide’s turnovers.
“We had a couple of chances running into an open forward line that we didn’t take,” Sloane said.
“We didn’t use the ball well enough going forward. I know I burned the ball a few times and a few others as well. I just missed one mark and Geelong was good enough to counterattack and go down and kick a goal straight away.
“Opportunities like that really hurt in tight games especially when momentum was such a massive thing in the last quarter.”
Adelaide will now prepare to take on Port Adelaide in the first-ever game at the new Adelaide Oval.
“It’s very disappointing tonight, but there’s no bigger way to respond than in a Showdown,” Sloane said.
“We’ll rest up, recover and review the game. We’ll train pretty hard this week and prepare ourselves for a very difficult match against Port.”
