{"id":239176,"date":"2022-09-16T14:01:50","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T14:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=239176"},"modified":"2022-09-17T04:59:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-17T04:59:01","slug":"dangerfield-clinic-leads-cats-into-afl-grand-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=239176","title":{"rendered":"Dangerfield clinic leads Cats into AFL grand final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Geelong<\/a> coach Chris Scott<\/a> has admitted Patrick Dangerfield<\/a> is \ufeffin the "best shape in four years" after the superstar's destructive preliminary final performance against Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Dangerfield was at his spectacular best against the Lions, finishing with 28 disposals, eight clearances and two goals as the Cats ran out 18. 12. (120) to 7. 7. (49) winners<\/a> to book their spot in a second grand final in the space of three seasons.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe 32-year-old had his fingerprints on the game from the opening minute, starting at the centre bounce and kicking the Cats' first goal of the game, one of two goals in a blistering opening term.<\/p>\n

AS IT HAPPENED\ufeff:<\/strong> Red-hot Geelong romps to grand final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Eels one win away from NRL grand final berth\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Amazing Federer's 'hardest loss, by far'<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Dangerfield's dominance comes in a season where Geelong has meticulously managed his game time, even giving him a mid-season break earlier in the year, and Scott declared his trump card was at the peak of his powers ahead of the big dance.<\/p>\n

\"Patrick<\/p>\n

"\ufeffHe's in really good shape," he told reporters.<\/p>\n

"Compared to where he's been previously, it's chalk and cheese. He's a bit older but he goes into the biggest game of the year in the best shape he's been in in four years."<\/p>\n

Scott lauded the team's "brilliant" medical staff for the work they'd done with both Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron, who has also fought soft-tissue injuries throughout the year.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's just so comforting as a coach to ask a question (of the medical staff) and completely believe the answer," he said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/Quinny_1\/status\/1570734418654023681?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a>https:\/\/twitter.com\/corbinmiddlemas\/status\/1570749187570147329?s=46&t=TMCB4rvEUT94gH8b_12stQ<\/a><\/p>\n

Brisbane \ufeffsoon responded with Lincoln McCarthy similarly nailing a set shot to send an early message to his former side.<\/p>\n

Proving in hot form, \ufeffDangerfield had his second.<\/p>\n

The alarms started to sound early for the Lions with the Cats winning \ufeff10 straight clearances to build momentum in the closing stages of the opening term, with Dangerfield at the centre of the demolition job.<\/p>\n

Max Holmes scored after the siren to give Geelong a 14-point lead heading into the first break.<\/p>\n

Brisbane drew first blood in the second quarter with Zac Bailey hitting the scoreboard from a high free kick.<\/p>\n

\"Geelong<\/p>\n

Guarding the middle of the ground expertly, the Cats scored consecutive goals from Gary Rohan and Gryan Miers on the back of forward-half pressure.<\/p>\n

After three early misfires, Tom Hawkins finally kicked truly.<\/p>\n

Geelong could have easily put Brisbane away earlier if Hawkins was kicking to his normal efficiency, but settled for a five-goal lead at the main break.<\/p>\n

The Lions started the quarter perfectly, or so they'd hoped, when Joe Daniher had a set shot from 50 metres out from virtually directly in front, but the Lions No.3 kicked it out on the full.<\/p>\n

This allowed Geelong to head straight up the other end and hit up Tyson Stengle on the boundary.<\/p>\n

\"Geelong<\/p>\n

Former No.1 pick \ufeffCameron Rayner suffered a right ankle injury while going up in a marking contest and tripping over his teammate Dan McStay.<\/p>\n

He was helped to the bench by the trainers where he had his ankle re-strapped.<\/p>\n

He tried to enter the match but only lasted a minute and a half before he was ruled out of the match.\ufeff<\/p>\n

However, both injury subs were activated at the same time with \ufeffHolmes limping off with a hamstring injury. The 20-year-old looked distressed before heading down the race and later reappearing wearing the warm-up jacket.<\/p>\n

\"Max<\/p>\n

Despite Holmes' reaction, Scott said Geelong's medical staff was expecting the young gun to be fit for next week, noting that Holmes was buoyant in the changerooms after the match.\ufeff<\/p>\n

The Cats' lead doubled \ufeffat the final change after a seven-to-two-goal quarter.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Hawkins finished the game with a match-high four goals after a shaky start.<\/p>\n

Having already lost one man to injury, Chris Scott\ufeff pulled the likes of Stewart, Cameron, Selwood and Hawkins late in the game to prevent any further carnage ahead of next week's grand final.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Geelong coach Chris Scott has admitted Patrick Dangerfield is \ufeffin the "best shape in four years" after the superstar's destructive preliminary final performance against Brisbane. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":239178,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239176\/revisions\/239178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}