FREMANTLE has given Geelong an enormous scare before the Cats steadied and extended their unbeaten run to 12 matches with an unconvincing 19-point victory at Subiaco Oval on Sunday.

Shannon Byrnes emerged as the hero for the Cats with a five-goal performance being enough to see Geelong 13.16 (94) defeat Fremantle 11.9 (75).

Fremantle threw everything it had at the contest and spurred on by their home crowd were able to narrow the gap to just six points late in the final quarter.

Despite the loss, the emergence of the new breed of players such as Matthew de Boer, Stephen Hill, Michael Walters, Paul Duffield and Nic Suban, who all took the game up to the more-experienced Cats, was a huge positive for Fremantle  

Fremantle made a determined start the game with Aaron Sandilands giving his midfielders first use of the ball, Chris Tarrant blanketing Cameron Mooney and Antoni Grover keeping Tom Hawkins in check.

It took until the nine-minute mark for Fremantle to register the first major of the game when Sandilands pushed forward to out-mark Mark Blake and kick truly.

With Byron Schammer keeping a tight rein on Gary Ablett, Fremantle appeared to be on top of the Cats but had to wait another 13 minutes for their second goal through skipper Matthew Pavlich.

Geelong was kept goalless until Antoni Grover challenged Steve Johnson in an incident 30 metres off the play. Grover’s number went into the book and Johnson calmly slotted through the resultant free kick to narrow the gap to seven points at the first break.

 The Cats wasted little time erasing the deficit in the second quarter through back-to-back goals from Corey Enright and Hawkins.

Ablett moved forward to try to shake the Schammer tag and Jimmy Bartel, James Kelly and Cameron Ling began working their way into the game.

Fremantle steadied with a goal from Walters but Geelong pressed its advantage with a second to Hawkins and two goals to Byrnes to hold a 13 point lead at the long break.

De Boer made an emphatic start for Fremantle in the third quarter with a brilliant goal with just 22 seconds on the clock but the Cats hit back immediately when Byrnes kicked his third.

Geelong should have put the game away but wasted their dominance of the play with a string of five successive behinds before Ryan Gamble finally kicked truly to give them a 24-point break.

An off-the-ball incident involving Ling and Suban sparked the home sided and consecutive goals to Duffield and Paul Hasleby narrowed the gap to 13 points.

 Deep into time-on, Suban popped up with his first goal and Hill then sent the home crowd into raptures with a sublime running effort to level the scores at the final break.

With their winning streak on the line, Geelong dug deep and the irrepressible Steve Johnson kicked two goals in the first seven minutes to wrest back the advantage.

Byrnes’s fourth gave the Cats a 12-point break but a crucial error by Ablett opened the door to Pavlich whose second goal put Fremantle within six points.

It was left to Byrnes with his fifth and Paul Chapman with his first to finally put the result beyond doubt.

Byrnes was Geelong’s best supported by Ling, Bartel, Chapman, Joel Corey and Chapman.

Pavlich led the way for Fremantle with 31 possessions and two goals, Tarrant continued his AFL renewal as a defender while Schammer, Broughton, de Boer, Duffield and Hasleby all made major contributions.
 

Fremantle        2.4  4.5  9.7  11.9 (75)
Geelong        1.3  6.6  8.13  13.16 (94)           

GOALS
Fremantle: Pavlich 2, de Boer, Dodd, Duffield, Hasleby, Hill, Ibbotson, Sandilands, Suban, Thornton
Geelong: Byrnes 5, Steve Johnson 3, Hawkins 2, Chapman, Enright, Gamble

BEST
Fremantle: Pavlich, Sandilands, de Boer, Tarrant, Broughton, Schammer
Geelong: Byrnes, Ling, Chapman, Corey, Bartel, Enright

INJURIES
Fremantle: Pearce (hamstring)
Geelong: Nil

Reports: Grover (Fremantle) reported by umpire Grun for rough conduct on S. Johnson (Geelong) in the first quarter

Umpires: Rosebury, Grun, Keating

Official crowd: 33,213 at Subiaco Oval

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs.

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