Its hard isn't, Dockerplus? Maybe they were all too outraged to notice?

I counted 6 on the Geelong interchange bench today and 9 on Freo's bench. (This gels with earlier reports that the Cats' were bringing 24 on the trip West).
My points are:
1. we had 3 more players to rotate through the bench and supposedly run right over the top of the Catters';
2. we had the home ground advantage (I don't know that the Cats' have ever had the pleasure of playing at Freo Oval before); and
3. 1 + 2 = WIN.
I am also wondering whether we were within the rules today, even in a scratchie, to play more players than the other team?

The Hinkleberry was a ripper today - lots of the ball and I was glad that I stayed to see him rip Scumwood's jumper in half (got the tackle, missed the goal).

Roger was the best on park; Dodd not far behind. Playing Spud in defense (on Mooney?) went the whole game except for the last 3 minutes of the 4th. Suban looked out of place in the middle - Mike Pearce was subbed in the second half. VB looked good, so did the Tassie kid (Crichton - kicked his first goal in the opening qtr).

Gave away the lead, crumbled under the Cats ball control in the second half - missed Bally, BIG TIME.

That makes two game highlights for me, then:

i) Guy Smiley giving heaps to Geelong's bald #29
ii) the fact I didn't notice Murph was on in the first half.

Thanks Polly, was Sandi, Johnson, Mundy, Tarrant, Pavlich and Hasleby out there in the 2nd half?

Freofan58 is there a rule that says you have to match the amount of players your opponent puts on the ground?

Yes

I don't get why you're being so serious about this, hypen. It was a scratchy. We were all there to soak up the atmosphere at one of the country's great footy grounds. Great to see a Derby-size crowd.

Geelong went for a full dress rehearsal; we went for giving game time to those who don't buy razor blades.

Geelong won. But, really, you'd be worried about the immediate future of the world if they hadn't.

Come back in fortnight and let's see what Harvs reckons our best 22 looks like.

hypen - hard game to sum up. It just seemed that either:
i. Harvey told Freo not to bother in the 3rd qtr or
ii. Thompson told Geelong to pull their socks up at half time and they decided to turn up

They came out after 1/2 time and were blown away by Geelong. Apart from that it was a reasonably even match. I didn't see any notable ommissions in the 3rd - naturally there was a bit of rotation everywhere. Just seemed that all the centre bounces ended up in Geelong possession and goals.

Taking the 3rd out of it - the game was a preseason match. Some moments where guys put their body in, others didn't seem overly interested and a fair lot of clangers (refer previous post). Generally apart from the 3rd, my impression was that our defense was reasonably solid, mids and forwards held their own.

Barlow is guaranteed a spot on the main list from what I've seen of him this preseason (apologies if I've missed any news relating to this).

oh - and I forgot Mayne - he is a champion. Never gave up chasing. Always presents and always manages to find space. Don't know if he got any goals but between him and the pest, our forward pressure will be second to none this year.

First half - Cats were napping. Freo had swift ball movement and good structures.

Second half - Freo blown away in the third quarter. Cats sharked Sandi's taps again and again and we couldn't get a clearance until very late in the quarter. Cats definitely lifted their intensity and ran hard and too many of our blokes simply didn't match them. Some skill errors hurt us badly. Freo had no forward pressure allowing the Cats to rebound easily. By contrast, the Cats could lock the ball in their forward zone.

We were missing Hill, Morabito, Ballantyne and De Boer from our starting 22. No excuses though.

Some player reports:

Van Berlo: Did not give up throughout the entire game. Ran hard and his second efforts were good. One of the few to lift to match Geelong's intensity. He deserves to be elevated.

Bollenhagen: Has pace and poise and a good kick. Booted two for us. Deserves match time in the regular season.

Suban: Gutsy effort all day.

Hayden: Where would we be without this guy? Probably our best player today.

Barlow: Good effort today. Deserves to be elevated.

Duffield: Was good today in a defence that was under siege in the second half.

Dodd: Did some good things today. He'll be better for the run.

Hinkley: One of Freo's better players, put in a consistent effort and actually ran hard when it mattered.

McPharlin and Tarrant: Some lapses but did about as good as you'd expect when a lot of the midfield and forwards weren't doing their jobs.

Crichton: Has pace and guts. His second efforts were very good. Something Mayne-like about this guy. Once he puts on some weight he deserves some match time in the regular season.

Headland: Clearly still not 100% and should not be rushed back. He might need some WAFL time to build match fitness.

Hasleby: Good skills one he got his hand on the ball but seem to be labouring and too often was second to the contest.

McPhee: Not afraid of the contest but made some unforced skill errors, some of which cost us badly.

Bradley: Mugged in the forward line, too often second to the contest.

Murphy: Played in the back line (WTF?!!). Played like someone out of position.

Schammer: I can't fault his work ethic today but made too many clangers.

My starting 22 for round 1

F: Ballantyne Pavlich Pearce
HF: Mayne Johnson Hill
C: Ibbotson Barlow Morabito
HB:Suban McPharlin Broughton
B: Duffield Tarrant Hayden

R:Sandilands, Mundy, Crowley
Int: Clarke, de Boer, Hasleby, Van Berlo

Good summary EJ, agree with most of that. Unfortunately I didn't arrive until half way through the 2nd quarter. I thought there were way too many skill errors with fumbles, dropped marks and missed targets. However I thought we were hitting packs really hard which hopefully is something that will continue into the season.
Sandi was getting sharked far too often and I feel it's something we still have to work on. He gets his hand on the ball most of the time and has total control of where it goes. They need to harness this better. In the third term particularly, geelong players seemed to run from one side of the pack to the other to collect the ball unopposed, it would have been magic if our players could have read it as well as Geelong.
Other than the third quarter it was a good effort. We still haven't learnt how to stop an opposition have a big run like in the third. Hopefully something that the brains trust will now work on!