Well, I suppose after months of highly competitive efforts where we were never really out of any match, we had to put in a duff game sooner or later.  The funny thing is that despite the scoreline, I thought that it wasn't a procession after all.

That's the thing about Geelong at the moment.  I really don't believe they are some sort of superteam - they excel at playing steady football, have very precise skills and are selfless and team-oriented.  Occasionally they do play out of the box and completely crush their opposition (hello West Coast!) but more often than not they force teams into making their own mistakes and the accumulated lead becomes something of a shock.

We certainly started with the right idea, playing the same sort of game that saw us take it right up to Geelong on Anzac evening.  For most of the first half our tackling skills and close checking were very pleasing to see, and we again showed that you really can put the Cats under stress by mucking up their "effortless" flow.  We were aided by the most staggeringly pro-Fremantle umpiring I've ever seen...not that the frees weren't there, but the fact that they were finally being paid rendered me speechless.

Unfortunately, all this endeavour was completely ruined by the fact that not a single kick going forward had any depth on it at all for the entire game.  Even when not under pressure, kicks inside 50 fell short, were cut off by Tom Harley and Josh Hunt or resulted in panicky missed shots.  It was the worst effort by Fremantle's forwards all year - Pav showed his humanity with a poor game and Farmer went largely unseen, leaving the unreliable Tarrant as our main goal avenue. 

Mayne tried hard as well, I should add, as did Andrew Browne who made a creditable return in conditions cold enough to snap his hamstrings in the warmup.  Thank heavens he broadly made it through OK.

And in the second half, the Cats gently applied the accelerator, stepped up their own defensive efforts in the middle when we were going back the other way and proceeded to make fools of us.  Believe me when I say it was not a vintage effort from them either, but they certainly made the most of their opportunities.

I cannot let this report go without mentioning the conditions.  There are few things less pleasurable than sitting at Skilled Stadium watching your team get progressively thumped, turning into an icicle in freezing weather under pathetic "lighting" - and enduring Cats supporters.  Now don't get me wrong, many of these hardy souls waited 44 years for success and some are quite nice.  But despite winning quite comfortably, the people I was with were never satisfied.  The weather was too cold, the umpiring was diabolical, the Cats were fiddling around...on and on it went.  I really hope that when Fremantle are having their period in the sun that I will thankful for small mercies and will avoid acting like a spoiled child.

While Solomon's illegal hit on Cameron Ling was a low point, I was surprised this morning to see that big a deal being made of it over here.  There were times yesterday when I thought he'd need a police escort to leave the city of Geelong, but really!  Luckily I saw him going through the security at Melbourne Airport behind me, and there was no visible bruising.

The real high point of my day was seeing a phalanx of Cats supporters bob up in the stand in almost exact unison when Autumn Leaves was given a gentle knock by our man Crowley - memories of Josh Carr and Daniel Kerr sprang hilariously to mind.  It really seems Crowls is the best matchup for diddums in the entire league at the moment and it blew their little minds...so much so that when he knocked off at half time after a less brilliant than usual game, Ryan was greeted with a chorus of boos for the rest of it - a genuine mark of respect.

I wouldn't read too much into this one - we actually match up on Geelong quite well and had the game not been played somewhere near Antarctica it probably would have been closer.  Fingers crossed that we don't end up last come tonight, and that next week we're able to keep Melbourne below us and get a little revenge for the utter disaster that was Round 7.

Freo forever!