Goalsneak Stengle hurt as Geelong crush West Coast

Steve Larkin | April 17, 2023

Reigning premier Geelong’s 47-point hammering of West Coast has been soured by a suspected broken arm to goalsneak Tyson Stengle.

Jeremy Cameron, Tom Hawkins and Brad Close kicked four goals each in Geelong’s 21.10 (136) to 13.11 (89) victory.

Stengle faces a stint on the sidelines after his left arm was pinned in a Josh Rotham tackle just before halftime in Sunday’s Gather Round fixture at Adelaide Oval.

“He has been sent off for scans on his arm,” Geelong coach Brad Scott said.

“It’s a little bit higher up his arm rather than his wrist which they (medicos) tell me could be a good thing.

“But it doesn’t look great in terms of avoiding a fracture so that’s just a matter of assessing how serious that it is.

“There’s not a team out there that won’t have to endure these issues, even West Coast have a few of their key players out.

“It’s part of the trick, I guess, over a long season where the competition is just so even and every game is potentially really challenging, the depth of your squad becomes a really important factor.”

Stengle’s injury put a dampener on the Cats’ second win of the season, which featured a devastating burst of a dozen consecutive goals.

West Coast began brightly, kicking the initial two majors and recording eight inside 50s to one inside 10 minutes.

But the tide sharply turned and the Cats kicked the next 12 goals.

Geelong’s attacking aces Cameron, Hawkins and Close feasted and Mark Blicavs and Ollie Henry scored two majors each.

Defender Esava Ratugolea grabbed nine marks and stalwarts Tom Stewart (24 disposals), Patrick Dangerfield (23), Isaac Smith (23, one goal) and Cam Guthrie (22) were chief ball-winners.

West Coast’s Jake Waterman and Oscar Allen both slotted four goals, Jack Darling kicked two, Jamaine Jones gathered a match-high 25 touches and Tim Kelly had 22 disposals against his former club.

But the Eagles were blown away after their promising start as Geelong ruthlessly flexed their collective muscle.

Hawkins scored two goals and set up another to create a 5.3 to 2.3 quarter-time lead.

And after Hawkins increased the margin with his third goal just 25 seconds into the second term, Cameron slotted three in four minutes.

Cameron’s purple patch came in a lopsided stretch when the Cats added 70 points to West Coast’s one – they led by 64 points, 14.5 to 3.7, at halftime.

The damage was done, though West Coast outscored the Cats with 10 goals to seven in the last half.

The Eagles’ heavy defeat wasn’t the worst for the club this weekend: their WAFL side copped a 169-point thrashing from West Perth on Saturday.