The VFL Cats were unable kick off a day of celebrations at Skilled Stadium in the perfect fashion, going down to a determined Box Hill Hawks side15-15-(105) to 10-14-(74). The match was played in perfect conditions, with VFL listed player Jonathan Simpkin (31 disposals) the main contributor kicking four goals in the first official match on the resurfaced Skilled Stadium.

The return of forward Matthew Stokes (20 disposals) together with increased game time of AFL regulars Max Rooke and Simon Hogan (26 disposals, 6 tackles) meant the  Cats went into the game full of confidence. Unfortunately this confidence meant little as the Cats were outclassed from the opening bounce.

Poor disposal and decision making marred a first quarter for the Cats. Two early goals to Box Hill utility Jarrod Kayler-Thomson gave the Hawks an early break as they started to run rings around their inexperienced Cats opponents. Strong first quarter performances from former Port Adelaide star Shaun Burgoyne and Beau Muston saw Box Hill go in at quarter time with an 18 point advantage.

The half forward combination of Rooke and Stokes proved a handful for the Box Hill opponents early in the second quarter but the AFL premiership duo were unable to translate the dominance on the scoreboard with both players missing relatively easy shots on goal.

The stale mate early in the 2nd quarter was broken with successive Box Hill goals to Ben Smithwick and former Geelong Falcon Kayler-Thompson, who kicked his third to open up a 32 point lead.

Standout performers for the Cats were few and far between. Ben Raidme and Nathan Djerrkura in the midfield and Trent West down forward up were the ‘pick of bunch’ for the sluggish Bendigo Bank Cats. At half time the wayward Cats had twelve shots on goal to Box Hill’s thirteen but still found themselves down by 31 points.

After some half time soul searching - things went from bad to worse in the second half for the Cats. The only real positive being the move of 1st round draft pick Daniel Menzel to the forward line where he provided a much needed spark for the Cats, kicking two goals in quick succession and looked dangerous everytime he went near the ball. The emergence in the forward line of Menzel wasn’t enough for the Cat as they were again outscored with the clever Sam Gibson and Brad Neil kicking late goals as a direct result of turnovers from the Cats defence.

At three quarter time coach Dale Amos pleaded with his troops to get something out of the match with the game seemingly out of reach going into the final term.

In final quarter the Cats managed to outscore the Hawks by eight points. Strong marking by Trent West and the impressive forward work of Daniel Menzel combined with the continued dominance of former Sydney Swan Jonathon Simpkin provided some confidence for the Cats. The quarter was marred by injury scares to Max Rooke (shoulder), Ben Raidme (shoulder) and Matthew Stokes (ankle). All three players appeared to be ok after the match and look set to line up next weekend.

Assistant coach James Rahilly was not surprisingly unimpressed with the output of his players and indicated that there are many areas the Cats need to improve if they are to be competitive in 2010.

“There are a lot of things we need to work on obviously; intensity and our ball use are two major areas. The main thing is the group need to start playing like AFL players.” Rahilly thought the move of defender Daniel Menzel forward in the second half provided one of the only real highlights for the game. “Menzel was good, we were really happy with his game and it is great to have that versatility in players such as Daniel”.

The Bendigo Bank Geelong Cats are now 0-2 going into next Saturday’s must win game against a Frankston side full of confidence after beating the Ben Cousins lead Coburg Tigers last Sunday. The match is at Skilled Stadium and will kick off at 1.00pm.

All Geelong Cats members get free entry into all VFL Cat home games at Skilled.

Box Hill Hawks 15-15-(105)
Bendigo Bank Cats 10-14-(74)
Goals: J. Simpkin 4, D. Menzel 3, T. West 2, B. Johnson 1
Best: J. Simpkin, M. Firman, B. Raidme, D. Menzel, T. Gillies, D. Jull