Geelong midfielder Mitch Duncan highlighted the Cats’ midfield depth as the key to over running Melbourne during their amazing come-from-behind win on Saturday night.
Trailing by 29-points early in the final quarter, the home side staged a stunning fight-back, kicking eight goals to the Demons’ three before Zach Tuohy’s goal after the siren sealed the victory in dramatic circumstances.
Duncan credits Gary Ablett’s influence as a major factor in the home side’s ability to win the midfield battle as well as the performance of maligned ruckman Rhys Stanley.
“Maybe we wore them down? We’re a pretty sizeable midfield, we bat pretty deep in there,” he told SEN Breakfast.
“The coaches flipped the magnets around in that last quarter and got some different people through there.
“Gary Ablett came through there a bit more and had a real impact and just the will from the boys got it done. Reece Stanley put in a really good performance against Max Gawn throughout the whole night.
“They (Melbourne) are an elite handball contested side and we managed kind of grind them down in a way, but they were all over us for three quarters.
“I think they are still reasonably young and another year or so to mature a little more they’re going to be a real hard force to be reckoned with.
“There is a lot of upside there.”
The 27-year-old was happy that Tuohy was the player entrusted with the responsibility of taking the shot after the siren due to his excellent foot skills.
“I was actually pretty confident,” Duncan said.
“He’s obviously a pretty reliable kick. He had already kicked one so his confidence was pretty high.”
Listen to Mitch Duncan's chat on SEN Breakfast with Garry and Tim in the player below