Was this an error that helped turn the momentum against Geelong?

With Geelong surrendering a half time lead in the Preliminary Final to Richmond, Garry Lyon believes the Cats made an error at the first few centre bounces of the third quarter which helped swing the game back to the Tigers.

Richmond kicked two goals in the opening four minutes of the term to reduce Geelong’s lead to just eight points.

Lyon said the Cats putting young duo Quinton Narkle and Brandan Parfitt in at those centre bounces instead of their more experienced midfielders wasn’t the way to go.

“At half time for Geelong it was tick, tick, tick, 21 points up, should have been 30 plus, they were going magnificently,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.

“Narkle and Parfitt were both in there (at the centre bounces) with Dangerfield or Selwood.

“I just thought at the first two or three centre bounces, they needed to be their best and strongest in there.

“Maybe they’ve said we’re going to put faith in that group and that’s where we’ve got to get to, but (Richmond) went bang, bang out of the middle and kicked the first two.

“It got their forward game back and all of a sudden it was game back on. It happened that quickly.”

The Tigers would go on to turn a 21-point half time deficit into a 19-point win, kicking eight second half goals to two.