AFL 2024 round 12 LIVE updates: Cats, Tigers trade leads as Reid faces nervous MRO wait

ST KILDA 12.10 (82) d WEST COAST 10.8 (68)

KEY POINTS

REID IN HOT WATER
West Coast young gun Harley Reid faces a nervous wait on Sunday to learn if he is still in contention for the Rising Star Award after laying a dangerous tackle, as St Kilda eased the gloom at Moorabbin with a fighting victory over the Eagles.
Reid had lit up Optus Stadium with a blistering second quarter but his day took a turn for the worse in the third term when he dumped Darcy Wilson in a sling tackle minutes before the three-quarter time siren.
Wilson was able to take his kick but left the field moments later for treatment. He was able to play out the game, which would lessen any suspension but not the likelihood of him being cited by match review officer Michael Christian.
West Coast premiership player Will Schofield and David King, also a flag winner, expected Reid would be in trouble.
“That will be a suspension, I don’t think there’s any doubt about it,” Schofield said on Fox Footy’s telecast.
King said: “The tackle, the action, it’s a problem for him.”
Reid had been a short-priced favourite at the start of the game to take out the Rising Star gong after a suspension to Western Bulldogs forward Sam Darcy but he too is now in grave danger of being out of the running for the prestigious award.
It is unclear if Reid and Darcy could still poll votes at the end of the year if suspended but if so one of them would likely become the first player since Corey McKernan in 1994 to “win” the award when ineligible.
Reid was arguably best afield to half-time with 17 possessions in the first half, including 13 and six clearances in the second quarter, but his impact was dulled after Saints coach Ross Lyon moved Marcus Windhager to him.
Windhager shut him out of the game, limiting Reid to only three disposals in the second half.
Reid’s frustrations boiled over in the closing minutes when he body checked Windhager, resulting in a down the ground free kick to Mason Wood for the sealing goal.
Copping a hard tag is a rite of passage for the best midfielders, though not many cop such close attention so early in their career. He can now expect more clubs to apply the clamps on the young star.
“He’s 11 games in, he’s 19, sensational in the first half, he’s going to get some attention,” Simpson said. “We’ve got his back, we’ll have to deal with it. I hope we’re not too critical of his second half, his first half was blistering and he got managed well in the second half.
“That incident, we can’t imagine what he’s going through when those kind of thins happen and you how you manage it for the first time.
“We’ll keep working with him on how to manage the run with, we’ll keep working on the rest of our group and how to manage that situation and what we can do to help but it’s all part of his learning.”

KING’S KNEE WORRIES
The Saints’ win came at a cost with star forward Max King subbed out with a knee injury.
King came off the ground in the third quarter for treatment and though he returned to the field he could not play out the game.
King’s absence, though, did not hurt the Saints, who booted five goals in the final quarter with a reconfigured forward line which broke down the Eagles’ defensive pairing of Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass, who had been dominant in the first half.
Saints assistant coach Corey Enright, deputising for Lyon, said King had jarred his knee. King will have scans back home in Melbourne to determine the extent of any damage.

ROSS THE BOSS
After a trying few weeks, Lyon pulled several masterstrokes in the coaches’ box.
Lyon had urged his men during the long break to play with more run and flow – and they answered their coach’s call.
The move of Windhager to Reid changed the game, turning an area where the Saints had been beaten in to one of strength in the second half.
The quicker ball movement allowed the Saints to kick to a more open forward line, putting more pressure on Jeremy McGovern and Tom Barrass, who had feasted in the first half.
Hard-running wingman Mason Wood was moved forward to cover King with great effect. A strong mark for his size, Wood kicked two of his four goals in the final term.
Paddy Dow could never quite put it together at Carlton but the No.3 pick from the 2017 draft has made a bright start to his time at Moorabbin.
One of the Saints’ better players in their loss to Melbourne, Dow was the game’s leading clearance winner, and one of the reasons why the match turned.

KEY STATS

The Cats have had to work for it but they are now moving away with the game.

Tyson Stengle just took a mark close to goal and finished the set shot soon after.

The Tigers are still going as hard as they can but they look tired.

Cats 91, Tigers 68 with eight mins to go.

Tigers debutante Kaleb Smith has been stuck on the bench all game as the sub.

It appears he is about to be thrown into the game for the last 10 minutes as Marlion Pickett has been hit with leg cramps.

Seven camera’s also caught Pickett giving some Cats fans the middle finger.

Tigers great Matthew Richardson, someone known to show the away fans a similar gesture at times, joked he wasn’t the person to ask about it.

“Nothing wrong with that as far as I’m concerned,” Richardson said with a laugh.

“Gee it cost me some coin over the years.”

Cats 85, Tigers 68 with 11 mins to go.

Tom Hawkins has snapped his second goal and it has pushed the lead to just under three goals.

Normally, you would say Geelong would bolt home from here.

But they have been in such bad touch recently that nothing is certain.

Cats 84, Tigers 68 with 14 mins to go.

Brad Close has shown his quality after taking a mark on the left boundary before running around and snapping the goal.

Class finish and just what the Cats needed in a match that has been highly contested.

Cats 78, Tigers 68 with 17 mins to go.

Geelong hit the front at the 20-minute of the third term and it was generation next, youngster Shannon Neale, taking the mark and booting an easy goal.

The Cats have turned the match on its head through the midfield grunt of Tom Atkins, Jack Bowes and Max Holmes. The led the clearance count 8-1 up until that point after conceding midfield dominance to Richmond in the first half.

The young Richmond team that was so ferocious across the opening two quarters could not keep the pressure dial in the red zone, letting the Cats off the leash.

Suddenly, Geelong was playing on at every opportunity, putting speed on the ball and prime users such as Mitch Duncan and Brad Close were able to deliver neatly inside 50m.

Ollie Dempsey has proven the opportunist, booting three goals for the Cats.

The Cats sent Irishman Oisin Mullin to Liam Baker and he was able to stem his influence.

Richmond, so brave for three quarters, are hanging in this match, trailing by three points at the final break. But if they can’t refind the first-half heat, the Cats will swamp them in the final term.

The Cats have the lead going into the final term after a Jeremy Cameron goal but the Tigers know they are a chance to pip the home side if they can run out the match strongly.

Pressure is the key and both sides are pressuring at a high intensity.

Bring on the last term.

Samson Ryan has pulled in another mark and kicked the goal to regain the lead for the Tigers.

They are not going away and nor should they.

Tigers 68, Cats 65 with seven mins to go in Q3.

Shannon Neale has run into an open goal and put the Cats in front for the first time today.

Richmond had led for 82 minutes.

Cats 65, Tiger 62 with eight mins to go in Q3.