GMHBA Stadium has drawn criticism for its “dangerous” surface during the Cats’ game against the Western Bulldogs Friday night, amid the unfavorable weather that Geelong has been experiencing lately.
In spite of the bad weather, the Bulldogs won 47 points, and gun forward Jamarra Ugle-Hagan scored four goals from his 17 possessions in an incredibly outstanding showing for a 197-cm big player.
But the 22-year-old expressed his legitimate worries about the match conditions after the game on Fox Footy.
Ugle-Hagan described the experience as “like running in a paddock with how muddy it was, pretty dangerous out there – obviously just had to keep your feet, but it was really wet out there.”
When questioned subsequently who among his teammates would have grumbled the most under the circumstances, the key striker quickly blamed both himself and his attacking teammates.
Ugle-Hagan laughed, “Honestly, it would probably be us key forwards; we hate that stuff, but we went alright on the ground.”
A staggering 164 tackles were made by both teams during the game, with the Bulldogs recording roughly 30 more than their season average and 20 more than they had against the same team earlier in the year.
Experts were dubious about the surface even before the game began, as the Footscray vs. Geelong VFL pre-game demonstrated the turf’s vulnerability as the evening wore on.
Teammate Ed Richards was also questioned on the Geelong surface just before Ugle-Hagan’s interview, and he told Channel 7 he even brought it up in conversation with star opponent Tom Stewart mid-game.
“It’s not how I would have imagined an AFL ground to be, but it happens,” Richards remarked to Geelong great Cameron Ling following the match.
“You guys have got to give this ground a bit of a breather; it just looks like it’s been absolutely thrashed,” I said to Tommy Stewart midway through the game.
The Bulldogs’ victory was their second straight at the venue; they had only snapped an incredible 11-game losing record in Geelong that began in 2003 previous year.
The issue of GMHBA’s surface follows on from Optus Stadium’s field in 2024, where players frequently had difficulty keeping their feet at certain points during the season.
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