Geelong defender Tom Stewart says dimensions help them thrive at Kardinia Park, Eddie McGuire says Collingwood happy to play at Geelong in 2020
Geelong know Kardinia Park like the back of their hand, and they play three of their next four games at the venue. Cats defender Tom Stewart knows why team struggle down at their fortress.
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The stands will be empty but the unique dimensions of GMHBA Stadium will ensure Geelong retain a distinct home-ground advantage when the AFL season resumes, defender Tom Stewart says.
The Cats’ home track is only 112m wide from wing to wing, making it 10m narrower than any other venue in the AFL.
At 167m, it’s also the longest ground in the competition.
The Cats will play three of their next four matches there, with arch-rivals Hawthorn making the trip down the Princes Highway in round two for the first time since 2006.
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“We train here every session so we like to know the little nuances of what happens with the wind here and everything like that,” 27-year-old Stewart told reporters on Tuesday.
“I don’t think the (lack of) crowd is going to come too much into it, it’s more the surface area.
“It’s just smaller, it’s skinnier and it’s longer.
“There’s not as much width in terms of the playing surface.
“Teams feel they can get crammed in a bit here and we can really defend well, which is what we like to do here.
“We just love to defend this ground really well and make it as small as possible.”
After going down by 32 points away to GWS in round one before the season came to a premature halt, the Cats are well placed to make up ground quickly.
In the next four weeks, they play the Hawks, Carlton and Gold Coast at GMHBA Stadium, along with a short trip to the MCG to tackle Melbourne.
With crowds unlikely to be a factor during the coronavirus crisis, the Cats expect to play all of their home fixtures at GMHBA Stadium in 2020, rather than have a few scheduled at the MCG.
Geelong resumed full training on Tuesday, with Stewart saying Jack Steven was under no obligation to inform his teammates of the circumstances around the stab wound he incurred earlier this month.
“For the short term it’s just good to know that he’s happy and healthy,” Stewart said of Steven, who joined the Cats in the off-season after a decorated 183-game career with St Kilda.
Pies previously unwanted at Kardinia Park: McGuire
Jon Ralph and Lauren Wood
Collingwood says it is prepared to make a rare trip down the highway to take on Geelong at GMHBA Stadium as the AFL presented the Cats with the most star-studded home fixture in decades.
Pies president Eddie McGuire said Collingwood would only be too happy to play an away game at GMHBA Stadium after the AFL said the league’s heavyweights including the Pies and Essendon might be scheduled to play there this year.
The Pies haven’t played at GMHBA Stadium since 1999 and Essendon since the premiership season of 1993.
McGuire pointed out Geelong had in the past requested MCG home games to maximise revenue against the Pies despite arguing for every home game at GMHBA Stadium.
Geelong’s early GMHBA fixture sees it playing Hawthorn on Friday June 12, Carlton on Saturday June 20 and Gold Coast on Saturday July 4.
The fixture will also see Geelong maximise the signage rights at its stadium, another valuable financial boost in torrid financial times.
Fixture boss Auld said the club’s consistent lobbying had paid off given there were no crowds at early AFL games.
“You might find we will see teams like Essendon and Collingwood play at GMHBA Stadium,” he said.
McGuire said Collingwood was determined not to be distracted by stadium politics.
“We would play wherever we are sent, everyone is trying to fit in with the AFL, we play home games at our home ground and we will play where we are fixtured,” he said.
“Geelong want to play the big games at the MCG and remember, Collingwood only plays nine home games at its home ground, two at Marvel Stadium. The rest are away games.
“We need to remember they only get eight home games so (who knows if we will play there).”
Hawthorn has played 27 consecutive games against arch rival Geelong at the MCG but the man at the centre of the “Kennett Curse” was on Monday sanguine about travelling down the highway in Round 2.
“I couldn’t think of a better place to be playing our second game than down at the Cattery,” Hawks president Jeff Kennett said.
“I’ve always thought that Geelong and Hawthorn are the two clubs in the competition which are the closest in terms of their history, in terms of their governance, and of course the fact that when Geelong were in trouble so many years ago, Hawthorn bent over backwards and transferred Gary Ablett Snr to them to lift their stocks.
“This benevolence has continued ever since, and so we are two clubs joined together in appreciation of the game and the fundamental values and culture that we share.
“I’m very pleased that we’re playing … My only regret is that we’re not playing there in front of crowds.”
KENNETT’S CALL: AFL MUST MAKE 17-GAME SEASON PERMANENT
– LAUREN WOOD
Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett is hopeful that the truncated 2020 season could serve as a “pure” blueprint for football’s future.
Kennett, who said he was “excited” at the prospect of facing Geelong at GMHBA Stadium in Round 2, said that this season loomed as a more even spectacle than the traditional 23-round fixture.
And it is a model that he hopes is maintained, declaring players should not return until at least the new year to begin training.
“I like the fact that this season is purer – we’re each playing each other once. I hope that that continues in the future,” Kennett told the Herald Sun.
“I would like to see training only resume in the new year of every year, rather than October, November, December. I would like to see every team play each other once, and then go into the finals.
“I’m quite excited about this year. I know it’s under peculiar circumstances, and I don’t agree that the quarters should be shortened, but that’s because of the shortened year.
“I would like to think that in the years to come, we would play each other once, finals, pre-season training start in the new year to give the players plenty of time off, and then may the best team win.”
Hawthorn will play three games in Melbourne before travelling to Sydney to face Greater Western Sydney.
Geelong, Brisbane, Carlton and St Kilda will not travel outside their home state until at least Round 6, but Kennett said he was confident that any early home advantage would be balanced by the league in later rounds.
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“This year is particularly difficult to schedule, but the AFL will be doing everything in its power to even up the competition, not only for those clubs from interstate, but where – because of scheduling – a team is perceived to have an advantage, that will not necessarily exist in the last four or five rounds,” he said.
“I’m not sure that it matters very much.”