Geelong sets up Grand Final against Richmond after torching Brisbane Lions in preliminary final
The mind games have started. Chris Scott has turned the blowtorch on Richmond for Saturday's Grand Final after the Cats buried their finals demons in a big preliminary win against Brisbane.
Geelong will go to work on how to penetrate Richmond’s concrete-like defence after pulverizing Brisbane Lions in another powerful Gabba performance.
The Cats are 5-0 at the Grand Final venue, having smashed Collingwood (68 points), Essendon (66), St Kilda (59) and the Lions (40) at what has become their second home.
The Tigers are 2-1 at the Gabba this year and chose to play their semi-final at Metricon Stadium.
The historic night Grand Final will pit Brownlow Medallists Patrick Dangerfield and Dustin Martin against each other with both game-changers transforming into full-time forwards.
“Dusty has been a forward for a long time, he takes centre bounces but he’s a forward,” Cats coach Chris Scott said.
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Geelong’s demolition of Brisbane was set up by another brutal performance in the midfield and sets up fairytale farewells for retiring legend Gary Ablett and Harry Taylor.
Captain Joel Selwood has a crack at becoming an immortal by becoming a four-time premiership hero, while Martin could become the first player in VFL-AFL history to win three Norm Smith Medals.
Martin is equal with Gary Ayres, Andrew McLeod and Luke Hodge with two best-afield Grand Finals.
ROBBO: FOOTY WORLD BARRACKING FOR ABLETT FAIRYTALE
The Cats were held to one goal by Richmond at three quarter-time in Round 17 and Scott said that was the No.1 area of concern as he piled the pressure on the reigning champions.
“I’m hoping we can rise to their level and make it somewhere near an even battle,” Scott said.
“(Round 17) confirmed how good they were.
“I’ve got to be honest, there was a little bit of a sense during the year that these guys aren’t quite at where they’ve been in previous years.
“That game snuffed that out a little bit. They’ve clearly been the best team in the comp for a period of time.
“Round 17 taught us they’re going to be hard to beat, they’re going to be hard to score against (and) their system is second nature to them.
“They’ve developed a system and a group of players that know what to do in every minute of the game. It won’t always work, but at least they’re on the same page.”
“The result will be dependent on who gets the game played the way they want it to be played.
“They did that really well against us. It wasn’t until the last quarter we looked like scoring.”
The Cats have taken over Southport Sharks and have been training under lights to prepare for the night finals.
Scott addressed his players on the Gabba 90 minutes before the preliminary final for a “two-way discussion”.
The Cats’ first-quarter dominance went unrewarded on the scoreboard, but Scott told his team not to panic.
“The frustration (was) clear for everyone. The message was all the things we’re trying to do on balance are in our favour,” he said.
“We don’t need to change the way we’re playing. We certainly don’t need to let the frustration of some of those missed opportunities get to us.
“Just double-down on the way we want to play and back that if we keep creating those chances over the course game we’ll end up on top.”
The Cats were kept to 31 points by the Tigers in Round 17, which was their lowest score since 2001.
CATS SET UP PERFECT ABLETT FAREWELL
Chris Scot won't read this. He blanks out all media, living in his own little bubble.
“I’m trying to think of a nice way to say I don’t really care,” Scott said of the media last week.
It is a shame, because it shapes as a week of celebration for the Geelong coach.
Nine years after steering the Cats to a premiership in his first season in charge, Scott has the Cats back in the club’s fifth Grand Final this century.
It is a club that has played finals in 13 of the past 14 years, refusing to be dragged down by the AFL’s equalization measures.
The Cats have rebuilt on the run and anybody who says they get an armchair ride by playing at GMHBA Stadium has officially been silenced.
They are also better stocked for the future than any other club, holding three first-round draft picks and tempting offers to free agents Jeremy Cameron and Brad Crouch.
They have a midfield that is so powerful they don’t even need Patrick Dangerfield, who attended only three centre bounces against Brisbane.
In the first quarter the Cats had 10 more inside-50s, 11 more clearances and 18 more contested possessions.
It was a coalface monstering from the same playbook as the Round 6 game between these clubs.
Midfield muscle was the difference, and Gary Ablett yanked back the clock to some of his most brilliant minutes.
Captain Joel Selwood, playing his 10th preliminary final in what was a new VFL-AFL record, didn’t touch the ball in what was the first statless opening quarter of his 309-game career.
Fancy that? Dangerfield forward and Selwood invisible and yet the likes of Sam Simpson, Mitch Duncan and Mark Blicavs crunched Brisbane in the guts.
Geelong’s history of finals losses is as relevant as the Grand Final sprint.
How’s this finals record? The Cats are 2-0 when Simpson plays and the socks-up midfielder was busier than anyone in the first term.
The Cats won groundballs by 15 in the third quarter of Round 6 and by 18 in the first quarter of the preliminary final.
The Cats had the contest and Brisbane had Charlie Cameron, who booted his team’s two first-quarter goals.
There’s a sense of expectancy and excitement every time cheeky Charlie goes near the ball, his pace electric, his skills dynamic.
It should’ve been close to goodnight by halftime, with bad misses from Sam Menegola and Gryan Miers keeping Brisbane within a kick.
But the Lions simply weren’t good enough, even accounting for the stray Cats.
Lincoln McCarthy played well against his old mob. He came with more tackle than a good fisherman.
Lachie Neale has had a combined two disposals in first quarters this finals series, and 41 and three goals – two thumped from outside 50m – in the other six quarters.
That was the problem for the Lions. In patches they were sharp and in others they drifted away.
WHY THE CATS CAN WIN THE FLAG
Geelong led Richmond by 21 points in last year’s preliminary final without Tom Hawkins or Mitch Duncan, and the Cats have premiership Tiger Shaun Grigg in Scott’s box.
Tom Lynch turned it on in the second half last year to kick the Tigers into a Grand Final, but Geelong is a lot stronger with Hawkins and Duncan.
The Tigers got the Cats by 26 points at Metricon Stadium in Round 17 in what was an off night for Geelong.
But that preliminary final performance should breed confidence that the Cats can reverse the result this time.
An all-Victorian Grand Final on a Saturday night at the Gabba. Hubba hubba.
TIME TO SAY GOODBYE TO THE BYE?
The pre-finals bye should be in the gun because the evidence suggests it is a hindrance to the best teams.
The AFL expanded to a top-eight finals series in 1994 and 2020 is just the second time since then that both teams that enjoyed semi-final week off have lost preliminary finals.
The other occasion was 2016, the first year of the pre-finals bye, and qualifying final winners are now 4-6 since it was introduced.
Port Adelaide and Brisbane entered their home preliminary finals having played just one game in the past 28 days or so whereas continuity has worked for Geelong and Richmond, particularly in the hub life where too much downtime can be dangerous.
This year the bye helped the likes of Aaron Naughton, Jeremy McGovern, Zak Jones, Harris Andrews and Dion Prestia get up for the first week of finals.
That is when it is celebrated. Come preliminary final weekend though and it is often a different story.
MATCH-UP FOR AGES
Tom Hawkins was in Geelong’s best players and Harris Andrews was in Brisbane’s.
The All-Australian full-forward played on the All-Australian fullback and, oddly, both emerged as winners.
Hawkins slotted two brilliant set-shot goals, finishing with 2.3, and was imposing as a ruckman.
All of his 10 disposals came in the forward 50m and he took four marks within range, and yet Andrews had some super moments as well as he repelled with purpose.
LIONS TO HIT THE GYM AFTER PRELIM HEARTBREAK
Chris Honnery
Brisbane coach Chris Fagan says the heartbreak of Saturday’s preliminary final loss to Geelong will only make the club stronger in the future.
The Lions were outmuscled by the Cats in front of more than 29,000 fans at the Gabba, to have their high-flying season come crashing down.
“The players and the staff are obviously disappointed,” Fagan said.
“We’ve had a fantastic year and it hasn’t finished the way we wanted it to.
“But that’s what happens when you get down to the top four – you face disappointment sometimes.
“It’s that disappointment that hardens you in the long run.”
Fagan said the big-bodied Cats proved a big difference in the heartbreaking loss.
The likes of Mitch Duncan and Sam Menegola, who finished with 22 and 19 disposals respectively, proved instrumental against the Lions and Geelong’s brute force didn’t give Brisbane much room to capitalise on their chances.
Fagan said the game could have blown out in the first quarter.
“I just thought they were stronger than us in the contest, particularly early in the game,” Fagan said.
“It could have been a blowout in the first quarter.
“They were on top in contested ball and clearance.
“We corrected it a fair bit after that.
“They’re bodies were stronger to break through in the clinches and clear the ball from the congestion.
“Our guys are a fair bit younger than that Geelong side.
“That gives the feedback that our guys need to get into the gym a little bit more, try and get a bit bigger, get some more experience and we’ll get better from it.”
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Originally published as Geelong sets up Grand Final against Richmond after torching Brisbane Lions in preliminary final
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