By Greg Baum
They’re doing it again, Geelong.
Not even the 40-minute delay at the start of the last quarter, taken as a precaution against a lightning strike, could do more than temporarily stall the Cats on their path to victory over Hawthorn at the MCG on Easter Monday. Lightning didn’t strike once, let alone twice. This was a game of flashes in both directions, but the Cats keep striking.
Tom Hawkins got the chocolates in game 350.Credit: AFL Photos
Geelong and Sydney are the two clubs that pride themselves on staying in the contest, year after year. Others submit to the system and accept going down in order to rise. Monday’s vanquished opponent is one. The Cats keep on keeping on. This day, neither the spirited Hawks nor the dramatic elements could stop them.
Since the match was stopped because of the threat of lightning and resumed in sheeting rain that completely changed its character, it could truly be said that Geelong are both a team for all seasons and an all-weather team.
Chris Scott’s winning record at Geelong far surpasses any contemporary coach. Since 2006, the Cats have only missed the finals twice. The second time was last year, and it looked as if an era had come to an end. When they affixed the name of the retired Joel Selwood to the new stand at GMHBA Stadium, that seemed to fix his time and his team in the past. It was a past worth living in.
But Geelong eras don’t end, they renew. They’re like their stadium, endlessly rebuilding while nearly always winning.
Here they are in season 2024, three games, three wins, sharing with Carlton, Greater Western Sydney and Fremantle the unbeaten plinth. They’ve dispensed with St Kilda, the Crows in Adelaide and the Hawks. As scalps go, it’s not a collection to parade on the mantelpiece. None are in premiership contention.
But all had reason to think they would improve this season, and all have been put in their place by ageless Geelong. Next come the Bulldogs, their sternest test yet.
Monday was supposed to be all about Tom Hawkins in his 350th game. So it was in a way. He contributed three goals on his own account before Jeremy Cameron handed him a fourth in the goal square with the sort of gift that Hawkins has spent a career giving away. Cameron and Mitch Duncan also undertook the task of carrying the bulky Hawkins from the ground at match’s end. It was as heroic as any of their onfield exploits.
Juxtaposed against Hawkins, 206-centimetre ruckman Toby Conway, in just his second game, made himself useful in a way that bodes well for the near future. Seen from afar, he looks like a cross between former captain Barry Stoneham and Damian Bourke. The Cats will take that. Scott said Geelong anticipate a long career for him, but they will pace it for now.
Play is stopped amid weather warnings.Credit: AFL Photos
As the contest waxed and waned in the first half, here-and-now midfielders Max Holmes and Tanner Bruhn were driving forces. But when a steadying hand was needed to repel the rampaging Hawks in the third quarter, the veteran Duncan was at the ready. He so often is.
This is how it has been for a long time at the Cattery. They put the lie to the popular idea that a team either is contending or rebuilding. In a game of so many players, everyone has to rebuild even as they contend, and seek to contend even as they rebuild. This is the lesson the 21st century Cats teach.
Notionally, Hawthorn model the now-classic route to success, clearing the decks and starting again. This is the third year of the Sam Mitchell era, and his record stands at 15-35. In contrast to the Cats, they have yet to win this year. A loud, pro-Hawthorn crowd of nearly 70,000 this day says that they’re keeping the faith. But every faith has its limits. Collingwood in Gather Round will further test them.
Reasonably, Mitchell said that if Hawthorn continue to bring this day’s commitment and passion, wins will follow. But they’d better turn up soon.
The Hawks are undermanned, undoubtedly, and it didn’t help that they lost Mitchell Lewis at an untimely moment this day. But the Cats also were down in personnel, most particularly evergreen midfielders Patrick Dangerfield and Cam Guthrie.
Even before the weather intervened with extreme prejudice, this was a syncopated affair. Almost effortlessly, the Cats built a six-goal margin by quarter-time, then gave almost all of it back, then re-established it, then withstood a ferocious Hawthorn assault in the madness that was the start of the last quarter before romping away, kicking the last three goals of the match. Mitchell spoke only the truth when he said that when it really mattered, Geelong had more polish.
QED, Geelong. Again.
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