Geelong’s Tom Hawkins, Essendon’s Zach Merrett on AFL Country Festival

The annual AFL Country Game is almost here, and Geelong and Essendon are about to do something they haven’t done since 1993.

online artwork june 30 country fetival match preview

The AFL Country Game is ditching the city and heading to the country.

For the first time since 1993, Geelong and Essendon will play each other for premiership points at Geelong’s Kardinia Park in a crucial match for both sides.

Geelong will aim to bounce back from its 44-point loss on Thursday to Brisbane, which ended a six-game winning streak and caused it to drop out of the top four, while a win will keep the Bombers — fresh off an 11-point loss to ladder-leader Melbourne on Saturday — within striking distance of the top eight.

The teams played at GMHBA Stadium in the pre-season, with the Cats winning by seven points.

“We’ve played a few pre-season games down there — it is a really nice ground to play on and obviously the Cats have a pretty good record there, but I think for us as a young group to get away and play at a different ground is always good as well,” Essendon’s Zach Merrett said.

Geelong had a thrilling win in its last match at GMHBA Stadium two weeks ago, with Gary Rohan — a Cobden product, like Merrett — kicking the winning goal after the siren to beat Western Bulldogs. It was the second of three consecutive matches against top-eight sides the Cats have just faced, and they won two of them, having also beaten Port Adelaide.

But Geelong forward Tom Hawkins, from Finley in the NSW Riverina, said the Cats wouldn’t be underestimating the youthful Bombers.

“We’re up for a big challenge. I’ve been really impressed with how Essendon are playing, they’ve been playing a really exciting, attacking brand of footy and they still have a bit of experience and seniority in their side,” Hawkins said.

Merrett said the Bombers were harnessing the energy of their younger players but were not satisfied yet. “We are trying to fast-track as quickly as we can with that development and that ability to compete with the top four, top six teams. There has been some massive steps forward, but still long way to go.”

The last time the sides met was in September at the Gabba in Brisbane. “Hopefully we get there more than 40 minutes before the bounce, unlike last year when we got stuck in traffic in Maroochydore,” Merrett joked. “They’ve been a successful team for 15 years now, they’re very experienced and you know what you’re going to get from them. For us, it will be a great chance to compete against a really high quality team, for the younger players to play on role models and idols in the AFL, like (Joel) Selwood, (Patrick) Dangerfield.

“It is great exposure for us to play on them and compete against a good team and regardless of the result we’ll take a lot out of it.”

● The match starts at 7.50pm on Friday

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