Beyond Good & Evil


Here we go again: Another Grand Final, another nervous wait and another weekend of rampant alcoholism. I don’t know how much more of this my body can take. I can barely make it out of the house in this state, let alone construct a cohesive and coherent sentence (well, except maybe for this one) let alone a full post. So here, in its place, are my rambling thoughts regarding the Grand Final and whatever else...

The Cats looked almost robotic in their Preliminary final dispatching of West Coast; a well-oiled machine just doing what it does. The defence especially looked organized and unflappable. Muscles Mackie played about as well as I’ve seen him play and Scarlett and Enright are, at this point, mistake free footballers. But is it better to have a brutal, testing finals series prior to a Grand Final, or the relatively “bruise-free” path that the Cats have had? Hopefully the Cats will be able to step up to the required intensity.

My gut feeling is that Steve Johnson will play, albeit at about 80% capacity, a gamble that, without Daniel Menzel, Geelong may feel they need to take. (By the way, when he returned in the red vest to walk the boundary during the Prelim it was the biggest cheer all day. Sent a shiver down my spine. It also reminded me of when a wrestler enters the stadium and they play his intro music: “Good Lord, is that Steve Johnson’s music?!”)

Darren Jolly on the other hand, won’t be risked. I think the Pies will reason correctly that a fully fit Cameron Wood is equal to Jolly in his current state, who seems to be moving about as well as Verbal Kint.

That razor ad where That Guy Who Used To Host Gladiators Tom Williams starts screaming at people about using a new shaver is my new most hated ad, displacing the Just For Men ad where Luis Figo appears to be getting hit on by the Portuguese Mark Nicoski, then has a shower and kicks a soccer ball through a TV in some sort of “Electric Dreams” video clip fantasy world. As Bill Hicks once said, “If you’re in marketing or advertising, just do me favour and kill yourself.”

How good has it been having James Podsiadly appear out of nowhere two years ago? Contested marking, especially in the forward line, is often what separates very good teams from premiership teams and it is a huge plus for Geelong that a) Pods escaped any suspension and b) Ben Reid may not be fully fit. The real bonus, however, would be if Hawkins can continue crashing packs and catching a few like he has been.

Likewise, Travis Cloke is Collingwood’s most important player and it will be a big job for Lonergan, who I think will get first crack, and/or Harry Taylor. If they can compete and bring the ball to ground more often than not, it will slow down Collingwood’s avenues to goal and psychologically keep the Pies pegged down.

I am completely uninterested in the Brownlow, either as an award or an event. Having said that, Dane Swan winning seems fair enough, and by fair enough, I mean, “at least it wasn’t Nick Dal Santo”. (Although, I did once float the idea of Tickets playing with the Chas around his neck, so that when he didn’t get a line-ball decision he could point to the medal and go “Hey, ump... Brownlow.” At which point he would immediately be awarded a free kick.)

Speaking of Swan, I’d prefer Ling did a job on Pendlebury, as he’s their best clearance/stoppage player. How the mid-field matches up will be interesting as we’ve seen Bartel and Kelly play tagging roles in big games previously when required. The Pies typically use Wellingham as their assigned run-with player and I’d expect him to go to Selwood.

Back to Steve Johnson for a minute, whether or not he kicks 3 or 4, Geelong really does need him out there. The Cats forward line needs some swag, some self-belief, some big game bravado. Pods, Hawkins and Varcoe can sometimes appear a little, how shall I put this, precariously confident? Now that Mooney’s gone, they need Stevie J to give them that presence, to help them all walk a bit taller. As attila reminded us a couple weeks back in the comments, in 2007 when asked how he was feeling before the big game, Stevie J replied with, “This is why they put in air in my lungs.”

Speaking of which, was it just me, or did Paul Chapman look a little bit frisky last week?

So... How we feeling Big Leaguers?!? As I said in ’07, I’m drained, I’m nervous, I’m confident, I’m terrified and I’ve got nothing else to say but, Go Cats!

Close Enough if they’re Good Enough

Let’s keep this brief and to the point: The Cats are as well placed as one could be placed to have a tilt at the flag. Consider:

The Cats have had the week off after winning straight through to the preliminary final, something that the past eight premiers all have in common. The path to the flag, it would appear, goes via a top four finish and earning the second week of the finals off.

The Eagles, by contrast, have had two physically bruising encounters back to back, firstly against the Magpies and then that brutal game against Carlton where the Blues seemingly kidnapped the time keeper to give themselves an unlikely chance in an unlikely 36 minute final term. Two tight, to the line games like that also drain the players mentally, and they may feel like they’ve played their Grand Final already.

Also, the Eagles have had to travel to Melbourne, back home to Perth and will now have to come back to the MCG, a ground the Cats love. Plus, looking ahead another week, getting a Saturday day game at the MCG for the Prelim is an excellent dress rehearsal for the big dance.

Often this time of year comes down to whose list is the fittest. As we saw, Carlton badly missed Kreuzer and Gibbs (and Waite) on Saturday night, while West Coast gained a few more injury concerns, namely MacKenzie (unlikely), LeCras (probable) and Kennedy (someone please send WCE a bag of tennis balls this week). Meanwhile, the Cats are, with the exception of Denzel, Vardy and Joel Corey’s never-healing groin (loved the Gra Gra B reference!) have a full, well rested, and managed-to-the-minute list to choose from. (Please step forward, Mr Darren “Ol’ Dirty Bastard” Milburn.)

And finally, the big one, the Cats have experienced all this before. The Eagles should be happy about returning to finals and winning a final, but maybe they’ll be pleased with just that. They might not have the belief that they belong yet. The Cats, on the other hand, have the belief, experience and a chip on their shoulder. (Beating Hawthorn, West Coast and Collingwood in a finals series, the rest of the top 4 I might add, would be a pretty satisfying effort, no?)

The Eagles are very good, don’t get me wrong, but Geelong is better. This whole “don’t jinx it”, or “keep a lid on it” mentality, stops now. It is behind us and beneath us. The Cats are close enough if they’re good enough.

We should be proud and confident in this team – for the past 5 years they’ve given us nothing but good reasons to be.

Been There, Done That

Take a breath, Cats fans. A lot has happened since we last spoke. So before we look forward, let’s briefly look back at what Big League has missed.

Aug 27: Geelong loses to Sydney in a classic “nobody believed in us”, coupled with an “overly emotional reason to win” and matched by a “we have no real reason to exert ourselves” game. It is Geelong’s first loss at KP since the corresponding fixture in ’07. (By the way, I’ve never witnessed a stadium/gig/crowd/event with more juice, or electricity in the air, or whatever you or Phil Collins wanna call it, than at that game at KP in ’07 when Ablett kicked what seemed to be the winner. Collective loads blown.)

Sep 2: Geelong asshat Collingwood on a Friday night in a game that is difficult to draw any conclusions from. Technically, neither team had anything to gain (or lose) from the result, as ladder position and their first final opponents were locked in regardless of who won and by how much. Instinctively, one sensed Geelong had more to play for, with Collingwood being unanimously rated as their superior and The Cats coming off the above mentioned uninspiring game. There were a couple of incidents that indicated The Magpies were well and truly back on the bus after halftime. Indeed, it’s probable that Collingwood were looking ahead, and just hoping to get through the match unscathed and begin preparing for West Coast. But mentally, and emotionally, there’s only one side of a 96 point result you want to be on. I know Mick Malthouse was quick to dismiss the result (and really, what choice did he have?) but how confident would you have felt about the Cats last week if they’d lost by 96 points?

(Note: While we’re on the subject of asshatting, after the Cats towel up of Melbourne inspired the Demons to fire their coach, what was their next big move? Bringing in Gary “Seriously-I-don’t-want-to-coach-these-clowns” Lyon in some sort of Winston Wolf role to clean house and possibly dismantle the entire front-office structure. His only qualifications being, it would seem, that he kicked a few goals for the club in the 1990s and now sits on the fence between Craig Hutchinson and Grant “Walnut” Thomas. That club is rooted.)

Sep 9: Geelong shows Hawthorn to be the overrated frontrunners they are, on their way to another preliminary final, their fifth in a row. (And really, regardless of any future outcomes, that fact bears some reflection. Five prelims in a row is an awesome achievement, especially considering that in that same amount of time West Coast have gone from Premiers to bottoming out to a Premiership chance again. And yet, Richmond are still languishing at the bottom. I digress...) The Cats took the Hawks best shots and, as often is their want, essentially killed the contest with four goals in five minutes during the third quarter. They looked more like the Geelong we’ve come to love and respect than at any other time this year. Read that last sentence again. This was good opposition, with everything to play for, on a slippery night, in front of what Brian Taylor would call “the big stage” and The Cats put their foot down when it counted and made everybody wonder why, exactly, they’d been talking up Hawthorn’s chances whilst equally forgetting those of the winningest team in AFL history.

Once again, the September specialists stepped up: Sex fingers was knocking it around at will and drifting forward to stick a few; James Kelly, conspicuous by lack of nickname, continued his best season with another excellent performance; Joel Selwood did his best Chumbawamba impression (sorry about that); Tickets/Mr September Bartel just did what he does at this time of year; and Paul Chapman seemed to have some sort of utensil removed from him just in time for finals. And, encouragingly, there were good contributions from unlikely types (Hatchet and West) while also room for improvement from proven players (Matty Scarlett was particularly quiet).

(Note: Unfortunately Daniel Menzel was injured in the process and will be lost for 10 or so months while his ACL heals. Menzel had made his mark on the forward line as one of those guys with ability in the air and on the ground, and indeed at either end of the ground; perhaps a little Andrew Walker-ish? Either way, I hope he’s not missed too much and that someone, I’m looking at you, Paul Chapman, can provide that forward line spark that, when the Cats have it, makes them irresistible.)

The Cats looked sharp. They looked hungry. They looked unbothered by neither opponent nor occasion. And so they should: They're built for this time of year.