Faithless Fear

There was something terribly humanizing about the first quarter of the Geelong v Sydney match on Friday night. I found myself wondering how the players felt; if Matty Scarlett was watching goals sail over his head, thinking, “Well, that’s it”, or if Joel Corey, struggling to impact the centre, suddenly wondered, “What’s happening here?” For the first time in a long time they were just ordinary blokes.

I had to remember back, to that feeling of struggle, of not expecting to win, of being just another average, unpredictable team in a league full of them. Geelong had lost their sheen, their sense of invincibility. The Cats had come back to the pack. I was having 2006 flashbacks.

And so I was only half-watching the start of the third quarter from the kitchen – fetching beers and whipping up a late feed – when my good friend Steve said something that perked my ears up: “They’ve turned it around. It’s on.” From that point on Geelong slowly arm-wrestled a six goal deficit into a one goal lead, keeping the Swans almost scoreless, only to lose in the last minute: A heart-breaker.

Once again the weekend’s result has left us with more questions about the 2012 Cats than answers, most pertinently, what is the real Geelong? The slow, ineffective team that leaked seven first quarter goals, or the ruggedly determined one that almost ground out an improbable win? Is it simply the case that last season Geelong won a few close games early in the season and this year they’ve lost them? Is that a symptom of a greater disease? Are the same men no longer the same players?

Chris Scott is playing it cool. He has repeatedly said that they aim to be at their best in September, not June, that they are about where they expected to be, that their tough run home has its advantages too and that they’re looking at 2015 as much as 2012. (It is worth noting here that Geelong has had more debutants this year than all other teams except GWS.)

Football, and sport in general, exists in the space between science and religion, between faith and proof, between the stats and the soul. This team has earned our trust. And there is plenty of improvement left in them. But it must start now or it won’t start at all.