For those who’re a footy fan, you dream of nights like Geelong had on Thursday.
Getting into with arguably your finest participant, and a five-time All-Australian, a last-minute scratching, to a remaining on the highway towards a crew on a six-game successful streak, one among them a 112-point dismantling over the one crew above them on the ladder. Being spoken of because the crew almost certainly to bow out in straight units, with a harmful elimination remaining opponent ready them.
And giving all of the doubters the center finger to utterly and totally demolish probably the most red-hot of foes, on hostile territory, just about from begin to end, to ebook a house preliminary remaining and make $9 odds for the flag heading in look extraordinarily foolish within the course of.
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For supporters of 17 different golf equipment, this could be a efficiency to stay lengthy within the reminiscence, a replay to be dusted off and placed on each time winter gloom units in, a sport to suppose again on and smile when the inevitable darkish days arrive.
Belief me – my crew’s thumping win over Port Adelaide on the Adelaide Oval in a giant remaining continues to be one of the magnificent issues I’ve ever seen in my life.
The issue for the Cats is that not solely are these darkish days principally ending tenth with 11 wins as a substitute of 15 or 16, however that this can be a membership with about half a dozen of those well-known, earth-shaking wins that us idiots barracking for different groups spend many years craving for.
This was Geelong’s 14th finals victory beneath Chris Scott, at a pleasant spherical common of 1 per season. I’d argue that none, not even the 2 premierships, have summed up the crew and the membership he leads greater than this one.
Had been Port pathetic? Unquestionably so. However at each flip, the Cats made them look poor.
They made the Energy seem as in the event that they have been enjoying on a subject buried beneath two ft of moist cement by enjoying with a freakish, ferocious velocity from contests, slamming the ball inside 50 to harmful spots earlier than their opponents might blink, by no means thoughts arrange.
They made Port look woeful by foot and hand with all-encompassing strain, plus a traditional Cats defensive set-up behind the ball that regarded extra imposing the longer the night time went on, particularly within the air.
They made the Energy’s strain seem second-rate, their tackling SANFL-standard and their need all however nonexistent with probably the most exceptional kicking show I’ve seen all yr.
Central to the carnage have been the ‘three Musketeers’, a trio of excellent, pure footballers who defy the suggestion that AFL groups solely recruit athletes lately by being each fast and fantastically expert.
Essentially the most exceptional of the threesome is Shaun Mannagh; not least as a result of, 11 video games into an AFL profession that solely started at age 26, it’s a second he certainly will need to have thought would by no means come when ignored, now considerably inexplicably, for close to on a decade’s value of drafts.
It was obvious for anybody who watched his six-goal haul, a number of of them pearlers, in final yr’s VFL grand remaining knew this was a participant with the abilities and tempo to succeed at AFL degree… if he arrived on the proper membership to harness his strengths.
Geelong does this higher than any crew I can bear in mind; the place Sydney of the 2000s and mid-2010s turned AFL-level journeymen into key cogs, the Cats do the identical with the forgotten, the underrated, the ignored.
And from Lawson Humphries going at 100 per cent by foot as much as half time, by way of to Tom Atkins in midfield, one other mature-aged rookie success story who clamped Jason Horne-Francis on the stoppages, and as much as Mannagh roaming with menace at half-forward, this crew is so, a lot greater than the sum of its elements.
The stat line of this man whom nobody needed, this 26-year outdated who has labored his whole life to develop into an in a single day sensation? 23 disposals, 18 kicks – second-most on the bottom – seven inside 50s (behind solely Patrick Dangerfield), a game-high 13 rating involvements, 5 tackles, and three direct aim assists.
If Holmes beat him for best-afield honours, it was a rattling close-run factor.
Virtually nearly as good a narrative is Shut, a one-time rookie who has been an integral, unflashy a part of a terrific crew since he kicked a aim together with his first contact on the high degree on a depressing night time in Perth on the peak of the COVID pandemic.
Shut is just about the Aramis of this trio – he’s the one you neglect, with Miers’ dazzling All-Australian calibre kicking and the facility of Mannagh’s story constantly dominating the headlines this yr. However the long-sleeved Cat is a grasp of doing the unheralded, team-first issues that each good facet does in abundance?
Want a sensible, smart kick from the wing to half-forward? Shut is your man. Want a sensible crumber at floor degree inside 50, a tackling small, an clever presence as a free man at stoppages? Brad’s your man.
He’d end with 11 rating involvements, behind solely Mannagh, Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron on the bottom. Two of them have been aim assists. Contemplating he had 15 disposals, that’s a frankly extraordinary ratio.
Miers is the perfect of the three; the quintessential fashionable footy half-forward, he’s proved such an unbelievable participant over the previous couple of years that Scott now even entrusts him to maneuver as a midfielder across the floor, even into defence. It’s fairly exceptional that such a meticulous coach is ok for a ahead with ahead’s instincts to roam into part of the bottom the place these traits should be reined in for the nice of the crew.
Miers spent extra time up the sector towards the Energy, together with his rating involvement numbers dropping all the way down to ‘solely’ six, about half what Shut and Mannagh managed from additional afield.
However his disposals have been crisp, clear and all the time inventive; his work as the additional at stoppages essential with three clearances; and with six tackles, solely Rozee had extra – and any Energy sort out stat wants the asterisk that options the quantity of the night time they spent chasing tail.
And but regardless of all that, he nonetheless had time for 3 targets as effectively.
It’s exceptional that the within 50 rely ended up being 57-53 within the Cats’ benefit. A ratio of 38 scores to 53 instances in assault – from 67 per cent of their entries, the second-best by any crew in 2024 – is frankly obscene.
And nobody contributed extra to that butchering than the brilliantly expert, electrically paced, whip-smart Musketeer trio.
With Tom Stewart, and his penchant for beginning at centre bounces after which easing again behind the ball to intercept at will, withdrawn on the final minute by way of both sickness or continued hamstring issues, relying in your degree of religion within the Cats’ reporting of their accidents, Scott determined to vary tack round stoppages.
Constantly, one among Mannagh, Shut or Miers would push as much as stoppages to create an outnumber, after which work ferociously into area ahead of the ball if and when the Sherrin was received, baffling a Port defence down on some skilled heads and repeatedly proven up over time when the going will get robust.
There was one excellent instance of how effectively this labored all night time within the first quarter: beginning at a stoppage on the published facet wing, Mannagh helps the Cats win the ball, watches them go laterally with Port arrange effectively behind the ball; after which bobs up uncontested within the ahead pocket fifteen seconds later, having sprinted a very good 100 metres to get on the tip of it.
Port’s free behind the ball, Darcy Byrne-Jones – the defender-cum-forward switched again into his authentic function to cowl for the absence of Dan Houston and Kane Farrell – was all at sea: as he was, to be trustworthy, for many of the night time. He was removed from alone, and 19 disposals suggests on the stat line his night was cheap; but it surely appears Hinkley forgot that a part of the explanation he was switched ahead so efficiently halfway by way of 2023 was his starting to resemble a surprised mullet within the backline.
The Cats, by halfway by way of the final quarter, led Port 57-21 in scores from stoppages. They butchered Horne-Francis, Rozee, Wines, Butters (for a half), Drew… all with out Stewart, with a late-career Dangerfield, a bunch of kids, and a small ahead trio who outshone all of them.
The Energy had no reply all night time for any of Miers, Shut or Mannagh, with solely the previous’s subbing halfway by way of the final quarter providing some respite – however by that time, the Cats’ dominance prolonged to all aspects and Port’s hiding formally of the ‘to nothing’ selection.
It was one other embarrassing September second for Ken Hinkley and his males, one positive to have the strain amped as much as 11 heading into one other dwelling remaining and an opportunity to make amends subsequent Friday night time. The one comfort is that this was a show so grim a bodily, animated response is just about a given (God assist Hinkley in the event that they put in one other stinker), and that issues actually can’t worsen from right here.
However I hope, within the commotion to come back concerning the Energy’s horror present, that sufficient respect to the Cats is afforded – each to their excellent, mesmerising efficiency on the Adelaide Oval, and the magnificent membership that conjured it.
Shaun Mannagh celebrates a aim with Jack Bowes. (Photograph by Michael Willson/AFL Images through Getty Photos)
It’s a victory for the scouts who noticed the potential of Humphries when he was floating between WAFL seniors and reserves final yr; for the coaches who took cost of Mannagh throughout his months-long VFL stint this yr and turned him right into a respectable level of distinction in an already nice crew’s September run; for Scott himself, whose tactical tweak at stoppages caught the Energy on the again foot and contributed an unlimited quantity to the carnage that ensued.
For Geelong, a win like this is perhaps par for the course proper now. However that doesn’t imply the remainder of us can’t look on with admiration, worry, and loads of jealousy, and want our membership was as skilled, as well-run, as disciplined, as expert, as good, as this one has been now for 18 years and counting.
