I am predisposed to dislike Geelong. As a Hawthorn supporter, I am supposed to hate the club. We’re not friendly with them – we have history.
However, as the second quarter wound to a close, there I was, hoping like hell the Cats would consolidate the excellent work they’d put together in the first half that was somewhat undone by one of the worst periods of umpiring I’ve seen.
Oh yeah… we cannot do a review of this game without going there, and I am going there in the intro. I’ll get to the ins and outs of the Cats and the Lions soon enough, but first, we have some business to attend to, and I cannot move on without getting this stuff down.
I know there is a bit of “old man yells at cloud” about this, and that’s fine.
As Tyson Stengle lined up for a goal that would have opened up a close to a six-goal lead for the Cats, the whistle blew at the opposite end of the ground. Mark O’Connor had nudged Cam Rayner in the back, and the Brisbane forward milked it.
A free kick was paid 150 metres off the ball.
The umpire got sucked in.
And then, as if things were not completely fucked up already, after Rayner slotted the goal, the same umpire paid another free kick to Rayner for another goal, as Cam Guthrie ran into him and knocked him over.
In both instances, Rayner went down like he’d been shot, and really, he should be absolutely ashamed of himself. He laughed, took the free kicks and goals, and celebrated the ruse he’d pulled… as the game that has for so long been the golden goose had the noose tightened around its neck.
The crowd anger was palpable. Hell, I was angry, too. Not because it cost my team a goal, or because my favourite player was hard done by, but because more of what the game was got replaced by the weak, over-officiated crap that now calls itself Aussie Rules Football.
Imagine showing someone this game as their first taste of footy?
What would you tell them? How would those couple of minutes, and those soft-as-butter decisions, measure up the game you’d built up to them? Hell, forget the homophobic stuff – I half expect Snoop Dog to pull out of being the Grand Final entertainment because he doesn’t want to be associated with such a weak-as-piss game. Please don’t show him this footage.
The umpire that made these pair of calls deserves to be relieved of his duties for the remainder of the finals series. Those types of reactive, panicked decisions do not belong in a high-stakes final where, historically, rules have been relaxed as the league looks to showcase the game, with the best players and the best teams testing each other.
There will be some who think the exact opposite to me, and that’s okay. They’ll say “you can’t bash into someone’s back 150 metres off the ball.”
I’d agree wholeheartedly… if O’Connor had actually bashed into him. However, Rayner went down so willingly that O’Connor almost fell over as he expected a little more resistance when he did little more than nudge the Lion in the back. Watch the vision again. Rayner crashes to the deck like he is made of Jenga blocks. he was milking it, and anyone who’s played the game knew it.
Which is probably why the umpire thinks he was right in awarding Rayner a free kick. A different perspective.
The game deserves better than wat we saw in those moments.
It deserves better from Rayner, who basically took the piss with his efforts to draw the free kicks.
And it deserves better from an umpire who decided that this contact at the other end of the ground, warranted penalising a team so heavily that it had the potential to change the game. It didn’t, because the Cats were too good, but his decision(s) dragged Brisbane back into the game.
“The best it’s ever been,” remember?
“Disgrace” was a word I heard used by some experts to describe the entire scene, and I have to agree. It detracted from a night that should have been all about the Cats, and all about them making yet another Preliminary Final – that’ll be ten for Chris Scott.
Instead, all the talk will be about this disastrous series of decisions that made me feel like the game I loved had slipped away.
Damn that umpire… he made me barrack for Geelong. I’ve never felt dirtier. Time to actually start the review.
Aside from those free kicks and a quick flurry late in the game, this was a compelling case for the Cats’ premiership credentials.
The pressure they exerted on the reigning premiers at stoppages, and whenever the ball hit the deck, was top-notch, and despite having fewer disposals than the Lions, they were dominant in most parts of the ground.
For me, it was about the way the Cats disrupted everything the Lions wanted to do. There was simply no passage permitted for the Lions through the guts, and when they tried, the Cats closed in from all angles.
Even with Jeremy Cameron and Shannon Neale down (after Jezza’s “almost” first quarter), the Cats continued to find avenues to attack that just weren’t available for the Lions.
The Cats closed down Hugh McCluggage, with Oisin Mullin once again applying the clamps, and with Ollie Dempsey using his impeccable timing to get forward and hit the scoreboard, they were far too hungry, and far too well-drilled for the Lions to combat.
In his press conference, Chris Fagan was effusive with his praise for Geelong, and rightfully so. After a month and a bit of people questioning the calibre of their opponents, they welcomed the reigning premier to the MCG and booked themselves a Preliminary Final at the same venue in a fortnight.
What a team… seriously, as much as I am supposed to hate them, I just can’t. I respect the hell out of Geelong, and that respect grew again in this game.
Let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Here are The Mongrel’s Big Statements
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