At halftime of the traditional Easter Monday clash at the MCG, you could have been forgiven for thinking the Cats’ run as a power in the AFL was well and truly over.
Beaten at the contest against a hungry young Hawthorn team, Geelong looked slow and uninspired. They played a stagnant brand of football, with stars failing to shine and proven performers unable to have much of an impact. At 0-3 heading into this game, there were signs that the Geelong era may have ended with the 2022 premiership. I’m sure those who have waited years for them to fall over were content, smiling to themselves after being wrong for the last however-many years.
And then we hit the third quarter and it all changed.
In a tsunami of forward pressure, of half-backs pushing up, and of a midfield finally finding their groove, the Cats simply brushed the Hawks aside like an annoying mosquito, going on a rampage to slot ten goals for the quarter. They turned a nine-point halftime deficit into a 51-point lead heading into the last quarter, demoralising the Hawks and making them look rudderless.
It was a brutal display of power football we had not seen from the premiers to date, and in front of over 65,000 people who braved the weather, they demonstrated that they were far from a spent force.
Let’s jump into The Mongrel’s Loves and Hates of the Easter Monday clash.
Oh, what the hell? A Mongrel paywall? Yep, all of HB’s reviews start out as such, even ones he has hurried through like this. Some he opens up after a certain amount of time. Some… he doesn’t. Want to join us and access the members’ game reviews, as well as columns like the Wingman of the Year, Recruit of the Year, and other nonsenical stuff HB comes up with each week?
