Eleven rounds into the 2010 AFL season, we’ve got a clear premiership favourite and there’s no prizes for guessing it’s the dominant Geelong. They’re flying and it’s hard to see anybody stopping them from making it three premierships in four years.
Following Fremantle’s loss to Adelaide and Geelong win over West Coast on the weekend, the Cats became outright ladder leaders, a game and percentage ahead of second-placed Collingwood.
The Cats brushed aside the Pies, their nearest rivals on the ladder, by six goals a fortnight ago and look a gulf ahead of the chasing pack.
Sportsbet has moved the odds on Geelong to win the premiership to $2.65 and we’re still over three months out from the Grand Final!
Geelong’s dominance is obvious.
You only need to look at the ladder to see they have the best attacking record, whilst holding the second best defensive record (only bettered by the stingy Saints). That combination is pretty hard to beat!
In fact, in their eleven fixtures this season only twice have the Cats scored less than 100 points. Rarely will a team lose when they do that.
I enjoyed the opportunity to see the Cats first-hand on the weekend, as they fended off a gutsy challenge from the struggling Eagles to win by 24 points on Saturday night, and made a few observations.
One of the things which makes the Cats so strong is their variety of goalscoring options.
Key forwards Cam Mooney and James Podsiadly were quiet (while Tom Hawkins didn’t play) on Saturday evening, but Shannon Byrnes popped up with four goals, while Steve Johnson got three. The midfield always chips in too. That’s hard to stop.
Geelong also kept West Coast at arm’s length all night and when challenged were able to flick the switch and turn it up a gear.
They’re reluctant to say they do this, but it appears they do go up a notch during games when they need to. You got the feeling all night, despite the Eagles’ best efforts, the result was inevitable.
But beating the 14th-placed Eagles in the West isn’t the tough ask it used to be and the Cats will face tougher challenges.
Nevertheless, it’s difficult to nominate any team who looks capable of challenging the Cats for the premiership at this stage.
Collingwood were humbled in Round Nine by the Cats and need to do some serious improving if they’re to challenge, while St Kilda are missing Nick Riewoldt but have had a good run of late.
The Western Bulldogs look completely off the boil at 6-5, with veterans Brad Johnson and Jason Akermanis struggling, while the worthiness of the challenges from Fremantle and Carlton is unproven.
Both those latter two sides have beaten the Cats this season, but the former was over at Subiaco early in the season when the Dockers looked fresher, while the latter was on what appeared to be a bad day in general from the Geelong side.
There’s no doubt a gulf exists between Geelong and the rest at the moment, but as we know, the Grand Final won’t be played tomorrow.
There’s a lot of footy still to be played before that final Saturday in September and of the challengers the Saints could make the biggest improvements if Nick Riewoldt’s speedy recovery from injury translates into a smooth return to the playing field. He’s crucial for them.
Right now, though – halfway through the regular season – it’s hard to argue against the Cats winning their third premiership in four years.
Something drastic will have to occur to stop them continuing their era of dominance.
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