St Kilda’s thrilling and controversial four point win against Geelong has turned this year’s finals series on its head. The Cats loss means they must now must beat Fremantle on Friday night and then face a rampaging Collingwood in a preliminary final.
Not quite mission impossible, but for Geelong to win it from here, let alone reach a fourth straight grand final, it would take an amazing recovery.
While for St Kilda it’s a completely different story and having earned the week off will play either the Western Bulldogs or Sydney in a preliminary final.
Now I know anything can happen but you would have to think the Saints have a much smoother passage to that last Saturday in September than any other team.
And for that reason, in my mind St Kilda is now in the box seat to win the club’s first premiership since 1966.
Collingwood are still favourite with the bookies and rightfully so on form, but I think to beat Geelong in a preliminary final and then St Kilda in a grand final will take an almighty effort if that’s the way the results go.
Fremantle has been the surprise packet of the year but it’s hard to see the Dockers overcoming an angry Geelong.
It will be interesting to see what Rodney Eade decides to do with his skipper Brad Johnson, clearly the veteran is playing injured and hasn’t been able to contribute anywhere near at the intensity required in a finals series.
The other problem the Bulldogs have is Barry Hall. The club faces a nervous wait today for the match review panel’s verdict on his jumper punch to the throat region on Harry O’Brien.
The Swans should defeat the injury ravaged Dogs but they will be no match for a well rested and confident St Kilda in a preliminary final.
The importance of the win on Friday night for St Kilda can’t be underestimated, and it wasn’t lost on Captain Nick Riewoldt at recovery on Saturday morning.
“I think the self belief will play a huge part of it and also the opportunity to progress and go straight through to a preliminary final is huge” he said.
But the result could have very easily gone the other way.
It’s amazing how in a game played over several hours, the result can be determined by one pivotal umpiring decision.
In fact, this year’s finals series has been somewhat defined by that now infamous contentious call from umpire Matt Stevic against Cam Mooney in the dying seconds of the game.
The scenes of pandemonium across the MCG were quite extraordinary.
The elation of the Ling goal, the confusion in the aftermath and then the realisation of the free kick, was as gripping and dramatic as any match I’ve ever been to.
Geelong’s heartbreak had become St Kilda’s ecstasy.
So was it a free kick or should the goal have been allowed?
By the letter of the law it was a text book push in the back, but considering the conditions and the way the match had been umpired up until that point, the questioned has to be asked, was the decision in the spirit of the game?
Either way, it will be a moment in history now forever entrenched in footy folklore.
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