Following Geelong’s exit from premiership contention at the hands of Hawthorn on Friday night, questions are now being asked about whether this is the end of an era for the Cat Empire, and whether Paul Chapman’s selfish act in the semi-finals was to blame.
The Hawks’ five-point victory not only ended the so-called ‘Kennett Curse’, but it also ended the Cats’ odd-year dynasty in which they won the premiership in three of the last odd years (2007, 2009 and 2011).
But if there was one crucial moment in the finals series that cost the Cats the chance to compete for a fourth premiership in seven years this Saturday, it may have come in the third quarter of last week’s semi-final victory over Port Adelaide.
Chapman, whose vow “never to lose to Hawthorn again” triggered the Cats’ 11-match winning streak against their 2008 Grand Final nemesis, which was broken on Friday night, carelessly bumped Port’s Robbie Gray midway through the third quarter.
The incident, comparable to that of Buddy Franklin’s on Nick Malceski in Round 23 and Ted Richards’ on Levi Casboult also last week, earned Chapman a one-match ban, which was served as the Cats’ seemingly never-ending dominance against the Hawks ended in such dramatic fashion.
But what if Chapman hadn’t been so selfish to bump his opponent?
He would not have been suspended, and could have played a crucial role for the Cats in the preliminary final as they tried to keep the curse, and their odd-year dynasty, going.
In particular, he could have played a key role in that crucial fourth quarter when the Cats, 20 points up and seemingly on their way to a fifth Grand Final in seven years, gave it all up and went down by five points.
Now, this coming summer will be an endless one for Cats players and supporters, as they ponder over a season of what could have been.
Supporters should point the finger towards the 2009 Norm Smith Medallist, whose careless bump in the semi-final against Port Adelaide has cost them this year’s flag.
This odd year will be the first time since 2005 in which the club has not played in a Grand Final.
Their conquerors, Hawthorn, will shoot for a second premiership in six years as they attempt to bury the demons of last year’s ten-point loss to the Sydney Swans, who themselves had their premiership defence ended by Fremantle on Saturday night.
The Hawks looked all but dead and buried when they trailed by 20 points at the final change.
The Kennett curse, which had haunted them since their last premiership in 2008, appeared set to continue into 2014, and another season of high expectations almost descended into one of failure.
But unlike in the past, when it was typical of the Hawks to end the fight after being behind by miles, the team came back strongly in the final quarter to all but bury the curse in the most emphatic fashion of them all.
And it’s this victory which reiterates Jeff Kennett’s comments, made way back in March of 2009, that “they’ve beaten Geelong when it matters”.
Yes, this victory does matter, as it was this victory which has denied the Cats a shot at premiership number four in seven years, whilst also setting the Hawks up for another shot at the flag, which they had a hold on last year, but lost.
And yes, their 2008 Grand Final victory, which preceded the well-documented curse, does matter as well, as Hawthorn were the better team on the day.
And now that they have ended the Cats’ stranglehold on them, as well as their premiership dynasty, the Hawks now have the chance to continue their own little dynasty (which dates back to the 2008 flag) and shoot for their 11th premiership.
They will, on Saturday, face Fremantle, who will be appearing in the Grand Final for the first time in its almost two-decade existence.
The Dockers played almost the perfect game on Saturday night when they dismantled the injury-hit defending premiers, the Sydney Swans, by 25 points in the second preliminary final.
But the Purple Haze, which has long played second-fiddle to the more successful West Coast Eagles, did not have everything their way as the Swans refused to buckle in the final quarter, when the match was already lost.
John Longmire’s men, who have been ravaged by injuries to key players all year but still somehow managed to advance to the final four, kicked six final quarter goals as the Dockers slowed down ahead of their debut appearance in the premiership decider.
For the Swans, it’s fair to say they conceded their premiership defence in the second quarter, when they spent much of it camped in their defensive arc and struggled in attack.
It was two ex-Sydney figures, Ross Lyon and Brett Kirk (now an assistant coach at Fremantle), which plotted their downfall in that quarter.
And whilst the premiership defence of the Swans is over, it’s party time at Fremantle as they gear up for what will undoubtedly be their biggest ever game of AFL football.
Their coach, Ross Lyon, will also try to avoid becoming the Andy Murray of AFL coaching (this is because Murray lost his first four Grand Slam finals, a similar record that Lyon has), as he seeks his first flag as a senior coach, having been unsuccessful three times with the Saints between 2009 and 2010.
A simple bounce which eluded Stephen Milne in the 2010 Grand Final replay was the closest Lyon has ever come to winning the flag.
The other two losses were the agonising 2009 loss to the Cats, in which the Saints led at every change except for the final siren, and the 56-point thrashing they copped from Collingwood in the 2010 replay.
Lyon cannot be in a much stronger position than now to claim his first flag, having transformed the Dockers from pretenders to contenders in the space of two years.
Michael Voss, captain of the almighty Brisbane Lions team which captured a hat-trick of flags a decade ago, says that the Dockers can win their first premiership this Saturday, if they play with the same intensity they did against Sydney on Saturday night.
While it would be lovely to see Fremantle finally win their first premiership after 19 years in the top level, Hawthorn will start as favourites, and will be itching to win back the flag many believe was stolen from them last year.
It should be a cracker of a Grand Final and regardless of whose side you will be on this Saturday.
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