For the Geelong community, season 2013 ended in a very odd way – that for the first time since 2005, the team will not be in contention for a premiership in an odd year.
After having won the premiership for each of the last three odd years (2007, 2009 and 2011), their odd-year dynasty was ended in the most dramatic of circumstances.
The narrow five-point preliminary final loss to Hawthorn ended the Cats’ dominance against them dating back to the ill-fated 2008 Grand Final, which the Cats lost by inaccurate kicking.
The team was not as dominant as it used to be, but they still enjoyed a solid season which saw them finish in the top two for the fifth time in seven years.
Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the season for Cats supporters.
What went right
Once again, the Cats proved to be one of the most dominant teams throughout the regular season, defying the belief that their time at the top was up after having crashed out in the first round of the finals last year.
The season started with seven straight victories, including those over Hawthorn, Sydney and Essendon, before they suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of Collingwood in Round 8.
They also enjoyed two victories from two matches against each of the AFL’s expansion clubs; in each match, they survived three quarters of being challenged before running away in the final quarter.
In particular, against GWS in Round 11, the Cats struggled to contain the fast-start of the Giants, and it only took the quarter-time spray of all quarter-time sprays from Chris Scott to get them going – eventually, they won by 59 points.
The team also maintained a perfect record at their Simonds Stadium backyard for the entire regular season (the qualifying final loss to Fremantle does not count) and also thrashed St Kilda to the tune of 101 points for their biggest marginal victory of the year.
They were also able to keep the ‘Kennett curse’, which Cats players claim does not exist, going until the preliminary final.
What went wrong
While the Cats lost only four regular season matches (and six overall including the failed finals campaign), there were matches that I feel that they should not have lost.
In particular, I want to focus on the match against the Brisbane Lions back in Round 13.
The Cats were more than 50 points up midway through the third quarter and it seemed that victory was all but locked up.
But the Lions, inspired by Ashley McGrath in his 200th AFL game, rallied back to post the greatest comeback of the season thus far.
Then, in the second semi-final against Port Adelaide, Paul Chapman pulled off a selfish act which has cost them the chance to continue their odd-year dynasty.
The 2009 Norm Smith Medallist carelessly bumped Port’s Robbie Gray midway through the third quarter, an incident which earned him a one-match ban, which was to be served in the preliminary final, which happened to be against Hawthorn.
If Chapman hadn’t been so careless to do that, then the Cats would have probably beaten Hawthorn (and kept the Kennett curse ticking over) and they would have been preparing for a shot at their fourth premiership in seven years.
Also, more disappointingly, the Cats let slip a 20-point three-quarter-time lead in the preliminary final to give up their place to the Hawks in the Grand Final.
The Cats had the curse applied to them as they were the ones being run down, when, in the past, it was them who were chasing the Hawks down.
But it was not to be, and now the Cats will all summer long mull over the season that should have delivered another odd-year premiership.
The future
Coach Chris Scott will have some tough decisions to make in regards to the playing list as the Cats look to stay in premiership contention next year.
Paul Chapman’s future is still pretty much in the air, and perhaps he has already played his last game for Geelong.
In regards to their chances next year, they will also have to be smart and play their cards well at the AFL Draft.
Questions the fans will want answered in 2014
– Has Paul Chapman played his last game for Geelong?
– Where did it all go wrong in the preliminary final against Hawthorn?
– What type of players should the Cats chase in the draft?
And last but not least…
– Can the Cats remain in premiership contention in 2014?
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