Geelong make major statement with crushing win over Brisbane

MELBOURNE — With no tomorrow, AFL finals when they break open, and the trailing team knows the gig is up, can be brutal affairs.

But somehow, this one, though, seemed even worse than usual for the loser. Not only did Brisbane know its goose was cooked a long way out from the final siren. Its opponent, Geelong, seemed not only to be booking its Grand Final spot, but simultaneously atoning for a decade’s worth of finals frustration. For the Cats, this was not only a mission accomplished. It was a statement of intent.

So complete was the Geelong performance, so dominant its display, that either Sydney or Collingwood already know it is going to take something very special indeed next Saturday to prevent the Cats finally delivering the second premiership of coach Chris Scott’s 12-season tenure as coach.

This was so Geelong 2022. Strangle the life out of the opposition, denying them the ball, then denying them scores on the few occasions they were able to get their hands on it, instead using those forays forward merely as an opportunity to launch attacks of their own.

Tyson Stengle of the Cats celebrates a goal in the preliminary final. Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images

And how potent those attacks were. The final margin was a whopping 71 points, the Cats racking up 30 scores to Brisbane’s 14. Tom Hawkins booted four goals and could easily have had seven. There were 10 individual goalkickers.

The only negative was a hamstring injury suffered by wingman Max Holmes, who will remain a 50-50 proposition for the biggest game of his life, after having proved so important to the dynamic Cats of 2022.

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Geelong officials, however, including coach Chris Scott, seemed a lot more upbeat about the speedster’s chances of getting to the line post-game than you’d have thought was the case when he limped from the field, then lay on the turf thumping his fist into the ground in frustration.

Brisbane, meanwhile, was bowed and beaten a long way from home, but it shouldn’t prevent the Lions, when the dust settles, still walking away from this finals series with considerable pride.

They tipped the last two AFL premiers out of the race for this flag. And they had finished three wins and five spots on the ladder beneath the Cats. Getting thoroughly beaten by a Geelong side in this sort of mood isn’t the embarrassment a margin of this size might usually indicate.

But it really was a football lesson, one the Cats doled out with efficiency early. By late in the first term, the Lions had the edge in clearances and had enjoyed almost as many forward entries. But it was Geelong leading three goals to one.

Ominously for Brisbane, too, Patrick Dangerfield was on fire. He had two of the Cats’ first three goals, the first kicked inside the opening minute of the game, the next off one step from just inside the 50-metre arc.

Max Holmes of the Cats suffered a hamstring injury in Geelong’s preliminary final win over Brisbane. Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

By then, the Brownlow medallist had compiled eight possessions and a couple of clearances, and the alarm bells for Brisbane coach Chris Fagan would have been ringing loudly.

Dangerfield was a huge weapon. But so was tireless runner Holmes, whose goal from a free kick on the quarter-time siren gave Geelong the 14-point lead that was the very least its dominance deserved.

The Cats’ backline, too, had Brisbane’s normally potent forward set-up looking pretty frazzled come the long break, rebounding time and time again.

By then, Jake Kolodjashnij, Zach Tuohy and Tom Stewart were three of the Cats’ leading possession winners, the Lions’ forward trio of Joe Daniher, Eric Hipwood and Charlie Cameron goalless, and with just eight disposals between them.

Midfield heartbeats Lachie Neale and Hugh McCluggage were strangely subdued as well, the pair combining for just 16 disposals at halftime.

And the Lions’ mistakes were being punished ruthlessly. Hipwood’s dropped mark at half-back leading to a goal for Gary Rohan, the first of three in nine minutes for Geelong, the lead by now 27 points.

Last week, against Melbourne, the Lions had trailed by 28 points just seconds before halftime, a goal right on the siren from Callum Ah Chee offering at least some hope, duly converted into a memorable comeback win.

Jeremy Cameron and Gary Rohan of the Cats celebrate during Geelong’s dominant preliminary final. Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The margin this time come the main break was only a couple more points, but it somehow felt longer.

Any prospect of a comeback like last week’s was extinguished within 90 seconds of the resumption with an act at either end, Daniher marking in range with the first centre break but then spraying the shot out on-the-full.

Almost inevitably, from the kick-in, the ball travelled the length of the field, and Tyson Stengle, as he has all season for the Cats, slotted a goal from the tightest of angles in the forward pocket.

Geelong would slam on seven for the quarter and another four in the last, little more than glorified junk time, 30 minutes in which the Cats merely had to avoid further injury.

And for this incredibly consistent club, vindication is now nigh. It’s been more than a decade in the making. And the way this steamroller flattened yet another opponent for a 15th straight victory, who’d be tipping against a very sweet 16th next week?