Through all the upheavals of modern times, Geelong has kept traces of its knockabout, country character, writes James Button. | OPINION
When I was young, there was something bitter about barracking for Geelong. We were the heartbreak side, the cardiac Cats. For 44 lean years we promised so much, produced so little. We made four grand finals in seven years, and lost the lot.
In recent years, one supporter has often taken his young son to games. One day, Geelong lost. As the pair got up to go, the little boy was puzzled. “Dad!” he demanded. “Why aren’t they playing our song?” The Cats kept winning, boosted by great talent and a home ground advantage, but year after year, they folded in finals. Chris Scott, clearly an accomplished coach, seemed too defence-focused, and perhaps too dominant a voice inside the club, when the golden years of 2007 to 2011 had been built on many voices. The game plan looked predictable, the players slow. Everyone could see the premiership window had closed – everyone except the club itself.
A YouTube video of Hawkins interviewing the captain, Joel Selwood, might give a glimpse of this culture. The pair, both picked in the 2006 draft, have played more than 300 games together, nearly an AFL record.
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