Put together the past

They’ve been playing all year just to get here, so don’t be writing them off so soon.  Crossing Australia and back in hope and expectation, now they’ve got some winning to do.  They’ve been stuck in the home and away season for five months, a long time, and they’re not leaving the MCG until they achieve a grand final berth.

Collingwood play Hawthorn and Geelong take on West Coast in the penultimate round, the top four teams in the preliminary finals, as it should be.  The games should be fierce, each contest crucial, the players willing to crawl off the MCG.

Geelong and Collingwood should win.

The preliminary finalists have imposed rich history on the AFL, 39 premierships.  As opponents, though, their finals legacy is shallow.  Geelong and West Coast have played three finals, all in the nineties, all at the MCG, the Cats losing each time.

Hawthorn and Collingwood have met three times, all in the seventies, with two wins to the Hawks and one to the Magpies.  Given Collingwood joined the VFL as a foundation club in 1897 and Hawthorn was accepted in 1925, it is amazing they have played just three finals.

Simply, their eras of domination were separated.  When one club was successful, the other spawned mediocrity.

A closer examination of their finals history as opposing clubs shows a huge difference in fortune.  Hawthorn and Collingwood have never played against each other in a grand final.  Geelong has lost two grand finals to West Coast.  This year, it is impossible for either club to meet in the grand final.

Hawthorn and Collingwood first played in a final in 1974, the first semi final at the MCG.  Footy was different in the seventies, less tactical, less commercial.  The players weren’t as fit, the skills weren’t as good.  A game could descend into a fight.  Players routinely got hit with elbows and forearms.  It was tough and violent.  Hawthorn was adept at the ball and at the man.  To play the Hawks meant taking a risk whenever the ball was nearby, sometimes when it wasn’t.

Back in 1974, Hawthorn finished third with 15 wins.  The Magpies finished fourth with 15 wins but a lot less percentage.  In the qualifying final at the MCG against North Melbourne, Hawthorn lost by 38 points on the same day Collingwood thrashed Footscray in the elimination final by 69 points.

The following week, at the MCG on 14 September, Hawthorn dominated Collingwood, leading by 33 points at quarter time and maintaining that lead at half time.  In the third term, the Hawks kicked six goals to five.  The margin at the last change was 43 points.  When the final siren went, Hawthorn was 50 points in front, 21:12:138 to 13:10:88.

Leigh Matthews kicked seven goals for the Hawks from 24 possessions and Michael Moncrieff kicked four.  For the Magpies, Ray Shaw, Peter McKenna and Bob Heard kicked three goals.

Collingwood was out of the finals.  Hawthorn would lose the preliminary final to North by five points.

The 1977 second semi final is remembered as a classic.  It’s a pity the only available vision of the game is Phil Carmen elbowing Michael Tuck.  The AFL should go through every reel of film in the archives and spend the money to get games like the 1977 semi final onto DVD or a downloadable format.

Games like this can’t be lost to the memory or consigned to space in a warehouse.

Played at the MCG, 87,421 watched as it happened.  With no live broadcast, they’re the only people in history who watched the game live.

Collingwood had 11 shots at goal in the first term to lead by 17 points at quarter time.  In the second term they went goalless, going in at half time trailing by a point.  By three quarter time the Hawks led by five points.  In the last term, Hawthorn kicked six goals, Collingwood seven.  The Magpies won by two points, 16:14:110 – 17:10:112.

Phil Carmen kicked four goals for Collingwood and got reported for elbowing Michael Tuck.  Peter Moore kicked four goals from four kicks.  For the Hawks, Peter Hudson kicked four goals while Leigh Matthews was wasteful, kicking three goals and six behinds.

Carmen was suspended for two weeks and missed the drawn grand final and the replay.  Many people believe Carmen’s elbow cost Collingwood the grand final.

The 1978 qualifying final was played at the MCG before 79,931 people, under overcast conditions, a weak sun peaking through on occasion.  The ground was heavy but the rain held off.

With nine scoring shots to four, the Hawks led by 10 points at quarter time.  Five goals to two increased their margin to 25 points.  At three quarter time the match was over, a six goal lead before winning going away, by 50 points, 23:16:154 – 14:14:98.

Michael Moncrieff kicked eight goals from nine kicks, Peter Russo four goals and Matthews three goals from 23 possessions.  Phil Carmen was Collingwood’s only effective forward with three goals.

The Magpies would lose the preliminary final to North Melbourne, who lost the grand final to Hawthorn.

On Friday night, Hawthorn and Collingwood will play in front of 90,000 people.  The Magpies are favourites, the week off has benefits.  The last time these clubs met, in round 15 at the MCG, Collingwood prevailed by 41 points in front of 83,985 people.

The stats were lopsided, Collingwood had 15 more inside 50s, more effective long kicks and 11 more shots on goal.  Hawthorn didn’t kick a goal in the first quarter and finished with two at half time, 39 points in arrears.  Up by 46 points at three quarter time, the Magpies coasted and lost the last term.  Travis Cloke kicked three goals for Collingwood, a game high, while Hawthorn’s Buddy Franklin was held to one goal.

The Hawks have had a remarkable season but here it stops, in the preliminary final.  They’ll be described as gallant, wracked by injury, a chance at the flag cruelled by misfortune.  How it is described will not matter.

Though revenge won’t feature in Geelong’s build up to their preliminary final against West Coast, a win at their fifth attempt will be satisfying, and while it won’t go anywhere near erasing the pain of two grand final losses against the Eagles, it’ll set them up for another chance at a premiership.

West Coast will be watching the grand final from Perth.

Back in 1991, Geelong and West Coast played their first final, a preliminary, at Waverley on a miserable, freezing, soaked afternoon.  The ground was sodden, pools of water lining the surface.  It was about five degrees made colder by a strong breeze.

Despite the conditions, West Coast had ten shots on goal in the first term to three and led by 22 points.  Just before half time, with the margin 21 points, Glen Jakovich received a free kick and was awarded a 50-metre penalty, putting him about forty metres out from goal.

Jakovich extended the margin to 27 points at half time.  By three quarter time, the Eagles were 23 points up and won by 15 points, 11:13:79 to 8:16:64.  Peter Sumich kicked six goals from eight kicks.  Mark Neeld and Robert Scott kicked two each for the Cats.

After the game, Geelong coach Malcolm Blight said the goal Jakovich kicked, from a 50-metre penalty, was crucial, a goal the Cats didn’t need after dominating the term.  Veteran Neville Bruns, who announced his retirement following the loss, said it was a tough game to play.

‘It was just so cold,’ Bruns said.

Few footballers have ever admitted that after a game of football.

In 1992, Geelong finished on top with sixteen wins.   West Coast, with 15 wins and a draw, finished fourth.  In the second semi final, Geelong started favourites.  All year the Cats had been kicking huge scores, not worrying too much about defence.  The Eagles were a renowned defensive unit, not known for their high scoring.  They were described as boring, but the preliminary final was different.

West Coast led by three points at quarter time and 15 at half time.  Five goals to three in the third extended their margin to 27 at three quarter time.  With another five in the final term, the Eagles won by 38 points, 20:13:133 to 14:11:95.

The win put the AFL on notice.  West Coast was about to arrive.  Geelong would play victim.

The 1992 grand final won’t be remembered as a modern day classic.  It was a day all associated with Geelong would want to forget.  The led by 17 points at quarter time.  Midway through the second quarter Geelong led by five goals.  Two late goals to Tony Evans reduced the margin at half time 12 points.  West Coast, with the momentum, kicked five goals to one in the third quarter to lead by 17 points before running out winners by 28 points, 16:17:113 to 12:13:85.

Peter Matera kicked five goals for West Coast in a best on ground performance.  Sumich kicked six.  For the Cats, Gary Ablett and Bill Brownless kicked three each.

Cats coach Malcolm Blight was aghast.  ‘Good sides don’t give up five goal leads in a grand final,’ Blight said.  A Geelong supporter agreed and sent 22 sheep hearts to the club in protest at the lack of heart the players showed in the second half.

The 1994 grand final was worse.  Geelong gained entry the hard way, finishing fourth and playing four consecutive finals.  After leading by a point at quarter time, the Cats crashed, trailing by 23 points at half time, a blow-out about to happen.  West Coast kicked four goals to two in the third, extending their margin to 36 points.

The final quarter was a rout, eight goals to one, the Eagles winning by 80 points, 20:23:143 to 8:15:63.  There was an even spread of goal kickers, ten in all, with Tony Evans kicking three in West Coast’s highest score of the year.

Brownless was Geelong’s only multiple goal scorer, with four.

Blight quit following the game.  ‘I’m a three time loser,’ Blight said of coaching three grand final losses.  ‘We all know where they end up.’

We all know where Blight ended up, as a legend of the game.

Geelong and West Coast have their own chance to create legend.  It starts this weekend.  They can forget their eight point victory back in round eight.  It is meaningless.  What matters is recovery, getting the body right to face a club fresh off the break, a club that continues to exceed all expectations.

Geelong will win.  It won’t exorcise past failure, but it might help putting the past together for another shot at a premiership.

 

 

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