Thoughts on the 2008 Grand Final

Some random thoughts on the Grand Final

• Geelong choked away the match. Any talk of comparing them to the great teams of the past 25 years is now mute. 42 wins from 44 matches means nothing, as we stand history remembers the 97-98 Adelaide Crows as a superior team than these Cats.
• I've been saying it ever since the Cats did their best at choking away the preliminary final last year - in huge pressure situations I doubt their mental fortitude. The past two years the Cats have played four matches in the last fortnight in September - they've choked in three of them.
  
• A number of Geelong players are going to be haunted by that match for a long time. Matty Stokes and James Kelly did nothing. Travis Varcoe did little, and his hesitation on one play in the final term was very costly. Tom Harley may have been injured, but he was also undisciplined. Didn't have a good day. In one of the Cats lowest moments Brad Ottens missed without any pressure on him from 20m directly in front with open teammates in the goalsquare.
  
• The two key figures for the Cats though aren't hard to point out - Cam Mooney and Harry Taylor. Cam Mooney may have lost this match for Geelong off his own boot. That miss from four metres out at the half time siren would have shook Geelong's confidence immensely going into the break. He then channeled some '05 Michael O'Loughlin and missed two imminently gettable set shots in the second half. The less obvious culprit was Harry Taylor. Taylor did a phenomenal job on Nick Riewoldt earlier in the finals series, but that will count for zero as he coughed up the Grand Final with one mistake. The ghost of Rhyce Shaw hovered near, when in the third quarter Taylor was inside defensive 50, had no clue what he was doing, lost control of the ball in a non-pressure situation and then Stuart Dew pounced and the scoreboard started to look bad for Geelong.
• Let it be known that this was not a very good match of football. Neither team really looked like they wanted to win, the skills weren't as good as you would expect, and Buddy didn't have an impact. The saving grace though was the brute physicality of the contest. Contest really is the apt word, given the way the match was played a boxing ring might have been a more fitting venue to decide the victor than the open plains of the MCG.
  
• Gary Ablett took an absolute hammering. The Hawks tried the same tactic with Brent Harvey last year in the finals and it didn't work. They lost focus. Not so this time, Ablett was abused all day but the Hawks still managed to stay on task. In spite of this, Ablett played a magnificent match. He was by far Geelong's best, but his inability to kick that goal he should have about halfway through the last term was costly.
  
• Buddy was a huge disappointment. Scarlett laid the opening blow with a bump that left Franklin down early, and Scarlett maintained the advantage all day. In one on one's Scarlett won about 90% of the time. Again, in spite of this, Franklin came up huge with that goal to match Ablett in the third term, and then the game-breaker midway through the last.
• What on Earth happened to Sam Mitchell? He had no impact in the first half, and seemingly lost it mentally by decking Ablett high twice. It's a good thing Mitchell won today, because he might not have much say in the first month or two of the 2009 campaign. Lucky he kicked that goal in the last quarter.
• The Norm Smith vote and the placing of Shane Crawford among the best is a joke. Crawford played horribly. Sure he got like 25 disposals, but that's not a good thing when you consider the way he was disposing of it. On at least 6 occasions Crawford turned the ball over under no pressure at all. Yeah, it's a great story, but the refusal to acknowledge his poor performance is just plain denial.
  
• Didn't like the choice of Luke Hodge as Norm Smith medallist. I think it's more on the back of his performances in the preceding finals than what he did today. Yes, he was solid all day, but he gave away a goal and didn't have the impact he had in earlier September matches. My Norm Smith would go to Stuart Dew. Dew almost singlehandedly broke open the game in that decisive third term. He kicked two ripper goals, and set up another with sheer determination. A great performance.
• Cyril Rioli elevated his status today from classy gun to superstar. His efforts to win a 2-on-1 in the third term were inspirational, and he slotted a pressure set shot. Hats off to the kid, he's a champ.
• Don't give too much credit to the Hawks. On the whole the Cats were the better team. They were the better team for the entire match except for that five minute Hawthorn burst in the 3rd term. The Cats completely dominated the second quarter, and as to how the Hawks were within four goals, let alone leading at halftime is astounding. That said, Hawthorn stepped up in the premiership quarter, mentally they were tougher than the Cats, and they stepped up when they needed to. And that's why they're the 2008 premiers and the Cats are not.

Votes

8 - Stuart Dew (Hawthorn)
8 - Gary Ablett (Geelong)
7 - Luke Hodge (Hawthorn)
7 - Brad Sewell (Hawthorn)
7 - Matthew Scarlett (Geelong)