Gee, a real home final would be nice

QUALIFYING FINAL

THERE is no prospect of a true home final for Geelong this AFL season, but Cats defender Harry Taylor hopes that will change in coming years.

The second-placed Cats will surrender home-ground advantage when they host Hawthorn in a qualifying final at the MCG next Friday night.

As the only game held in Victoria during week one of the finals it was always going to be played at the MCG.

The Cats will host a preliminary final at the same venue should they defeat Hawthorn. If they lose, a home semi-final will also be in Melbourne.

Geelong has played just one final at their home ground Simonds Stadium — against Fremantle in 2013. That only eventuated because all four games in week one of the 2013 finals took place in Victoria.

However, Simonds is undergoing an upgrade that will increase its capacity to 36,000 next year.

The MCG will still be home other finals at Simonds Stadium.

“It would be outstanding for the town wouldn’t it? It’d be a really big thing for us to play all of our home games down here, including finals,” Taylor said.

“Unfortunately our record in the one we had wasn’t so good, but it’d be awesome for the community.

“I’m not sure what the possibility of that is in the future, but we’ve got some great facilities being built currently.

“Hopefully we’re in a position to be able to vie for those finals, that’s the important part. People can talk about the prospect and it’d certainly be great, but we’ve got to make sure we get there first.”

The AFL is yet to contemplate the issue and does not settle on a finals fixture until the top eight is finalised.

The Cats won seven of their eight games at Simonds this year, which included two Friday night fixtures.

“I’ve loved how the people in charge of the ground have handled our games this year,” Taylor said.