UMPIRE’S ERROR STILL HURTS CATS
The Cats have only ever played three finals outside Victoria — and they haven’t had a lot of luck on their travels
IT is the unpaid mark that Geelong supporters will never get over.
Twenty years after the Cats travelled to Football Park to take on Adelaide in a do-ordie semi-final, umpire Grant Vernon’s decision not to pay Leigh Colbert a mark after he went back with the flight of the ball during the third quarter, crashed into a pack of players and hugged the Sherrin to his chest on the way down still evokes feelings of resentment from fans.
Not one member of the 46,319 strong crowd for the thrilling clash could honestly say that they did not believe Colbert had taken the grab, and with Geelong eight points up and full of momentum things may have unfolded far differently had the correct call been made.
One of Colbert’s teammates on that night, Carji Greeves medallist Liam Pickering, was in prime viewing position following the pass from Glenn Kilpatrick and was first on the scene to let Vernon know he had made a substantial error.
“It’s fair to say I had a very different opinion to the umpire,” Pickering said.
“It was unbelievable. It was such a great mark, it was a brilliant mark.
“He (umpire Vernon) must have been caught behind another player but blind Freddie could have told you it was a mark. Everyone in the whole joint knew it was a mark, but the one that counted didn’t see it, which is staggering.
“It was very disappointing on the day and I know it’s a long time ago but I really felt that we got the rough end of the pineapple all night and that was such a critical time of the game because he was 30m out and directly in front … it would have given us a nice little buffer.”
The Crows not only went on to win the match, they also won the premiership two weeks later as Geelong continued in its quest for its first since 1963.
The AFL umpires director at the time, David Levens, later admitted Colbert should have been paid a mark, but by then it was too late.
“Colbert marked the footy. There’s no doubt that it was a mark. No question about that at all,” Levens told reporters just days after the match.
“Colbert had flown for the ball, pretty much with his back to the umpire. He was running almost with the flight of the footy. Clearly, the umpire didn’t see him mark the footy.
“He can’t guess. (But) I know at the end of the day Colbert marked it and put the footy up above his head.”
The decision was just one of several on the night that Pickering took umbrage to.
But the now prominent player manager said that as well as getting the raw end of the deal from the men in white, the Cats should never have been playing in South Australia after finishing second on the ladder at the end of the home-and-away season.
“When people talk about that game they always talk about the Colbert mark,” he said. “From my perspective you try to put it out of your memory but it was a super disappointing night for us.
“For one, we shouldn’t have been in Adelaide in my view so we got stitched up with the draw and then there was the horrible umpiring on the night.
“That sounds like a typical losing player but we shouldn’t have even been in the joint. We finished second and was half a per cent off top … and copped North Melbourne (at the MCG in week one) on a Sunday night.
“But it was probably the most disappointing night of footy that I can remember to be honest.”
The 1997 clash with the Crows is one of only three finals that Geelong has ever played outside Victoria.
It should have been four, but contractual obligations between the AFL and MCC meant its preliminary final against Brisbane in 2004 was scheduled at the MCG instead of the Gabba.
Last week when the Cats played Sydney, supporters were reminded of the third, more dramatic game from 2005 when Nick Davis kicked four goals in the final quarter to break Geelong’s heart.
But the 0-3 record aside (Geelong also lost a qualifying final to Port Adelaide in Adelaide in 2004 by 55 points), it is the manner of the defeats that has caused so much pain to fans, coaches and players.
Tonight, Geelong will play interstate final number four and look to break the curse of travelling in September.
Pickering says while it is hard not to look back at the 1997 season as a missed oppor- tunity, he believes the Cats are a genuine shot at upsetting Adelaide and earning the club its first finals win on the road.
“In hindsight they (the Crows) went on and won it and I always say if we had have won we would have beaten the Bulldogs the next week,” Pickering said.
“We’d had a couple of really good battles with the Dogs over the previous year-and-ahalf and there wasn’t any love lost between the Bulldogs and Geelong then, and we’d played St Kilda that year and comprehensively beaten them at Geelong. “S “So th they held no fears for us, the other teams, but unfortunately we got knocked out. We had our chances to win but we just didn’t get there. “But it was a really even year, a bit like this year, and anyone on their day can win it. “I expect the Cats to play really well on Friday night against Adelaide and I think if they got to grand final day, even though they got pumped by Richmond last time, I reckon they could beat them.”