Not again!
ANOTHER PRELIM, ANOTHER THRASHING, ANOTHER YEAR GONE
DÉJÀ VU is described as a feeling of having already experienced the present situation.
For 16 of Geelong’s selected 22 from last night’s preliminary final, that sensation would have been present for much of the first quarter as Adelaide had its way with the slow-starting Cats.
In the 2016 preliminary final against Sydney, the Swans kicked seven goals to nothing in the first quarter. Last night the Crows kicked six to one, and at the eight-minute mark of the second term were already out to a 48-point lead.
Geelong made a bold effort from that point on to make a fight of things and put some respectability back on the scoreboard, but as it so often has been when the Cats start slowly, it was too little, too late.
In the end it was party time as Adelaide kicked another seven goals to two in the final term.
Chris Scott has ridiculed suggestions his team has been ambushed in the past when opposition teams have started so well against them and, while the Cats may well have known what to expect last night, their inability to prevent the horror show from unfolding in the manner it did was plain to see.
It started when Harry Taylor had a kick smothered by Richard Douglas near the goal line, and Eddie Betts’s handball to Charlie Cameron resulted in the first of his five goals for the night.
A Sam Jacobs tap from a boundary throw in then landed in Betts’s hands again, but this time he snapped on the left boot and signs were ominous.
Nakia Cockatoo, back in for his first game since Round 19, earnt a free kick for a strong tackle on Luke Brown to reduce the margin to five points, but the Cats were under the pump and, when the Crows went forward again, Jacobs took a strong mark 30m out from goal and converted to kick his side’s third.
At that point Adelaide had been inside 50 four times for three goals at the 10-minute mark, and turnovers from Sam Menegola and Mark Blicavs within minutes of each other were indicative of both the home team’s pressure and Geelong’s resultant poor efficiency by foot, and Tom Lynch was the beneficiary as he scored his first major of the evening.
The Crows have been the highest scoring team from intercepts all season and that continued when Scott Selwood’s handpass was cut off by the man on the mark and they rushed forward again, where Lynch kicked his second consecutive goal.
Minutes later Tom Lonergan’s decision to push the ball out of bounds saw Betts with the ball in his hands again and he had his second for the quarter after a superb snap from near the 50m line.
When the siren sounded it was 31 points the difference in Adelaide’s favour and in the space of 30 minutes the Cats knew exactly where they stood in the competition’s pecking order.
If it is true that the actions of men are the best interpreters of their thoughts then what are we to make of Geelong’s performance last night?
Personnel has changed significantly since its last premiership in 2011 but its winloss rate in that time (93 wins, 37 losses and two draws from 132 home-and-away matches) reads like a team that should possess another flag.
The Cats have now played finals for 12 of the past 14 seasons. They have reached four grand finals for three premierships and have fallen in five preliminary finals (including the past two and three of the past five). It has been one of the most successful eras the club has ever seen.
But, much like the Geelong teams of the late 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s failed at the final hurdle, there will undoubtedly be a feeling among this current group that after being good enough to regularly finish in the top four, they have missed their opportunity to taste the ultimate success.
Once again they will be absent from a grand final, and once again, will be left to wonder what might have been.