Recall a superb season

THE Cats thumped the Blues, sealed a great season by finishing on top of the ladder, and are full of enthusiasm as they head into September.

Geelong fans are up and about and even though there is plenty of disappointment about being forced to play a home final at the MCG on a Friday night, there is a quiet confidence that they can get the job done against the Magpies and earn another coveted Preliminary Final spot.

There is plenty of excitement and should be a groundswell of momentum, but all of that gets put on hold this week as we are forced to endure the seasonending bye.

Adopted by the AFL several years ago in response to some less than transparent team selection from clubs looking to manage their players ahead of the finals, the bye week before finals only serves to suck all of the enthusiasm out of the air after the conclusion of a thrilling home-and-away season.

It seems a shame that fans and players are penalised for the acts of a few rogue clubs in seasons past.

Fortunately for those of us in Geelong, we have three strong local football and netball leagues in finals this weekend and plenty of others around the region and throughout country Victoria that we can rely on to get our footy action.

Geelong boasts some of the best local footballers in the state and fans looking for their footy fix can be assured of some entertaining contests in their local leagues.

We here at the Addy are also taking the chance to relive the Cats’ great season with our ‘Long Way to the Top’ series of lift-outs reviewing every game of Geelong’s ladder-topping year.

Fans will be able to fill the days before the AFL finals start by revisiting all of the highs and lows of the Cats season, featuring the Addy’s extensive archive of photographs, in a series of seven eight-page liftouts over the next two weeks.

It’s not quite as good as the real thing, but it might just help keep the excitement flowing until the boys run on to the MCG on Friday week.