CATS TURN TIDE
20 MOMENTS THAT SHAPED 20 YEARS
In the second part of a new Geelong Advertiser series, chief football writer LACHIE YOUNG continues to look at 20 key moments from the past 20 years that shaped the Cats’ success this century. Today, we remember the 2006-2008 era when the tide turned — and some of the speed bumps the club still hit
WITH the review complete, Geelong set out to carve a new era of success in 2007, but it started in mixed fashion.
Two wins from four games was hardly the ideal beginning (albeit the victories were by 78 and 52 points respectively), but a loss in Round 5 to North Melbourne was definitely not what anyone was expecting.
Following a spray from Mark Thompson after the game, Geelong players including Cam Mooney booted the coaching staff out of the rooms and proceeded to conduct a now-legendary honesty session that lasted more than an hour, paving the way for a stunning turnaround.
“We had a really horrible first half, but we had spent all summer talking about this new way we wanted to play and this new culture we wanted to install and then we served up some real crap,” Mooney said.
“‘Bomber’ was really big on saying to us that in the past we hadn’t as a group respected the game, and it showed again.
“We just thought we would roll up and win because we were at home, and in the first half in particular we were embarrassed.”
The Cats were 33 points down at half-time and ended up losing by 16. Joel Selwood, in his fourth AFL game, had 25 possessions and nine tackles.
“The coach drilled us after the game and he used Joel Selwood as an example, saying to the older guys that we had been shown up by an 18-yearold kid,” Mooney said.
“So that was a kick in the guts for a lot of us, but after that the coaches went out and it was just a players meeting.
“We said we had done all of this work over the pre-season, but we took a big backward step in that game.
“One of the biggest things we had taken from Leading Teams was being completely honest with each other, so as players we were finally giving each other some real honest individual feedback.
“Players were basically pointing the finger at other players saying they thought they were better than they were and it went for more than an hour.
“It was just an unbelievably honest feedback session and we acknowledged as a group we still didn’t respect the game.
“So we brought in little things like focusing on contest by contest, quarter by quarter, game by game, don’t look too far ahead and that narrowed it right down for us as a group.
“That was the catalyst for everything that happened after and from that moment on the club has been a powerhouse.”
Geelong defeated Richmond by 157 points the following week, kickstarting a run of 42 wins from 44 games including the 2007 premiership.