Will Cats Storm home?
The sporting omens that bode well for Geelong
GEELONG and Melbourne Storm are set to bring AFL and NRL trophies back to Victoria if their spooky grand final alignment continues this weekend.
Since the Storm’s entry to the NRL in 1998, Geelong had made four AFL grand finals before 2020, while they each made grand finals together from 2007-09.
The Cats and Storm won in ’07 and ’09 and suffered the heartbreak of defeat in ’08.
What stands out is the Storm went into those victories as the bookies’ favourite, but as underdog in ’08, owing to skipper Cameron Smith being suspended for the grand final.
Despite taking on the minor premiers Penrith Panthers — who have won 17 games in a row going into the grand final — the Storm has favouritism with most bookies.
You could say Richmond is as likely — as the Tigers and Storm won premierships in 2017 — but there are a few more quirky omens that favour the Cats winning the flag on Saturday night.
OTHER SPORTS BATHURST:
Ford might be a long-time sponsor of the Cats, but the club has had an exceptionally poor record in years the “blue oval” has won the great race at Bathurst.
Usually the race around Mt Panorama is held after the grand final, but, of course, this year’s event was held last weekend and the Holden pair of Shane van Gisbergen and Garth Tander took the checkered flag.
And that is great news for Cats fans.
When Geelong has been in the grand final and Holden later won at Bathurst, the Cats have only lost once. The Cats are only two from six when Ford has won.
Holden won in ’09 and ’11, with the only corresponding loss in 1995.
And one of the drivers who won in ’09 and ’11 was … Garth Tander.
NFL: If you are a US sports nut, you will love this one.
For those not across the set-up of the NFL, the basic explanation is there are so many teams they are split into conferences — the AFC and NFC.
The Superbowl champs are, of course, the Kansas City Chiefs, and they are in the AFC. That is great news for Geelong, because every time they have made a grand final in the same year the Vince
Lombardi Trophy (awarded to the Superbowl winner) has gone to an AFC franchise, the Cats have never lost.
All the losses between 1967 and 1995 coincided with teams from the NFC winning.
POLITICS IT
seems Geelong responds well to political chaos between federal and state governments.
On the nine occasions that opposing parties have held power between federal and Victorian governments and the Cats have made a grand final, they have a handy 6-3 win-loss record.
WHEN Australia has had Liberal/Coalition leadership and Victoria a non-Liberal Premier, the Cats have won five times and lost only once.
Turning to US politics, the Cats have never lost when both the president is a Republican and Australia has had a Coalition government, as we do now.
WEATHER CATS
and heat generally do not go together on grand final day.
Of the seven grand finals Geelong has contested when the maximum temperature exceeded 20C — which is expected for Brisbane even on Saturday night — it has only won twice.
But the hottest of those, when the temperature reached 24.5C, coincided with the Cats’ glorious 1963 premiership, and the fourth hottest (22.3) was the 1937 win.
It was 24C on the day
Geelong went down to Hawthorn in 2008.
RICHMOND has won three of five grand finals when the temperature exceeded 20C, including a win in the 1944, decider when it was a sizzling 29.7C.
The average maximum temperature on grand final day for the Cats’ nine flags since 1925 is 17.9C, while the respective figure for lost deciders is 19.9C.
This has also been a particularly wet year for Geelong, with 485mm falling for the city so far in 2020.
The statistics say the Cats have about a 60 per cent chance of winning in years the year-to-date rainfall total to the end of September is greater than 400mm.