GRUDGE MATCH AT CATTERY
PLUS: STEVEN RETURN CLOSE
GEELONG captain Joel Selwood has got his wish for a blockbuster home clash with the AFL to send Hawthorn to GMHBA Stadium on Friday, June 12.
The bumper Round 2 game will follow a massive restart to the season when Collingwood and Richmond face off on Thursday, June 11.
The Kardinia Park match will end a run of 27 consecutive MCG meetings between the Cats and the Hawks.
“To be honest I am hopeful it is,’’ Selwood said early yesterday before the Friday night blockbuster against the club’s arch rival was confirmed.
“It is exciting enough that it’s Round 2 with a big lay-off but if it’s against the Hawks it makes it even more special.”
The AFL’s once-in-a-century crisis will allow it to today deliver footy’s greatest prime time fixture starting with three marquee Round 2 clashes and regular Sunday night football.
News Corp revealed yesterday that the selflessness of four umpires prepared to isolate for 14 days in South Australia has paved the way for a Round 2 Showdown.
The umpires will isolate from late this week after being allowed to train daily ahead of a likely Showdown on Saturday, June 13.
The Round 2 Cats-Hawks clash would replace the traditional fixture at the MCG on the Queen’s Birthday Monday.
Selwood backed calls for all the big clubs to make the trip down the highway this season.
With the 2020 campaign likely to be behind closed doors, key Geelong figures such as chief executive Brian Cook and coach Chris Scott have called for the Cats to be granted genuine home matches at the GMHBA Stadium — regardless of the opponent.
It could mean heavyweights Collingwood and Essendon play matches at Kardinia Park for the first time this century.
Selwood sees no reason the Cats should not be allowed to play all their home games in Geelong.
“Every other club should be allowed to hopefully have home games where they want to, too, in the scenario where it doesn’t look like we’re going to have crowds for a large part of the year,” Selwood told ABC radio.
Selwood also cautioned that fans should not expect too much of players on the back of the eight-week shutdown.
“If we’re to think that in three weeks’ time we’re going to get a product we were getting last year, then we’re going to get a bit angry with where the game is at,” Selwood said.
“But there will be a product out there when we do get back playing that will make people happy enough.”
The first four weeks of the AFL fixture will include regular triple-headers on Sunday with an early game leading straight into a mid-afternoon free-to-air clash and Sunday night game starting after 6pm.
With Thursday and Friday night football weekly, Saturdays will feature an early clash, a strong twilight fixture then two Saturday night games.
The mouth-watering GWSWestern Bulldogs clash is set to be a prime time feature of the Round 4 fixture.
The league’s determination to drip-feed the fixture in fourweek blocks will effectively hand it a floating fixture that can see it hand-pick Thursday and Friday games only weeks ahead.
IT IS EXCITING ENOUGH … BUT IF IT’S AGAINST THE HAWKS IT MAKES IT EVEN MORE SPECIAL.” CATS SKIPPER JOEL SELWOOD