KENNETT’S BIG CATTERY CALL

Kennett happy for Hawks to visit Cats

HAWTHORN president Jeff Kennett says Geelong hosting his club at GMHBA Stadium is “long overdue” and believes the Hawks should make the trip down the freeway after crowds are allowed back to games.

Kennett, whose questioning of Geelong’s psychological drive started the famous “Kennett Curse” in 2009, has been a member of the AFL’s war cabinet during the COVID-19 crisis, alongside fellow club bosses Eddie McGuire, Peter Gordon and

Andrew Pridham.

The former Victorian premier will be unable to attend the Round 2 clash between the Cats and the Hawks on Friday, June 12, due to restrictions on staff numbers at matches, but said he welcomed the opportunity for the two clubs to meet in Geelong for the first time since 2006.

“It is long overdue and I am just terribly sorry there are no crowds there,” Kennett said.

“Because presidents and CEOs are not part of the 24 support staff, I won’t be able to attend, let alone the supporters of both clubs, but I hope, as is the tradition of games between the two clubs, that it will be very close, and I expect it to be so.

“I have always said that Hawthorn and Geelong are probably the two clubs most culturally similar and have a great deal in common and have a lot of respect for each other. So I think it is a good thing — it is just a pity we can’t be there in volumes and voices.”

The Cats were granted their wish to play their home matches — which might otherwise have been held outside of Geelong — at GMHBA

Stadium in 2020, with attendance figures becoming redundant due to restrictions on spectators being granted access to games. But Kennett said even when those restrictions are lifted he would like to see the Hawks play more often in Geelong.

“If it is a Geelong home game (at GMHBA Stadium) that is excellent, and if it is a Hawthorn home game I would expect it to be at the MCG,” he said.

“I would also expect the people at Geelong to be very accommodating and allow those who had access to the stands to be 50-50 between Cats supporters and Hawthorn supporters.

“Our supporters should be treated equally, which would make it more interesting and add to the competitiveness.”

Hawthorn defeated the Cats by 52 points when the two sides met in Round 3, 2006, with 24,026 people in attendance.

Since then the two teams have regularly attracted crowds in excess of 70,000 people at the MCG. Last year’s Round 18 crowd of 53,636 was the lowest since 2007.

Despite that, Kennett maintains the rivalry is as strong as ever and remains one of the most respected in the competition.

“I think there is a natural, inbred rivalry there which is wholesome and good and both teams desperately want to add another notch to their belt,” he said. “I don’t think anything has happened to reduce that rivalry and it is respected among the football-loving public and commentators as one of the best rivalries in the competition.

“I think that is good for the clubs and good for the competition, so we are in a good place and I am looking forward to this game.”