The AFL’s best modern-day rivalry has been left smouldering for a decade. The flames might flicker whenever Geelong and Hawthorn meet. They threaten to take hold each Easter Monday. But the fear and loathing will return in full when the fuel of a preliminary final is poured on the Cats and Hawks clash on Friday night.
Geelong have largely had the better of their old foes since Hawthorn completed their premiership three-peat in 2015. They have won 11 of their 15 meetings since then – and each of the past four. The Cats, admittedly, have that sort of record against most sides during that period, helping them put to bed their reputation for always being the bridesmaid.
Since breaking a 44-year premiership drought in 2007, Geelong have triumphed in another three grand finals and reached two more deciders. They have only missed the finals twice and have appeared in 14 preliminary finals in the past 19 seasons, and become a powerhouse of the competition.
Yet for all that the Cats have achieved, and with the promise of more to come, one club continues to haunt them more than any other. Continues to leave them doubting their place among the heavyweights. Hawthorn have earned their own spot among the elite with 13 premierships in 63 years. Even though they have been on more of a rollercoaster ride than the Cats this century, the Hawks have an uncanny knack of arriving at the right time to knock off the team in blue and white hoops when the stakes rise.
The first sign of the Hawks’ hold over the Cats came in the all-time classic 1989 grand final. Hawthorn were in their seventh consecutive decider, Geelong their first for 26 years. It was little surprise that the more experienced side won on the day, though the ferocious contest and one-goal margin cemented it in memories. For many Cats fans, that return to a grand final stage is a distant memory best forgotten. For younger supporters, it is just a mark in the record books.
It was Geelong and Hawthorn’s next meeting on the last Saturday in September that really set fire to their rivalry. It had taken the Cats another 18 years, and three more grand final defeats, to reach the promised land in 2007 – and they were far from done with one. With a single defeat for the season heading into the 2008 grand final, an imperious Geelong were within reach of completing one of the great campaigns. But the Cats’ wayward kicking for goal, and a defensive masterclass from the Hawks, piled pressure on the favourites and the game ended as a grand final upset for the ages.
With the power of a premiership behind him, Jeff Kennett, Hawthorn’s president at the time, questioned Geelong’s mental resilience. The Cats players made a pact not to lose to the Hawks again and duly won their next 11 clashes, including eight victories by single-figure margins and five by under a goal. The streak started when the Cats held off the fast-finishing Hawks by eight points in a grand final rematch in round one of 2009. The “Kennett Curse” was truly born later that year after the Hawks led by 22 points at the last change. The Cats surged home and Jimmy Bartel marked in the forward pocket with seconds left on the clock, then kicked a crucial behind after the siren to snatch victory by the narrowest of margins.
Geelong booted the last three goals of the game to overrun Hawthorn in the first Easter Monday clash in 2010, and so began a streak of breaking Hawthorn hearts in home and away matches. They saved their most comprehensive victory over their rivals for the only finals encounter in the stretch. A 31-point win in the 2011 qualifying final, which was a critical step on the way to Geelong claiming a third premiership in five seasons. It was no less than the Cats had deserved, even if there would always be one that got away.
But when Hawthorn finally snapped their 11-match losing streak, it became like a recurring nightmare for Geelong. It came in a 2013 preliminary final – the first time the sides had met in a winner-takes-all final since the decider five years earlier. Hawthorn booted the last three goals of the game in the five-point thriller and a few weeks later won the first of their three consecutive premierships.
The rivalry kept simmering as the two sides remained in contention and split a pair of qualifying final meetings in 2014 and 2016. But for all of the Cats’ recent success and an imposing head-to-head record that they have built up against the Hawks, they have not beaten their arch-rivals in a cut-throat final for more than five decades.
Geelong’s determination to use the pain of the 2008 grand final to never lose to Hawthorn again was a noble if unrealistic aim. But it likely helped lay the foundation for their ongoing success, even if the Cats players and their supporters soon learned that no future result can be enough to exact revenge for the past.
