The Geelong Cats yesterday stormed to their 10th Australian Football League (AFL) title with an 81-point demolition of a shell-shocked Sydney Swans in the Grand Final.
After charging to a 43-point lead before halftime, the Cats closed out the 20.13 (133)-8.4 (52) win in front of a heaving crowd of 100,024 people at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to hoist their first premiership cup since 2011.
“They’re hard to win and every side says it, but I think we deserved one,” said emotional Geelong captain Joel Selwood, who won his fourth AFL championship after Grand Final triumphs in 2007, 2009 and 2011. “This has been building for five or six years.”
Photo: AP
The showpiece match of Australian Rules football returned to the MCG for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but the sell-out crowd at the sport’s spiritual home were denied anything like a contest.
The oldest and meanest team in the AFL, Geelong booted seven of the first eight goals in a ferocious start, dismantling a Swans midfield who appeared paralyzed by stage fright.
The Cats then shut down the match with six unanswered goals in the third quarter to trigger early celebrations in their sleepy home base an hour out of Melbourne.
“This is the pinnacle,” Geelong utility Patrick Dangerfield said. “Worth the wait and better than I could have ever imagined, it’s bloody special. We just played such a complete game.”
The Cats’ 16th win in succession capped one of their most dominant seasons, while erasing the heartbreak of their Grand Final thrashing by Richmond two years ago in Brisbane.
Geelong winger Isaac Smith kicked three goals and won the Norm Smith medal as the Grand Final’s best player, but plenty of his teammates had claims to the prize.
The Cats’ small forward Tyson Stengle top scored with four goals, while power forward Tom Hawkins booted three, igniting his team with the first two of the game as he outpointed Swans big man Tom Hickey twice in ruck duels.
More had been expected of the Swans, who came into the match on a nine-game winning streak, but they head home sore and sorry after humiliation on the game’s biggest stage.
“We’ll be back hungrier and better for it next year,” Swans cocaptain Dane Rampe said. “To our red-and-white supporters: Sorry. We failed you today.”
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