GEELONG withstood everything Hawthorn could throw at it to win a hard-fought slog by 11 points at the MCG last night.
As a contest, it was a game worth waiting 17 rounds for. So high was the pressure that the ball was turned over constantly but, 10 minutes in the first term aside, it was an absorbing back-and-forth struggle.
That burst was the only time the Cats got the turbo-charger operating and the four unanswered goals they produced were more than double the final winning margin.
Jimmy Bartel was great for the Cats, as were Corey Enright and Joel Selwood. They were given a good start from the ruck by Brad Ottens.
It was close everywhere, though. The Hawks' Sam Mitchell was not far behind Bartel, his commitment typified as he, Michael Osborne and Ottens all dived headlong for a ground-level ball, leaving the Hawks with a free kick and a groggy Osborne being helped from the ground.
Lance Franklin could have won it for the Hawks, but four goals from nine scoring shots was not a productive return. Andrew Mackie started on him but then Matthew Scarlett took over. "Buddy" still got plenty of the ball, but the Cats' tight defensive unit made sure there was always at least one other there to help Scarlett.
In the end, numbers told — four out of nine for Franklin, many critical contests won by the Geelong defence.
Hawthorn got the first goal of the final term, Mark Williams converting from the forward pocket to give the Hawks the lead for the first time since early in the opening term.
Rick Ladson then missed from 35 metres as the pressure to convert every chance in a tight game started to tell. Now the Cats attacked and after Selwood had received a free kick and 50-metre penalty, he dished a handball to Bartel, who slammed a long goal through from outside 50 metres.
Then Max Rooke, playing on Luke Hodge, found some space and marked inside 50. His goal made the margin 11 points and two rushed behinds pushed the lead beyond two goals.
Geelong still looked vulnerable when Scarlett and Rooke mucked up a clearance from a kick-in, allowing Franklin to swoop for his fourth goal. Campbell Brown had a chance to level the scores, but his shot from 30 metres on an angle went wide and the Cats swept the ball forward for Steve Johnson to mark and goal, and that was it.
After Geelong had enjoyed the better of the first half, the two sides were separated by less than a kick at the final change.
Cyril Rioli ended the quarter with a screamer on the southern wing, then got the benefit of a 50-metre penalty. He chipped the ball to Ladson, who went long towards Franklin, but the siren sounded as three Geelong defenders desperately spoiled the mark.
Earlier, Hawthorn had closed to within three points when Franklin goaled from his third shot in as many minutes. After missing from 40 metres on his non-preferred side and from 30 on his preferred, on the third occasion, he checksided it through from 45 on the non-preferred side. Too easy, or certainly easier than the earlier two.
The momentum of the game had gone Hawthorn's way in the third term. Geelong was down a man, with Paul Chapman off with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.
There wasn't much in it, but all over the ground, the Hawks were keeping their noses in front in the man-to-man contests. Geelong, which had kicked six goals in the first term, now could not buy one. Its only major for the third term came from Enright going forward.
Around the packs, Mitchell was working hard for Hawthorn, as was Brownlow medallist Bartel for the Cats. It was coming down to the sort of match most of us had hoped for — a tough struggle that was anyone's game with a quarter to play.
Geelong led by 17 points at half-time, the end of the second quarter descending to farce as both teams had literally run themselves out. First, Hawk Cameron Stokes turned it over, then Geelong turned it over, then Mitchell kicked straight to Mathew Stokes before the siren ended it all.
Geelong owed its second goal for the quarter to a Hawk error, too, this time a defensive one as Brent Guerra's handball to Xavier Ellis was intercepted by Mathew Stokes, who handballed to Ryan Gamble for a goal.
Gamble deserved one. Moments earlier, he had kicked into the man on the mark from a set shot, the ball wobbling through for a behind.
Earlier in the term, though, his courageous attack on a high ball in a contest in which he was one against two, resulted in it spilling to Bartel for a goal.
Geelong wasted a couple of chances early before the Hawks added two goals to Jarryd Roughead, outmarking Mackie, and Franklin.
The Hawks again closed to within seven points when Franklin found space away from Scarlett and marked for the Hawks' sixth goal. He then slammed another shot into the goal post after a casual kick, like an airy cover-drive that winds up in the hands of a slips fielder instead of over the rope.
Geelong went the length of the ground for Gamble to mark. His first effort was a behind, but he did better just before half-time and the Cats were up at the big break.
Four unanswered goals from midway through the first term had Geelong leading by 25 points, and it took a late Hawthorn goal to Williams to reduce the lead to 19 points at quarter-time.
The Cats had a late change last night. Darren Milburn, who has a virus, was replaced in the selected side by David Johnson.
The contrast between the sides was set early. Hawthorn was running hard from behind the ball and overlapping with the ball carrier; Geelong was soaking up pressure at the back and counter-attacking.
Mackie started on Franklin and won a free kick at their first contest as the Hawk forward man-handled him after the ball had gone out of bounds.
Geelong got the first goal, Stokes taking a handball and running into an open goal after seven minutes of play. Franklin replied almost immediately for the Hawks, converting from a mark on 50. Geelong had already switched Scarlett to him.
After one more apiece, the Cats cut loose, with Chapman, Cameron Mooney, Chapman again and Johnson all scoring before Williams' late response.
In perfect conditions for football, a huge crowd attended the game, which has been for months billed as a grand final preview.
The crowd was the largest to attend a home-and-away game featuring teams other than Collingwood, Essendon and Carlton, and would have been even greater save for a large bank of empty seats in the Melbourne Cricket Club reserve.
GEELONG 6.3 8.10 9.12 12.16 (88)
HAWTHORN 3.2 6.5 9.8 11.11 (77)
GOALS: Geelong: S Johnson 3 P Chapman 2 J Bartel 2 C Mooney M Stokes R Gamble C Enright M Rooke. Hawthorn: L Franklin 4 M Williams 2 C Brown 2 J Roughead 2 C Bateman
BEST: Geelong: Bartel, Selwood, Enright, Ottens, Corey, Kelly. Hawthorn: Mitchell, Bateman, Brown, Murphy, Croad, Ellis.
UMPIRES: S McBurney B Rosebury J Schmitt.
OFFICIAL CROWD: 86,179 at MCG.
VOTES
(Len Johnson)
J Bartel (Geelong)
S Mitchell (Hawthorn)
C Bateman (Hawthorn)
C Brown (Hawthorn)
J Selwood (Geelong)
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