Monday, September 12, 2011

AFL 2011 Finals Series Week 1: Cats Defeat Hawks!

Finally! After 24 rounds of AFL football we have arrived at the finals. It could not have come soon enough. The trash talk is over, it's time to battle it out.

And finally! The Cats have beaten the Hawks in a final. Before this week you would have to go back to 1963 to remember the last time that Geelong had beaten Hawthorn in a final. But technically this was the first time Geelong had beaten Hawthorn in an AFL final, as 1963 was the VFL finals series.

It was good to finally hear the lamentation of the Hawthorn children.

What wasn't as good was the untimely exit of Daniel Menzel. The kid was shaping up to be one of our big improvers for the year and possibly the difference in the finals series. However, that is all impossible now that he has ruptured his ACL and is booked in for a full knee reconstruction.

Luckily Tom Hawkins was there to fill the void. The TomaHawk has really developed as a player in the last few weeks, and is shaping up for a really great 2011 finals series.

And yet again, Mr September - Brad Ottens - has stood up when it counts. Ottens displayed why a dominant ruckman is so important these days as he gave the Geelong onballers first crack at the Sherrin. He also managed to kick a few goals and take a number of contested marks.

There is always a downside to these games and apart from Menzel's knee it would have to be Steve Johnson's game. It was reminiscent of the 2008 Grand Final, also against Hawthorn, in which he racked up numerous possessions, but had little impact on the game. Stick to the forward line Steve, and if you are 60m out and the siren hasn't gone, pass the ball rather than attempting a torpedo.

Now we look forward to a rest and the Preliminary final against Carlton or West Coast.

Go Cats!