Geelong small forward Gryan Miers took extra delight out of becoming a premiership player on Saturday by proving his critics wrong.
Miers backed up his brilliant showing against Brisbane in last week’s preliminary final, to once again be a solid contributor for the Cats during their 81-point grand final rout of Sydney, registering 18 disposals, six marks and five score involvements.
“I did see people say I’ll be playing for ‘Grovey’ [Grovedale in the Geelong league] next year, but I don’t mind if I’m going back to ‘Grovey’ with a premiership medal,” Miers cheekily told The Age.
Cats head coach Chris Scott celebrates with Gryan Miers and Jake Kolodjashnij.Credit:AFL Photos
But Miers also drew satisfaction from the hardship he has had to endure, both on a personal level with injuries, and a team level with his team enduring numerous premiership near-misses in the past decade.
“The hard times of just heartbreak, injuries and getting knocked out and being so close every year, and it’s so good now,” Miers said.
“I haven’t worked out the right word yet, but it is absolutely incredible, [there’s been] so many hard times and hard work and heartbreaking moments, to turn into this, and it’s absolutely amazing.”
With their recent finals record dangling over their heads heading into Saturday’s grand final, which included five losing preliminary finals and a grand final defeat in the previous 10 years, Miers admitted there were some nerves prior to the game.
But the 23-year-old said those jitters were outweighed by positive thoughts.
Gryan Miers in action during the grand final against the Swans.Credit:Eddie Jim
“There’s always nerves, but I’ve always dared to dream, and it’s been like that – four years in the making for me,” Miers said.
“We’ve won finals, we’ve been up in stages – the 2020 granny, the 2019 prelim, we nearly had it, we just had to put together one more quarter, and today we put together four amazing quarters.
“I really backed my trust in my teammates and the coaching staff that we could do it and it’s amazing to get the result.”
Geelong’s first-quarter assault on the Swans, which finished with them opening up the biggest grand final quarter-time lead in 33 years, was the culmination of the Cats’ determination to finally end their 11-year premiership drought.
“We were so confident going in, it was just about getting our game going, and to be able to see that so early, it made it so confident for the game and everyone didn’t shy away from trying to win the game rather than play it safe,” he said.
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