Geelong was left staring down the barrel of an 0-4 start at halftime of Easter Monday’s clash at the MCG against wooden spoon favourites Hawthorn.
But a simply remarkable third quarter saw their season suddenly revived.
Trying to avoid the second team in VFL-AFL history to win the flag and then start the next season winless from four games – the other was Collingwood in 1959 – the Cats kicked 10.5 (65) to the Hawks’ 0.0 (0).
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The 65-point margin in the third quarter was the equal 12th-biggest in VFL-AFL history.
The Cats were +59 disposals, +24 contested possessions, +10 clearances, and +22 inside 50s in the term.
In the first half the Cats looked nowhere close to their 2022 selves against the Hawks, with the rare exception of Jeremy Cameron, who kicked three of the Cats’ four goals and assisted the other.
And as Hawthorn led by nine points at halftime, Fox Footy’s experts were left stunned.
“He (Cameron) is the one shining classy player out on the ground that stands out. If he wasn’t there, this’d be an abominable performance by the Cats,” Hawks legend Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy.
North Melbourne champion David King added: “You’ve got to take 2022 out of your mind and just assess the Cats on what we’ve seen in the first four rounds.
“They’re miles off where they’ve been. Just assessing their game right now – they haven’t got a game. They’re getting smashed everywhere across the ground and that’s been the case for a month now.
“So what is this version of Geelong? They look confused, they look tentative, they’re failing the toughness test.
“If Cameron wasn’t here, they wouldn’t have scored.”
The Hawks clearly won the inside 50 count (30-20), clearances (24-10) and contested possessions (+12) in the opening half.
“Cats are hanging in by a thread, really. They’ve been dominated by the Hawks in this first half. The clearance and contest numbers, the inside 50 count, they are really struggling,” Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy.
“They’re not getting that run from halfback that we’re used to where their half-forwards and their wings would get up, they’d join in, they’d kick it to an open forward line.
“Their small forwards look all at sea, Tyson Stengle, Brad Close and Gryan Miers then aren’t really able to get on the end of it because of the ball movement, and they’re getting beaten around the contest which is where it all starts.”
