AFL finals – Grand Final review

In the 2007 AFL Grand Final today, the result was surprising, but not totally unexpected !!!

At the MCG, 97,302 fans saw Geelong, who finished at the top of the ladder, completely crush the 2nd best team, Port Adelaide, to win their first flag in 44 years 🙂

After losing Grand Finals in 1989, 1992, 1994 & 1995, the Cats completely dominated this game from the start, and ran out winners by 119 points, which is a grand Final record !!!

• Geelong           – 5.7 – 11.13 – 18.17 – 24.19
• Port Adelaide – 2.2 –   4.3   –   5.5  –    6.8

As they were the top team by 3 games at the end of the home and away season, tradition always gives that team the best chance to win the Grand Final, however the ease with which they won, or rather the ease with which Port Adelaide gave the game away, was rather surprising. Port Adelaide was the one team that gave Geelong a scare during the year, by ending their record breaking run of 15 wins, but they did not look anything like that same team today 😦

Geelong had runners down the middle of the ground all the time, and at times it looked like Geelong had 5 extra players, and Port were playing with 5 less than normal. The Norm Smith Medal for best player on the day, was won by Geelong’s Steve Johnson, and Gary Ablett Jnr was able to gain the Premiership medal that his famous father never managed to achieve.

Gellong have now achieved the very hard-to-get treble …

1. finish the ladder on top at the end of the season
2. have a player win the Brownlow Medal
3. then win the Grand Final

It was nice to see Port Adelaide coach Mark Willians individually congratulating the Geelong players after the game, a contrast to his arrogant display after their first Grand Final win in 2004.

Congratulations to Geelong, and I am proud to say that Collingwood last week were the only team that really came close to knocking the Cats off (and they had a BIGGER crowd watching) 😆