Early in 2018, we at the AFL Record suggested the Carlton-Collingwood rivalry was a thing of the past and that there was no better match-up than Hawthorn and Geelong.
The one-point thriller played out by the Hawks and the Cats only a few days before only further highlighted that.
The rivalry wasn’t born in the aftermath of the upstart win by the Hawks over the Cats in the 2008 Grand Final. That only rekindled it and they have played many high-stakes, white-knuckle games since then.
But as we’ll show you, Hawthorn and Geelong have been at each other’s throats for considerably longer than that.
And it started with two very driven, but very different coaches in the 1960s.
1963 GRAND FINAL Geelong 3.3 7.10 9.13 15.19 (109) Hawthorn 3.6 5.6 8.9 8.12 (60)
The two clubs played an early season draw, but it was after a spiteful 38-point win to the Cats in the final round that coach Bob Davis was moved to say, “Hawthorn is the worst and dirtiest team I have ever seen.”
The Hawks were tough and hard, very much in the image of their coach, John Kennedy snr. The Cats were brash, quick and skilful, in the image of their coach and, in the end, they were just too good.
They beat Hawthorn in the second semi-final by 19 points, then met Kennedy’s men a fortnight later in the Grand Final.
There were just 10 points between the sides at the final change and Davis urged his men to “bury” and “humiliate” the Hawks. That they did to the tune of 49 points, however, the old-timers at Hawthorn never forgot it, and kept it in their memory banks.
1987 ROUND 22 Hawthorn 3.2 6.6 11.9 19.12 (126) Geelong 2.6 6.12 13.15 17.21 (123)
The make-up of the finals was on a knife’s edge entering the final round of the season, but one thing was abundantly clear – a win to the Cats over the Hawks at Kardinia Park and they would make the finals. Geelong’s home ground was packed to the rafters on that mild Saturday afternoon and the Cats were up for the fight in a high-scoring and entertaining match.
But they couldn’t put away the Hawks, who had a bit to play for as well. Top spot and the precious week off were potentially theirs with a win. Two goals in time-on to star spearhead Jason Dunstall was enough for Hawthorn to steal the win by three points. And when news came through that Melbourne had upset Footscray at the Whitten Oval, meaning the Demons were September-bound and the Cats were done for the year, 25,000 Geelong supporters made their way home in stony silence.
1989 ROUND 6 Hawthorn 5.3 9.5 16.9 26.15 (171) Geelong 8.4 17.6 19.10 25.13 (163)
It was a match that typified both clubs at that time. The Cats were reinvented under new coach Malcolm Blight into an attacking, free-scoring machine. As for the Hawks, they were never beaten.
On this sunny day at Princes Park, Geelong jumped out to a 56-point lead late in the second term, playing some breathtaking football in the process.
The mistake the Cats then made was thinking they had the game won, which was the flicker the home team needed.
After half-time, the Hawks slammed on 17 goals playing some clinical football of their own and won an extraordinary game, 26.15 (171) to 25.13 (163).
The key move for Hawthorn was to switch Gary Ayres from the back-pocket to the centre and the “good driver in heavy traffic”, as described by coach Allan Jeans, got the Hawks going.
Hawthorn was in the midst of a stage where it lost just six games in two years, but its fans celebrated this particular win with gusto.
1989 GRAND FINAL
Hawthorn 8.4 12.9 18.13 21.18 (144)
Geelong 2.0 7.2 13.7 21.12 (138)
The script from the game earlier that year was almost reversed. It was Hawthorn, seeking back-to-back flags for the first time in the club’s history, which jumped out to a 40-point lead at quarter-time, having withstood a physical barrage from the Cats, highlighted by Mark Yeates hammering into Hawk hard man Dermott Brereton at the opening bounce.
But as Gary Ablett snr got going and the Hawks started going down for the count, the margin reduced and by the final quarter it was clearly game on as Geelong slowly pegged back their rivals.
In the end, Ablett’s Grand Final record nine goals weren’t enough to get the Cats home and they fell six points short in what is generally regarded as just about the greatest Grand Final played. Hawthorn finished the game with 14 fit players and Geelong not too many more.
2008 GRAND FINAL Hawthorn 5.2 8.3 14.5 18.7 (115) Geelong 5.3 6.12 9.18 11.23 (89)
Geelong was a super team in 2008 and entered the Grand Final having lost just one game for the season. Hawthorn was young and brash, but despite its own great form through the season and the finals, entered the flag decider as a rank $3.05 outsider.
But the Hawks were confident nevertheless, based on an 11-point loss to the Cats in round 17, which left them convinced they could turn the tables in the Grand Final.
Geelong was the better team throughout the first half, but kicked terribly for goal, leaving the door ajar. Sure enough, Hawthorn hit a purple patch in the third term, inspired at first by a brilliant tackle by first-year forward Cyril Rioli on the wing and then a six-minute burst by Stuart Dew in which he kicked two goals and had a hand in two more. T he Cats kicked two late goals in the third term to offer a glimmer of hope, but the Hawks kicked four to two in the final quarter to win by 26 points and register one of the greatest upsets in Grand Final history.
The Hawthorn-Geelong rivalry was already great, but it was just about to go up another level. Or several.
2009 ROUND 17 Geelong 4.2 6.5 10.6 15.9 (99) Hawthorn 3.3 8.7 13.10 14.14 (98)
On the eve of the season, Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett remarked on national TV that the Hawks had the mental edge over Geelong. The Cats held out the Hawks by eight points in the season-opener, but it was the reverse clash later that season that started talk of the ‘Kennett Curse’.
Hawthorn had several chances to close out the game on that cold and grey afternoon at the MCG, but couldn’t seal the deal.
And sure enough, with just seconds remaining, Geelong forced the ball forward into the waiting arms of Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel who marked in the forward pocket as time expired.
With scores level, any score would do and Bartel kicked perhaps the sweetest behind in the Cats’ history.
Geelong had Hawthorn’s measure and would have for quite some time.
2012 ROUND 19 Geelong 9.3 10.5 14.9 18.10 (118) Hawthorn 2.0 7.6 11.8 17.14 (116)
By now Geelong’s winning streak against Hawthorn had stretched to eight games and, not just the Cats but the entire football world – the Hawks aside – was taking joy in Kennett’s hubris. And they were great games – six of them had been decided by nine points or less. This Friday night shaped as a blowout when Geelong jumped to a 45-point lead at the first change.
But Hawthorn chipped away after quarter-time and then in a barnstorming final quarter hit the front with only a few minutes remaining.
But the Cats would always find something against the Hawks when needed and this was no exception. After a snap shot from Clinton Young hit the post with a minute to go, Hawthorn surged forward from a Geelong turnover after the kick-in – only for a mid-air kick from Paul Puopolo from just two metres out somehow missing the goals altogether, which allowed the Cats one last attacking thrust.
With 30 seconds to go, Joel Selwood out-marked Brad Sewell in the midfield and hit Tom Hawkins 50 metres out on the lead. Sure enough, he kicked truly after the final siren and you could hear the roar all the way down the Geelong highway.
2013 PRELIMINARY FINAL Hawthorn 3.5 7.8 10.10 14.18 (102) Geelong 4.0 7.4 124.6 15.7 (97)
Eleven games into the curse and even the most diehard Hawthorn person had given up hope it would ever end. Certainly not with the stakes so high and even more so with Geelong 20 points up with a quarter to go and a Grand Final berth up for grabs.
But unlike the supporters, there was no panic in the Hawks huddle and they systematically reeled the Cats in, point by point and minute by minute. Shaun Burgoyne was moved forward and played a superb final quarter, putting Hawthorn in front with five-and-a-half minutes remaining.
Given what had taken place the over the previous 11 games, there was more than enough time for the Hawks to still blow it, but they somehow held their nerve and held on for a five-point win.
Even then, had a Travis Varcoe snap shot not sailed wide with 30 seconds to go, the game might have gone to extra time.
2016 QUALIFYING FINAL
Geelong 2.3 5.5 10.9 12.13 (85)
Hawthorn 1.2 6.6 10.7 12.11 (83)
By now, fans of both clubs were heartily sick of playing each other in the finals. The neutrals loved it however and, sure enough, the opening Friday night of the 2016 finals delivered another classic. The sides exchanged the lead throughout the night, but after Burgoyne kicked a goal at the eight-minute mark of the final quarter to give the Hawks back the lead, there were no goals for another 14 minutes until Josh Caddy kicked truly to put the Cats back in front.
Geelong then kicked two more behinds, the last with less than 30 seconds to go. From there, Hawthorn swept the ball down the ground to Isaac Smith who marked 40 metres out, almost straight in front. He took his set shot after the final siren, but it missed to the right, sending the jubilant Cats to the preliminary final and putting the Hawks’ hopes of a fourth straight flag in grave doubt.
2018 ROUND 2 Hawthorn 5.3 11.8 14.13 17.16 (118) Geelong 5.1 8.2 12.7 18.9 (117)
Obituaries for the rivalry were written after the first game between them in 2017 when the Cats trounced the Hawks by 86 points.
But they were proved premature when in the return clash in round 17, the 300th game for Hawk champion Luke Hodge, Geelong held on to win by three points after Smith missed again, this time with a more difficult kick on the run just before the final siren.
The build-up to the round two game earlier in 2018 was enormous. It was the first game together for Geelong’s ‘holy trinity’ – Joel Selwood, Patrick Dangerfield and Gary Ablett – and it attracted more than 73,000 to the MCG for the traditional Easter Monday clash. The trio went pretty well, but the Hawks went better. One point better to be precise.
Hawthorn held the edge in a fiery encounter for most of the day.
It had all the spite, brilliance, twists and turns that Hawthorn and Geelong have provided in spades over the years.
The Hawks jumped to a 25-point lead early in the final quarter, but at no stage did they appear safe. And sure enough, when Geelong youngster Brandan Parfitt snapped truly with three minutes left, scores were level.
But Hawthorn won, thanks to a behind with one minute remaining from skipper Jarryd Roughead from almost the same place Bartel kicked the match-winning point nine years earlier.
AND SINCE?
This story was written for round 21, 2018, and in another see-sawing contest, the Hawks prevailed by 11 points, despite Patrick Dangerfield racking up 40 possessions. ‘Danger’ polled three Brownlow votes, Gary Ablett (32 touches) gained two votes and eventual medallist Tom Mitchell was Hawthorn’s best with one vote.
The Cats and Hawks split their 2019 results. Geelong did it comfortably on Easter Monday winning by 23 points thanks to Gary Rohan (four goals) and Ablett but Hawthorn turned the tables in round 18 (24 points) as Liam Shiels celebrated his 200th game in style.