2007, 2009, 2011, 2022 - which flag was most memorable for you

[Cataholic]

They were all special in their own unique way.

But let's just be thankful for how spoiled we've been, that not only have we got to see one (so many others still haven't in their lifetimes), but we have seen another three.

What a football club we're fortunate to support.

True, but then my partner has seen 11

 

[Catman]

True, but then my partner has seen 11

Some people are born lucky!

 

[Cataholic]

Some people are born lucky!

She likes to remind me often

 

[Partridge]

In 09 Josh Hunt was injured and Bomber asked James Kelly - the blue chip dependable midfielder overshadowed by others to play the small defender role. A thankless task as you can be playing well and then a mosquito forward kicks 3 in 5 minutes and you’ve had a s**t game. In the lead up to the GF he was given the role on Stephen Milne. A match up that could decide the match.

Kelly kept him quiet, and goalless. And for that his teammates state he was BOG.

Yep did his knee in the Pre-season Grand final (when we walloped Collingwood) if I remember correctly.

 

[Willo_]

I was so ridiculously pissed for 2007 I probably didn't appreciate it properly haha, then 09/11 to an extent i took for granted as despite growing up in the 90s with all the near misses, at that point we knew we had a gun team capable of doing the business and it just kept happening.

For me personally 2022 is the most memorable... helped that it was the only GF I have been to, but also going into last year I had zero confidence or hope for a flag, the meek ending to 2021 had me thinking we had given our best shot and hadn't gotten there.. even 6-7 weeks in I thought we were no shot for the flag, then it started to turn and click, belief started to grow and I was certain we were playing Premiership football.. but after a billion prelims/years being good but not good enough under Scotty there was a hint of having been there before.. then the day itself was a procession and celebration of the year basically and with the most perfect last quarter send off to our greatest skipper...

For me 22 will be hard to top, ever

 

[rapidfire7]

2022 is by far my favourite and most memorable.

If we hadn't been able to snare that one, we'd be forever mourning the period from 2012 - onwards, much like 1989 - 1997.

Selwood captaining a flag in his last game.

Danger finally winning one.

Doing it with the oldest team in the history of the game and against all odds, when it looked like time had well and truly passed us by.

Just the best.

 

[Partridge]

I was so ridiculously pissed for 2007 I probably didn't appreciate it properly haha, then 09/11 to an extent i took for granted as despite growing up in the 90s with all the near misses, at that point we knew we had a gun team capable of doing the business and it just kept happening.

For me personally 2022 is the most memorable... helped that it was the only GF I have been to, but also going into last year I had zero confidence or hope for a flag, the meek ending to 2021 had me thinking we had given our best shot and hadn't gotten there.. even 6-7 weeks in I thought we were no shot for the flag, then it started to turn and click, belief started to grow and I was certain we were playing Premiership football.. but after a billion prelims/years being good but not good enough under Scotty there was a hint of having been there before.. then the day itself was a procession and celebration of the year basically and with the most perfect last quarter send off to our greatest skipper...

For me 22 will be hard to top, ever

So was I, but 2007 is mine by so far I can't even compare the rest.

2009 was pretty damn good too I have to say, but I can't see 2007 ever being beaten in my estimation. To also win not just one but TWO finals by over 100 points within 3 weeks made it even more astonishing.

 

[Lana]

2007 I didn't appreciate it enough at the time, 2009 I barely had the nerve to watch, 2011 I got to celebrate, 2022 the whole year felt like a dream that I woke up from as if it wasn't real.

Probably re-watched 2011 the most, probably re-watched 2022 more than half a dozen times.

 

[Vdubs]

So was I, but 2007 is mine by so far I can't even compare the rest.

2009 was pretty damn good too I have to say, but I can't see 2007 ever being beaten in my estimation. To also win not just one but TWO finals by over 100 points within 3 weeks made it even more astonishing.

Also the nerve-racking prelim in between- we knew how good we were, half the team AA, just wanted the prelim to be out of the way, no injuries, no reports, but Pies were there to win it, so that GF after that prelim was just so sweet.

 

[Cursed Cat]

2022 is by far my favourite and most memorable.

If we hadn't been able to snare that one, we'd be forever mourning the period from 2012 - onwards, much like 1989 - 1997.

Selwood captaining a flag in his last game.

Danger finally winning one.

Doing it with the oldest team in the history of the game and against all odds, when it looked like time had well and truly passed us by.

Just the best.

Well said.
That one flag justified all the highs and low, low, lows we collectively went through over that period.

I find the flags hard to separate; I love them all so much.

The 2007 and 2022 Flags rewarded long periods of frustration, doubt and patience with emphatic victories.

The 2009 and 2011 Flags were incredibly hard-won. 2009 was unbearably tight all day long and the win went a long way to burying the anguish of 2008. Geelong had some luck, but we also showed tremendous focus. 2009 re-defined Geelong.

There was a period in the 2011 GF where we were in real trouble. Collingwood were all over us. But players stood up and ultimately our mob wanted it more than they did. By the last quarter the team had imposed their will on the Magpies.

For the longest time 2009 was my favourite of the 3 wins. Then 2022 came along. Yet I reckon 2011 has risen in my estimations in recent years - the team just showed amazing resilience and executed clinically on the day.

 

[Gee Class Loco]

Your first is always the one you remember... 2007.
32 years of watching the boys was a long long wait for me.

 

[Vdubs]

Well said.
That one flag justified all the highs and low, low, lows we collectively went through over that period.

I find the flags hard to separate; I love them all so much.

The 2007 and 2022 Flags rewarded long periods of frustration, doubt and patience with emphatic victories.

The 2009 and 2011 Flags were incredibly hard-won. 2009 was unbearably tight all day long and the win went a long way to burying the anguish of 2008. Geelong had some luck, but we also showed tremendous focus. 2009 re-defined Geelong.

There was a period in the 2011 GF where we were in real trouble. Collingwood were all over us. But players stood up and ultimately our mob wanted it more than they did. By the last quarter the team had imposed their will on the Magpies.

For the longest time 2009 was my favourite of the 3 wins. Then 2022 came along. Yet I reckon 2011 has risen in my estimations in recent years - the team just showed amazing resilience and executed clinically on the day.

Also well said, as always.
They really are the analogy to our kids( those of us blessed to have them), and very difficult to favouritise one over another.
I keep enjoying 22 but that is definitely recency.
Your descriptions are spot-on.
I think the competition we had to win 2011 was astounding.
We had to beat the G tenants Hawks and Pies 3x each.
We had to beat WCE in a final- a first for Geelong.
Plus, I was rapt for Varcoe as an individual, as he virtually did what I would have dreamed and hoped he would do.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

'09 - saw the toe poke with my own eyes and basically went into shock

 

[Biggy_Boy]

Also well said, as always.
They really are the analogy to our kids( those of us blessed to have them), and very difficult to favouritise one over another.
I keep enjoying 22 but that is definitely recency.
Your descriptions are spot-on.
I think the competition we had to win 2011 was astounding.
We had to beat the G tenants Hawks and Pies 3x each.
We had to beat WCE in a final- a first for Geelong.
Plus, I was rapt for Varcoe as an individual, as he virtually did what I would have dreamed and hoped he would do.

While it was the last for the group, I have always considered 2011 to be the most complete performance of that group and a glorious swansong for the premiership days of the champions of the era. Great H&A season where we made it clear that, despite finishing lower, we were better than the all-conquering Collingwood team, which at the time was being lavished with praise by the football media.
In the finals we beat Hawthorn and WCE, clubs that had previously delivered tremendous finals pain, and in those finals we made it clear we were a level above them. Then in the grand final itself was a fantastic contest for 3 quarters. In terms of skill and execution under pressure, it was the best grand final of the three with two legitimately champion sides going at it. It was a super heavyweight fight in every sense of the word, and by the 4th quarter we'd been able to outlast them. The 09 GF was closer but also a real slog to get through. So many great highlights to the 2011 game too. I remember Chappy, Selwood and Bartel standing up and delivering under pressure when it looked like the Pies were gaining ascendancy. The emergence of Hawkins, the lazarus performance from Stevie J, the Varcoe opening goals and then the coast to coast late, the tremendous showcase of skills that were Bartel's goals, Ling delivering the final blow in his last game in the hoops.

But I can't really separate them in terms of most memorable. While I think 2011 was the best pure football game, and probably the best opposition we faced, every flag has a story behind it and each is distinct in that respect. 2007 the drought breaker and the record-setting margin; 2009 claiming our place in history after the disappointment of 2008 and overcoming a plethora of challenges during the year including injuries and lapses in form to take out a formidable team to do it; 2022 the surprising and unexpected run from a group that many didn't think capable of doing it, finally seeing players like Dangerfield and Smith turn back the clock to decimate the Swans through the midfield. Sending Selwood out captaining his flag and that goal he kicked, much reminiscent of what Ling had done but more impactful given how much and for how long Selwood had delivered for the club.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Well said.
That one flag justified all the highs and low, low, lows we collectively went through over that period.

I find the flags hard to separate; I love them all so much.

The 2007 and 2022 Flags rewarded long periods of frustration, doubt and patience with emphatic victories.

The 2009 and 2011 Flags were incredibly hard-won. 2009 was unbearably tight all day long and the win went a long way to burying the anguish of 2008. Geelong had some luck, but we also showed tremendous focus. 2009 re-defined Geelong.

There was a period in the 2011 GF where we were in real trouble. Collingwood were all over us. But players stood up and ultimately our mob wanted it more than they did. By the last quarter the team had imposed their will on the Magpies.

For the longest time 2009 was my favourite of the 3 wins. Then 2022 came along. Yet I reckon 2011 has risen in my estimations in recent years - the team just showed amazing resilience and executed clinically on the day.

Im not saying this flippantly - but say in the past 30 years approx - Geelong could quite easily have 8-9 Premiership Cups in the trophy cabinet

I think Carlton between 1968 and 1995 won 8 flags - well Geelong could have quite easily matched that performance in my opinion

1989 was the key for me - i did go to that game - it doesnt look so much on the TV replay - but when Geel got to within 11pts with a full 10 minutes to go - i can remember thinking to myself at that point that Geel will win for sure because they were finishing all over the top of Haw - and i was sitting hff Punt Rd end - the end the Cats were kicking to in the last qtr

In fact you can go back to 80 and 81 - harsh call - but Geel got the wrong West Australian in Brian Peake ( what i was told - he wasnt a flash trainer at all - that was a few years later under Tom Hafey ). But Geel did have Stephen Michael that champion big mobile bloke from South Fremantle on a Form 4 - now if he had of come- you could make a strong case in 80 and 81 for Geel flags . Because in 80 about 4 weeks out from the finals at the MCG Geel cleaned up Rich by about 5 goals - throw Stephen Michael into the mix they would have been hard to beat - because Geel at the time had no key forwards at all

So say Geel got the break through flag in 80 or 81 - the pressure is then off the club - the floodgates might have opened a bit - plus not shunted unfairly to Ade in 97 etc - so who nows what might have happened - not that im now complaining with the 4 flags - but if they had got that break through flag alot earlier - then they could/might have 8 flags now

 

[Partridge]

Im not saying this flippantly - but say in the past 30 years approx - Geelong could quite easily have 8-9 Premiership Cups in the trophy cabinet

I think Carlton between 1968 and 1995 won 8 flags - well Geelong could have quite easily matched that performance in my opinion

1989 was the key for me - i did go to that game - it doesnt look so much on the TV replay - but when Geel got to within 11pts with a full 10 minutes to go - i can remember thinking to myself at that point that Geel will win for sure because they were finishing all over the top of Haw - and i was sitting hff Punt Rd end - the end the Cats were kicking to in the last qtr

In fact you can go back to 80 and 81 - harsh call - but Geel got the wrong West Australian in Brian Peake ( what i was told - he wasnt a flash trainer at all - that was a few years later under Tom Hafey ). But Geel did have Stephen Michael that champion big mobile bloke from South Fremantle on a Form 4 - now if he had of come- you could make a strong case in 80 and 81 for Geel flags . Because in 80 about 4 weeks out from the finals at the MCG Geel cleaned up Rich by about 5 goals - throw Stephen Michael into the mix they would have been hard to beat - because Geel at the time had no key forwards at all

So say Geel got the break through flag in 80 or 81 - the pressure is then off the club - the floodgates might have opened a bit - plus not shunted unfairly to Ade in 97 etc - so who nows what might have happened - not that im now complaining with the 4 flags - but if they had got that break through flag alot earlier - then they could/might have 8 flags now

That's a great post.

I reckon for me the following years I'd include in that list - 1981, 1989, 1992, 2008, and 2013.

Agree about the early 80s, but I do think Richmond were the best team in it. Even with Michael I'm not sure we would have toppled them the form they hit in September. 1981 much closer, especially as we'd beaten Collingwood in the Qualifying Final. So that one I think we were a big shot. 1989 was just inexperience and taking a full quarter to settle, to this day I don't believe we went the man moreso were just overawed and undisciplined. As you said we were steamrollering over them in the last quarter.

1992 I think we really let slip. We'd beaten the Eagles in Perth, and I've posted this many times, the single biggest blunder wasn't Bairstow on Matera (although it was up there); it was Sean Simpson on Matera in the 2nd Semi. He got annihilated (Matera had around 32 kicks from memory) and played him into top form. It's rarely if ever mentioned but that was a massive component.

2008 doesn't need explanation, we still played ok but that second quarter cost us a big lead and possibly the game. 2013 we'd beaten every other top 4 team and couldn't have asked for more than getting a home final. Terrible matchday selections and mismanagement of players just killed us. We handed Fremantle keys to the Grand final that day.

They'd be the main missed opportunities for me.

 

[BotsMaster]

'09 - saw the toe poke with my own eyes and basically went into shock

YFW:

 

[GoldbergsGold]

One of my guilty little pleasures is to snuggle up with a big bucket of buttered popcorn, dim the lights, turn on The 2007 Grand Final and laugh myself silly.

 

[allrighty]

2022 is by far my favourite and most memorable.

If we hadn't been able to snare that one, we'd be forever mourning the period from 2012 - onwards, much like 1989 - 1997.

Selwood captaining a flag in his last game.

Danger finally winning one.

Doing it with the oldest team in the history of the game and against all odds, when it looked like time had well and truly passed us by.

Just the best.

Yes I agree - maybe it's recency bias.

But it is most likely the only one I will watch over and again because we were old, we had some young up and comers untried, and Selwood.

A wonderful win.

And validation of a crazy recruitment strategy - according to everyone else.

And for the joy of the players and support staff.

 

[noclashjumpers]

I've never been more overwhelmed at the footy than I was in the last 5 mins of the 09 GF.

The total euphoric football orgasm at hearing the siren after that tension will stay with me forever.

I've loved all our wins, but honestly, it's not even close.

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

'09 - saw the toe poke with my own eyes and basically went into shock

That would have been heart-stopping. Was was the atmosphere like? According to the wiki

2009 AFL Grand Final - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

...The grand final was played in cold and wet conditions. It had rained heavily the previous night in Melbourne such that the ground was particularly wet around the boundary, and there were also several heavy showers during the game. The highest ambient temperature for the game was only 11.3 °C, the coldest on record for a grand final.

Would anyone have even noticed the cold in that last quarter?

 

[CatToTheFuture]

That would have been heart-stopping. Was was the atmosphere like? According to the wiki


Would anyone have even noticed the cold in that last quarter?

I went in pretty rugged up but the sun was warm. Didn't notice the cold at all. Would have maybe been a different story on the opposite wing.

 

[Max Rooke]

I've never been more overwhelmed at the footy than I was in the last 5 mins of the 09 GF.

The total euphoric football orgasm at hearing the siren after that tension will stay with me forever.

I've loved all our wins, but honestly, it's not even close.

This!

I was lucky to be at 09, 11 & 22.

Watching Tomahawk come from the clouds in '11 was very fun to top off a great 5 years. Especially as the crowd mocked pies fans with drawn out Geeeellloooonngggg in the last quarter.

'22 was amazing to sit back from half time and really soak it in after 10 years of "nearly". Beautiful day for it and massive relief. The Selwood goal at the end was very special.

But the absolute SCENES of '09 were next level. After the heartache of '08, then being down at Qtr time, half time and 3/4 time. Scores level with 5 minutes to go and the TOE POKE > Chapman goal was pandemonium. Then the Harry Taylor contested mark across half back. Cats fans were jumping up and down on seats, drinks flying everywhere, hugging strangers, grown men crying. It was mayhem.

 

[Seeds]

In order:

2007
2011
2009
2022

 

[Seeds]

That would have been heart-stopping. Was was the atmosphere like? According to the wiki


Would anyone have even noticed the cold in that last quarter?

Well no cos the sun came out in the last qtr.

but boy that 2nd qtr was cold.