Review Defining moments of 2022

[kickazz]

2022 was a great year that ended in the ultimate success.

What where the moments throughout the year that made you take notice and think, "this is different, this just might be our year"?

I was out of the country for our run against the Tigers, Dees and Blues but things really started to look good then.


If I had to pick a moment though, it would have to be the final quarter against Port at the Adelaide Oval. We had just given up a good lead and eight goals in an astonishing third quarter by the Power.

Those goals came largely from dominating centre clearances, in a run reminiscent of our losses to Hawthorn and St Kilda; games we played better than our opponents for longer, only to get smashed in a short period of time.

The Port crowd were at finals like fever pitch that night. It all looked over for us.

But we rallied. We didn't panic or go into our shells. We won.

On the night I figured then that come finals, if the opposition got on a run, and a Pies or Tigers crowd start going nuts, these guys would still give themselves every chance to win, if they were good enough.

I don't know tactically what they learned or if other games saw the team plan finally gel properly, but that 4th quarter at the AO was the key moment in 2022 that made me really think that this team had the mental capacity to mean this year could be different.

 

[Cursed Cat]

Round 15 vs Richmond at the MCG

Coming into the game we were placed 4th on the ladder and only one game ahead of Richmond.

Dion Prestia

3

Dion Prestia

Age

32

Ht

175cm

Wt

84kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

24.1

5star

K

12.7

5star

HB

11.4

5star

M

3.1

3star

T

4.4

5star

CL

4.6

5star

D

21.2

5star

K

10.4

4star

HB

10.8

5star

M

2.4

3star

T

4.2

5star

CL

3.2

4star

D

12.8

4star

K

6.0

3star

HB

6.8

5star

M

3.2

4star

T

3.0

5star

CL

1.4

4star

was in the middle of a hot streak of midfield form, but Tom Stewart picked him off in a physical contest that saw Prestia check out of the game and Stewart miss the next 4 weeks of football.

Stewart, shaken but not stirred (unlike Prestia) rallied to steer Geelong to a season-defining win. We never looked back.

 

[newcs]

Had the ARC not overruled that shot and it was called a goal, Richmond would have won that game.
Geelong would have come up against an MCG tenant at the prelim instead of Brisbane.

 

[allrighty]

Port game for me. I thought until then that we had the skills, this game said we had the nuts

 

[DanA]

When Atkins and Blicavs became full-time midfielders. Once that happened we were basically unstoppable. It was maybe Round 11 against Adelaide I think when the chalked up 17 and 9 tackles respectively.

 

[ZEV]

When Atkins and Blicavs became full-time midfielders. Once that happened we were basically unstoppable. It was maybe Round 11 against Adelaide I think when the chalked up 17 and 9 tackles respectively.

Sorry for the intrusion but that game was ridiculous, you won by seven goals but still had 100 tackles. Adelaide probably still sore.

 

[PhatBoy]

Henry’s mark.

It was very symbolic:
Yes we got plenty out of Danger and Hawkins and Selwood throughout the season and especially at the back end but I liked the symbology of it not coming down to one of the usual suspects to win matches for us. Henry could do it. Atkins had some bursts that won us games. Blicavs did it in a few games. Stewart won us matches. De Koning won us matches. Jezza and Stengle won us matches.

That Henry grab in front of a rabid crowd in a tense game just sort of encapsulated our growing ability to get key moments and performances from virtually everyone

 

[Wojcinski]

• The first game. Belting the everloving shit out of a hyped up Essendon team and Stengle kicking 4 on debut (foreshadowing?)
• The 35 point comeback vs the Pies in Round 3
• Holding off Richmond in round 15, Tommy Stewart with the best individual game of the season, Henry's mark
• Murdering Norf by 115
• Belting Melbourne on our home deck despite them being favourites
• The final quarter vs Port at AO
• Easily dispatching Carlton at the G

 

[patmatcat]

Our midfield working over Melbourne’s

 

[catters_28]

Dees game at KP for me. The whole night had a great feel to it. Team was on song, beat the reigning premiers.

There was still that bit of doubt about "what if it was at the MCG", but still that game showed that the new game style could beat the best.

 

[JohnZ]

Giving hawthorn the 4 pts in a flag year for us. Kept their dirty hands off pick 1.

More seriously, that stretch of games Melbourne-Carlton-Port. Three very loseable games in the middle of the season during a "heavy training load".

Melbourne never fired a shot, and from then went right out of premiership contention.
We made Carlton look like the pretenders they were, and completely deflated their finals tilt.
Port showed up and raked up the pressure. Was the last team to get a significant run of goals on us. We learnt from it and handled it.

From that moment onwards we were on the path and the only thing that stood in our way was ourselves.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Absolutely the 4 hard games without Stewart.
It was during that period I upgraded the membership and just knew this group was different.

 

[Commando]

The Richmond game, specifically Stewart’s bump
On two fronts, firstly we weren’t nice guys think ‘unsociable’ and secondly it made our defence stand up for a tough month and gave us the benefit of Toms return as a luxury

In hindsight the season really did finish as it began...beltings on the MCG 6 months apart!

 

[Hamingja]

I booked my flights for the granny after the Melbourne game.

 

[Lunchlady Doris]

Had the ARC not overruled that shot and it was called a goal, Richmond would have won that game.
Geelong would have come up against an MCG tenant at the prelim instead of Brisbane.

View attachment 1518340

Are you trolling the Tigers lurkers with this one?? Would have LOVED to smash them on the way to the flag.

What a night that would be.

 

[Turbocat]

Perhaps it started with Hocking's appointment...for it seemed when he came back in a few emphasis subtly changed.


The defining moment was probably when Chris Scott

Chris Scott

Age

48

Ht

182cm

Wt

89kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

11.2

4star

HB

5.4

4star

M

5.1

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.4

3star

No current season stats available

D

13.2

4star

K

10.2

4star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

2.8

5star

G

0.4

3star

and perhaps the team of new coaches ...at the decision that we change to be more attacking in style


On the field ...for me it was winning the first final.... very much like the 07 PreFinal...it was the breaker of chains... and it released the dragon.

 

[fpm84]

• Final 15 minutes of Richmond game, to come back from three goals to pinch victory.
• Final quarter of Port game, having been completely outplayed for a quarter with the crowd against us, to fight back and win when they had so much more on the line than us at that point.
• Third quarter v Dogs at KP. They jumped us 26-0 and were trying to hold onto 8th spot. After half time we blew them away with eight goals to nothing and some of the most beautiful football we’ve ever played.
• Final quarter of QF. An absolute arm wrestle and after each of De Goey’s goals, I thought it’d be hard for us. We hit back immediately each time. Rohan’s mark and goal now goes into football folklore as one of the defining moments of a premiership side.

 

[kickazz]

+1 Rohan mark and goal in QF.

Huge

 

[Sticksman]

Seeing the new look Zuthrie with his excellent skills and strong body holding his ground in marking contests and hitting a moving target by hand and foot. From his slightly shakey standing in 2021 he had become a strength in 2022.

 

[4quarter_cat]

Had the ARC not overruled that shot and it was called a goal, Richmond would have won that game.
Geelong would have come up against an MCG tenant at the prelim instead of Brisbane.

View attachment 1518340

It bugs me that people complain about this decision. It was 100% correct, anyone who understands geometry and triangulation can tell you with confidence that it was a behind. (If the ball looks like it is directly above the post from multiple angles at exactly the same time stamp then it definitely would have hit the post)
It is a fine example of how valuable the ARC can be.

But at the end of the day. I am content that the right call was made, the result wasn't effected by this decision, we played the correct team in the Prelim and the rest as they say is history.

 

[No Quarter]

The belief for me really rose in the Richmond and Port games. It was two games where I felt that Geelong had shaken off that ability to crumble under the pressure when the heat was on. Geelong teams of the years prior to 22 would have lost both of those games. Same is probably likely for the Collingwood final.

 

[PhatBoy]

Melbourne game for me.
Don’t care that it was at KP.
We still had some demons, pardon the pun, within us from that horrible prelim final loss and though the dees had dropped a notch or two it was just widely accepted that they would press the button again and leave us and everyone else in their wake.

They came to play that night and a couple of times looked like they could get away from us. We lifted a few cogs and they couldn’t go with us. I started to believe we could win from that point

 

[kittypurry]

I knew we were on when we cleaned out our assistants and brought on new ones.

As I said earlier in the year on this forum, both Richmond and Collingwood did the same thing. For Richmond, it resulted in three flags. For Collingwood, it got them to within a kick of the cup. Often clubs do pick the right senior coach but they stumble when it comes to the assistants. If North had stuck with B Scott and brought in new assistants, that club would be in a very different place than it is now.

Hocking wasn't going to come into the club and f*ck around. He was a man on a mission and it was his idea to get new assistants for Scotty. It's a tried and true strategy that has now resulted in four, almost five, flags for different clubs in recent years. Maybe more seeing as we will push for back to back.

When we smashed Essendon in the first round, I knew this was going to be a special year. It felt like the Saints game in Round 1 of 2011, even though we only just won then.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

+1 Rohan mark and goal in QF.

Huge

Yep - only one game for me - beating Coll in that QF - simply put - that won Geel the Premiership

Gary Rohan had a so so GF - but he was super important in that QF - without him we probably get beat

 

[kickazz]

Yep - only one game for me - beating Coll in that QF - simply put - that won Geel the Premiership

Gary Rohan had a so so GF - but he was super important in that QF - without him we probably get beat

The thing too about the QF is there was always the spectre of "will they perform in finals" to deal with.

And truth be told - we were friggin shaky in that first quarter. We worked our way into the game and Rohan's moment gave him and the team a lot of confidence going forward.