A St Joseph’s victory against St Mary’s in tomorrow’s (September 26) Geelong Football League grand final would make captain Alex Hickey the only four-time premiership player in club history.
Hickey will also play his 150th game in the grand final at GMHBA Stadium, as will brother James, but milestones and accolades are well down on his list of priorities at the moment.
“I’m probably more driven by making sure the guys that haven’t done it get to taste what it’s like,” he said.
“Because I feel like once you get that taste – people say, ‘oh, you’ve won a few, surely you’re satisfied’ – I feel like you get hungrier and that thirst to win more, it becomes a bit of an obsession.
“I just want the guys that haven’t done it to experience what it’s like, so they can have that bond that I’ve got to have with my mates in the previous era.”
It was during a car trip out to Colac that the Hickeys realised they were closing in on 150 games.
“It’s an interesting game to play a milestone in because it probably couldn’t be less thought of to be honest,” Hickey said.
“It’s probably something that we’ll reflect on later.”
Joeys go into the clash as favourites and have the chance to make some amends from last year’s straight sets exit after an unbeaten home and away season.
“We’re blessed with having such a young group, and I think it was a really big lesson on what finals footy is compared to the home and away season,” Hickey said.
“And we said after that (2024 preliminary final) defeat, that we wanted to take something away from that, and I guess we’re ready to make amends.”
St Joseph’s has six players who have kicked 19 goals or more this season – Oscar Morrison (42), Hunter Lewis (38), Paddy De Grandi (36), Mitch Chafer (29), Jack Mullen (22) and Felix Henderson (19).
“I think that’s one of our strengths and I think that’s probably where we’ve added from years gone, the last year in particular, is just where our goals are coming from, our avenues to goal,” Hickey said.
“We’ve got a very dangerous forward line and it is a luxury to be bringing the ball down the field and have particularly three big targets that, if you’re stuck, you stick the ball in the air and they’re going to give you a contest.
“And then the ball hitting the ground, we’ve got such good crafty smalls so (it is) definitely an area we have taken a big step forward and not just our attacking, but the way they defend, too.”
St Mary’s finished the home and away season in fourth spot, albeit by a tiny amount of percentage, and enters the grand final on a five-game winning streak.
“We’ve obviously come from other ends of the spectrum, it feels, and we’ve played four elimination finals in a row,” co-captain Brayden Ham said.
“We’re bloody stoked with how we’ve gone this season. So, a little bit of a free hit on Friday and I feel like it’s a 50/50 battle.”
St Mary’s wasn’t expected to even get this far after an exodus of senior players during the off-season.
“We’ve got a vibrant group and we’ve just loved coming into training and I feel like we’ve just been working hard at it and we don’t really want the season to end,” Ham said.
“It always helps having the group around you as we do.”
Ham, who played 45 games with Essendon, said it would be a welcome change to get to GMHBA Stadium after playing the finals series at a windswept West Oval.
“I’ve managed to play a few games there (and) I’m very excited to get back there,” he said.
“I’m kind of sick of the hard decks out in the GFL. My calves don’t have too much left, but one game over there, I’ll be stoked to get over there for sure.”
Ham said the venue would point towards a more-open style of play.
“It’s going to be a little bit on the outside,” he said.
“Obviously most finals are won in the contest, but I feel like you can get exposed a little bit out on that big deck. So I’m hoping we can match them inside and then break away with our pace and some of our runners on the outside a little bit, comparative to what most other finals are won by. I feel like that’s what we’ll get them hopefully.
“They’ve (Joeys) got some really good key position players as well so it’ll be hard to match the two of them.
“We’ve got a good spine, they’ve got a good spine, so whoever gets on top in that probably wins the game.”
GRAND FINALS
Friday September 26, GMHBA Stadium
Seniors: St Joseph’s vs St Mary’s, 2.10pm
Reserves: Newtown & Chilwell vs St Mary’s, 11.30am
Under 18 Division 1: South Barwon vs Ocean Grove, 9.15am
