By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
IN myths and legends, curses last a lifetime.
In football, streaks always come to an end, although Geelong’s winning streak against Hawthorn feels like a lifetime in AFL terms.
Coach Chris Scott denied the Kennett curse played any psychological part in the team’s mind.
But curses can be broken by a talisman – or the absence of one: Paul Chapman.
The fact that the initiator of the post-2008 grand final loss pact to never lose to Hawthorn again will be missing could be an omen.
Still, the Kennett curse has developed a life of its own, and one that even the players acknowledge, despite their need to focus purely on the game plan.
Scott said as much this week, conceding it was not just another game.
“The supporters love the theatre and we love it as well,” he said.
“We’ve got bigger fish to fry than worrying about history and streaks and all those sorts of things.
“It’s really important in the context of our season and Hawthorn’s as well, probably, so that’s our main focus.
“But we’re not immune to the theatre and atmosphere that will be there on Saturday night.”
Scott will be determined to take any mind games out of the preparation.
“We treat every game in isolation. We think we’re a different team to 2012 and we’re certainly different to 2008 and Hawthorn is as well.
“We play differently and Hawthorn plays differently as well. We think they are an extremely talented side and they’re going to be hard to beat.
“We’ve been slowly improving parts of our game and this is another step we need to take.”
“Good teams don’t respond well for one week, they make permanent changes.”
Scott has been monitoring Hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson’s comments to get a better idea of the Hawks’ game plans.
Clarkson has praised Hawthorns increased flexibility, spread of goal kickers and reduced reliance on forward Lance Franklin.
“The combination of (Jarryd) Roughhead, Franklin, (Jack) Gunston and (David) Hale is a pretty daunting one.
“It’s hard to predict how they’re going to line up at any particular centre bounce, they obviously see that as a strength. It’s going to be a challenge for us to combat.”
Scott said he was planning for Cyril Rrioli to play while “hoping he’s not” and would “put a bit of work into Luke Hodge”.
Geelong’s big man stocks are growing, with Dawson Simpson working his way into the game against Fremantle and Nathan Vardy, Trent West and Josh Walker all flying the flag at VFL level.
“We are fortunate to be in a position where we can choose. We’ve been limited in our options and when Hamish (McIntosh) comes back in a few weeks we’re going to have even more options,” Scott said.
“We’ll make an informed decision on what we need for Hawthorn and the different attributes they bring to the game.”
The selection conundrums extend further than just the talls, however, with Scott admitting it would be hard to leave Billie Smedts out after another impressive VFL performance.
“There are some very good Geelong players playing in our VFL team, so we’d like to think that Billie would force his way into our team at some stage but that’s far from a given this week.”
