By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
AN all Hawthorn-Geelong weekend looms as the respective AFL and VFL teams prepare to meet each other in highly-anticipated clashes.
The Cats’ VFL side meets Hawthorn feeder team Box Hill in a grand final while the Hawks and Geelong play the game many thought would be the AFL grand final this year.
Fremantle put a spanner in the works but football purists are salivating at the prospect of what could be one of the great preliminary finals of all time.
A showdown built on a curse, an 11-win streak and the most enticing of all modern rivalries will play out before more than 90,000 on Friday night.
And the intrigue only intensifies with Hawks pact author Paul Chapman absent, adding incentive to his teammates to keep his dream alive – both the streak and the chance to go out on a grand final high note.
Even coach Chris Scott and key defender Harry Taylor admitted this week they were not immune to the significance of the occasion.
“It’s fantastic for footy,” Scott acknowledged.
“They are special occasions because over the last five or six years they have been games between two teams at the top of the ladder and pretty much at the peak of their powers.
“It’s times like these we consider ourselves so fortunate to be part of a club that’s participating when it really counts.”
Taylor, playing his 16th final in his sixth year at the Cats, said it was a “privilege and honour”.
“To play another preliminary final is something you strive for from pre-season. You have to embrace the challenge – you can’t fear failing.”
With most pundits handing the advantage to Hawthorn, along with favouritism among the bookies, the football world is waiting with baited breath to see whether the “ageing”, “slowing” Cats can defy the odds one more time.
But Hawthorn fans themselves are not guilty of demonstrating the same level of hubris – several times they thought the Geelong post-2008 winning streak was over, only to see victory snatched away again.
“The reality is this week it’s a 50-50 game. Prelim finals tend to be funny games, anything can happen,” Scott said.
“We don’t think we necessarily have an advantage over them but at the same time I think it’s a genuine 50-50.
“Their football has been exceptional at times this year. It’s going to be a challenge for us to take away they style of footy they play.
“I don’t think that Hawthorn would be would be feeling they could be in a better position this time going in and we really feel like we benefited from the weekend’s game.
“The second half of footy was the best footy we’ve played for at least a month and we feel that we’re going in in good shape.”
