+ 50 Sunday Herald Sun, September 30, 2007 heraldsun.com.au + THE MATCH Cat-apulted into FIRST Mark Harding

50 MCG

TO steal a line from George Orwell, all Grand Finals are grand, but some are grander than others. Some are defined by their closeness, others by displays of individual brilliance. This Grand Final will be remembered for its justice — and it was truly grand. Geelong was the stand-out team of this year — perhaps not 119 points better than any other, but vastly superior all the same.

SHS 30-SEP-2007 PAGE Through the final weeks of the home and away season and in the finals, the one thing that gave hope to the other teams was that the Cats might choke, strangled by the bur-

K den of 44 flagless years. There was choking at the ’G all Y right, but not by any of the blue-and-

M white hooped brigade as it dominated a Grand Final the way no C other one has been dominated before. With such a margin, it is almost superfluous to say Geelong didn’t have a bad player. Steve Johnson was a worthy Norm Smith medallist with four goals, including two in the first term when the contest still had life, but this was the ultimate team performance.

FB123 A measure of the depth of talent was that Brownlow medallist and the mate he beat for it, Gary Ablett, were not in their team’s top six best players. They were both good — but others were better. Paul Chapman, whose mix of hardness and skill continually Catch me if you can: Gary Ablett brilliantly gets through a bunch of Port players. Picture: ANDREW BROWNBILL amazes, was a short half-head be- hind Johnson as best-on-ground. But behind these obvious heroes pressure mixed with skill at high Both sides went in with line-ups as Maybe it would have all been Maybe the theatre of Johnson’s res- were an army of fast, skilful runners speed. The Cats kicked long and selected and the opening minutes different had he converted, but urrection and the mercurial nature and hard, loyal soldiers. were not afraid to invest faith in their were typical of many Grand Finals — probably not, although Ebert was of his talents gave him the edge. , , James mates. tough, tight and lots of turnovers. benched and spent an inordinate led the backline, Kelly, , , Port Adelaide could not say the The Power even had the best amount of time there for such an eclipsing poor Justin Westhoff; , , Mathew same and somehow the memory of scoring chances early, but Brett important forward. was an awesome Stokes (with apologies to the rest) coach Mark Williams gripping his tie Ebert was off line with a relatively The first major from Mooney took target up forward with five goals and all had wonderful games. around his neck in mocking triumph straightforward snap and then failed eight minutes, with those who was a mighty ruckman. This team applied relentless in 2004 kept flooding back. to make the distance with a set shot. backed Chapman to kick the first

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