It was top of the conversation in the Geelong rooms after the last night’s 28 point win over the visiting Demons. 

Not the win itself, not Cam Guthrie’s ridiculous first quarter goal from the boundary, and not even the slick retro round kits. It was the crowd. 

The noise, the support, the 19th man. 

It was all the players were talking about.

Zach Tuohy, hosting the club’s regular ‘roaming’ segment post game and speaking to Patrick Dangerfield was still buzzing from the lift the 21,501 fans at GMHBA Stadium gave the group. 

“A few of us noticed, the first thing we were talking about coming in was the crowd,” he said. “That's just about as rowdy as we've heard them.”

Dangerfield agreed. 

“It was wicked. That's why we play, isn't it? It's the one thing that we've missed big time with Covid and it feels like everyone is understanding of it and now it's back through the gates, big games, Thursday night and they had a huge impact. 

“Especially in that last quarter when Melbourne kicked a few and then we wrestled that momentum back and when we hear that roar it makes a huge difference to how we play.”

It was a common theme. Not only was it the loudest the players had heard in a while, but it propelled them and to a man, they were desperate for more. 

“It makes a huge difference,” milestone man Isaac Smith said. “That's seriously the loudest crowd I’ve played in front of in Geelong. It was unbelievable, let's get that every week.” 

“They were awesome,” Joel Selwood said.  “We're obviously missing a stand at the moment but the rest of the ground was full and we could hear every one of them.”