As we count down the seconds until 7:30pm Saturday, eagerly waiting for our Cats to take on the Saints and get their 2024 AFL campaign rolling, an air of optimism envelops Geelong as the anticipation of a brand new season looms.
Standing in our way of a Round One victory are 2023 finalist St Kilda Saints.
The Rivalry
With plenty of fierce battles played between the two clubs, most notably the 2009 Grand Final, Round One is set to be no different, with both teams looking to start their season with a win.
In their last five matches with each other, Geelong holds bragging rights with a narrow 3-2 lead, however, that may not bother St Kilda much having won in Round 23 2023, the last time the two teams met.
Holding a win percentage of 86.9% since 2007, beating Cats on their home deck is something that has only happened 17 times in their last 130 matches at GMHBA stadium.
St Kilda have found it especially difficult, having not beaten Geelong in Geelong since June 5th 1999 (Geel 16.12.108 – 18.10.118 Stk). A day in which Gryan Miers was just 67 days old.
In the last 10 years, in one of those statistical quirks, every time Geelong has beaten St Kilda during the Home and Away season, they have gone on to play finals.
The Debutant
26-year-old Shaun Mannagh will make his debut this Saturday as the small forward has impressed many in Geelong’s two preseason matches.
After winning the Best On Ground last year in the VFL Grand Final for Werribee, Mannagh was selected #33 in the 2023 National Draft.
Mannagh will become the first of the 2023 draft class to pull on the Hoops, and he will become the 1113th player in the Geelong Cats men’s history.
The Young Guns
“We’ve got some young players that are really going to move the needle” said Chris Scott during his appearance on AFL 360 this week
“Max Homles is going to become a critical player for us really quickly”.
Holmes, who was enormous against Essendon during the AMII Community series with 29 Disposals, a goal and a game high 645 metres gained in just 65% game time, is poised for a breakout year and clearly has the backing from the Geelong coaching staff.
Managing just the single game since becoming a Cat, where he produced 6 disposals and 5 tackles as the sub, Jyhe Clark is hoping to become a more stable name in the Geelong Cats line up.
With two preseason now under his belt and a good outing against the Bombers in the AAMI Community Series, Clark is eager for midfield minutes and believes a connection with fellow youngster Tanner Bruhn is fast becoming a formidable force.
“Over the course of the game Tanner and I were in the midfield at times” Clarke told geelongcats.com.au following the game against the Bombers
“I think that connection will come, I think it’s already there a little bit, but I think the more we build on it, it’ll just go bigger and bigger”.
As he prepares to run out for just his second game of AFL football, in front of the Geelong faithful, Clark looks set to becoming a headache for opposing teams' midfield.
A Finals Omen?
The importance of a good start to a season is crucial in playing finals… or is it?
A great start to a season for Geelong is exactly that, great.
In the last 10 years when the Cats have won their first game, they have an average finishing position of 3rd on the ladder. If they go on to win the next week and start 2-0, they jump up a spot with an average finishing position of 2nd on the ladder.
But it’s not all over if a Round 1 game is lost. In 2020, a season we made the grand final, and in 2021, a prelim, both season openers were results not in our favour. In both years we finished in the top four.
Both teams will go into Saturday night’s game with form and confidence on their side having won both of their preseason games. And with Fox Sports announcing Geelong with the Fourth easiest fixture and St Kilda with the easiest of teams who played in the 2023 finals, both teams will be looking to start their season with a bang.
Round 1 kicks off 7:30pm at GMHBA stadium, where Geelong will host the Saints in front of what is projected to be 40,000 fans.
