In an era where the Cats were a dominant force in the competition, there was one team in particular that always provided a strong challenge in every contest.     

Geelong and St Kilda played in some memorable and entertaining battles in the early 2000s, including nine games between 2001 and 2011 that were decided by 18 points or less. 

One of those matches came in round seven of the 2005 season, when the Cats charged back from a 13 point three quarter time deficit to snatch victory away from the Saints at Marvel Stadium. 

A key figure that featured for Geelong that day was three time Premiership player, James Kelly who provided insight into the famous rivalry with St Kilda. 

"I remember the overall rivalry with St Kilda pretty well, it was probably around 2004 and 2005 that it started to gain a little bit of steam," Kelly said.

"They were an up and coming side, they were well coached and we were starting to build a bit of confidence in ourselves. We had a lot of players that had known each other and played against each other.

"I had only played 53 games going into this particular match, but most times we faced the Saints it was against guys like Nick Dal Santo, Leigh Montagna, Luke Ball and Nick Riewoldt.

"I remember the feeling of this rivalry building and the media landscape fuelling the fire a bit, but I remember games against them having a level of excitement. They were physically hard to play so it always felt good when we won."

The contest in 2005 was a precursor of what was to come, with 16 players from Geelong's team in that game going on to feature in the drought-breaking 2007 Premiership. 

To that point it was an incredibly young and inexperienced team. Kelly had only featured in 53 games, Gary Ablett Jr had 62 games to his name, while Cameron Ling, Joel Corey, Jimmy Bartel, Paul Chapman and Corey Enright had all played less than 100 matches. 

Geelong made it all the way to a Preliminary Final in 2004, returning to the Finals in 2005 before getting an eye-opening reality check in 2006, which ultimately helped to pave the way for the greatness that followed. 

Kelly touched on the journey that the team embarked on together, learning from their experiences and blossoming into a dominant, all-conquering outfit. 

"I don't want to say when we all got together, because it is probably not true but in hindsight that is when it started to happen," Kelly said. 

"We played some good footy in 2002 and 2003, we all realised that we were able to play this game and play it pretty well. Bomber drove us pretty hard, over the years we kept meeting his challenges as he challenged us to be better players and a better team. We kept doing it little bit by little bit, it wasn't a defining moment.

"Over the journey we did spend a lot of time together, we got closer, we played a lot of footy together so those 16 players would have played nearly every game together in those years.

"I wouldn't say 2006 really helped us, but it was the kick up the backside that we needed. If there was one thing that changed the direction of the group, it might have been the whole 2006 season where we severely underperformed."

ROUND 7 2005 – Geelong v St Kilda @ Marvel Stadium

GOALS: Kingsley 4, Milburn 3, Ottens, Thurley 2, Ablett, Bartel, Chapman, Enright, Kelly, Ling, Playfair 1

DISPOSALS: Milburn 29, Ling 26, Enright 24, Ablett 22, Bartel 18, Byrnes 17

BROWNLOW VOTES: Darren Milburn (3), Joel Corey (2), Luke Ball (1)  

GEELONG STARTING 22 
1. Steven King
2. Tom Harley
3. Jimmy Bartel
6. Brad Ottens
9. James Kelly
11. Joel Corey
14. Cameron Thurley
15. Peter Riccardi
16. Charlie Gardiner
17. Shannon Byrnes
18. Kent Kingsley
21. Cameron Mooney
22. Henry Playfair
28. David Johnson
29. Gary Ablett Jr
30. Matthew Scarlett
33. Max Rooke
35. Paul Chapman
39. Darren Milburn
41. Josh Hunt
44. Corey Enright
45. Cameron Ling