It was Round 22, 1993 and the Cats recorded a memorable 20-point victory against the Eagles at the WACA after trailing at three quarter time.

It all started in the middle with John Barnes putting on a dominant display in the ruck winning 71% of the ruck duels to give his midfielders first use.

They were led superbly by captain Mark Bairstow and Paul Couch who collected 37 and 28 disposals respectively.

It was in attack where the Cats did the most damage with their star key forwards, Gary Ablett Snr and Barry Stoneham combining to kick nine goals.

Stoneham also provided Barnes with some assistance in the ruck and did a superb job pushing up the ground winning 26 disposals and taking eight marks.

Little separated the two sides in the opening half with the Cats leading by five points at quarter time and the Eagles up a solitary point at half time.

West Coast extended their lead to nine points at three quarter time and had all the momentum heading into the final term.

The Cats appeared to have lost Ablett during the third quarter after he collided heavily with a goal post, but Gary made a speedy recovery and lined up at full forward to start the fourth quarter.

Inspired by the words of coach Malcom Blight during the break, the Cats started the quarter with plenty of aggression.

An early forward entry from the Eagles was intercepted by Andrew Bews, who immediately played on and that set the tone for the remainder of the final term.

The ball ended up in the hands of Stoneham who received a free kick on the boundary about 40 metres from goal. Some nice work from Billy Brownless on the goal line ensured the ball went through the big sticks and the Cats cut the margin to three points.

Shortly afterwards Brownless would give Geelong the lead and it started with the skipper on centre wing. Bairstow was brilliant in traffic, evading the opposition and feeding a handball to Crouch, who burst clear of the stoppage and took a bounce before hitting Brownless lace out on the lead.

With nerves of steel, Brownless went back and slotted the goal. And, from that point onwards the Cats never looked back.

The Eagles had a chance to draw level midway through the final term, but Chris Waterman narrowly missed, and the Cats made them pay through Leigh Tudor who kicked a brilliant goal on the run.

With 15 minutes remaining on the clock Peter Matera kicked West Coast’s 13th goal of the game to reduce Geelong’s lead to five points.

At the next centre bounce Barnes fisted the ball 30 metres forward and the Cats were back on the attack.

When the game is on the line you look to your big-name players and there was none bigger than Ablett.

With 11 minutes to go he took a contested mark on 50 and drilled it to extend Geelong’s margin to 11 points.

Ablett kicked another just moments later after Paul Lynch found him on the lead and the Cats looked home.

Stoneham kicked the sealer, turning Eagle Glen Jakovich inside out, before a classy finish on the run from right on 50.

The Cats running out 17.14 (116) to 14.12 (96) victors.

Unfortunately for the Cats the victory wasn’t enough for them to secure a place in finals.

Ablett finished the season with 124 goals from 17 games. A phenomenal average of 7.3 per game.