It has been 10 years since Geelong’s last premiership victory.

On October 1, 2011, Geelong defeated Collingwood in a spirited Grand Final that was played before a crowd of 99,537 spectators at the MCG.

it was Geelong’s third premiership within a five-year period following success in 2007 and 2009, and it was fitting that the Club’s ninth premiership came against the same team that ended its finals campaign a year earlier.

Within days of Geelong’s 2010 finals exit coach Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson, Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett Jnr and President Frank Costa departed the Club. Signalling a period of change with Chris Scott and Colin Carter elected to lead the Club as Coach and President into the future.

Re-invigorated by the arrival of a new senior coach, the Cats started the 2011 season with 13 consecutive victories, including a thrilling three-point Round 8 win against raging premiership favourite Collingwood.

The two sides would face again in the final round of the home-and-away season with the Cats 96-point victors.

“I just remember this feeling of reinvigoration of the group, when Scotty arrived we were angry and motivated already because we had been beaten so badly in the preliminary final in 2010 and I just remember the pre-season being good and sharp,” captain Cameron Ling said.

“I knew we could all still play, there wasn’t a question of talent, it was around bodies holding up, motivation and moving with the times a little bit.”

Geelong (19-3) finished second to Collingwood (20-2) on the ladder at the end of the season, with the Magpies’ two losses coming at the hands of Geelong.

Written off by many before the season had begun, the Cats entered the 2011 finals campaign determined to make amends for their exit 12 months earlier.

Geelong opened its finals account with a 31-point qualifying final victory against Hawthorn. Then secured a fourth Grand Final appearance in five years with a 48-point win against West Coast.

The preliminary final victory against the Eagles didn’t come without its concerns with mercurial forward Steve Johnson injuring his knee, but this was a team that had become use to being written off and further fuelled a desire to prove its doubters wrong.

When Grand Final day arrived the city of Geelong was abuzz, whilst up the highway at the team hotel in Melbourne Steve Johnson declared he was ready to go and what followed was a pulsating game of football.

The lead changed 10 times before three-quarter time, as neither side were able to maintain their momentum for extended periods.

First it was the Cats who shot out of the blocks with an explosive running goal from Travis Varcoe inside the opening 11 seconds of the game. Four minutes later Varcoe had a second helping the Cats to a 14-0 lead.

Another Travis... Travis Cloke was the man to respond for Collingwood with two goals of his own including a long-range effort from 60. The two sides traded majors to close out an entertaining first term with the Pies holding a slender one-point lead at quarter time.

Within a blink of an eye Collingwood had overturned an early deficit to jump out to a three-goal lead in the second term, which was compounded for Geelong with forward James Podsiadly subbed out and replaced by Mitch Duncan.

The Cats needed a spark, and it was Johnson, Jimmy Bartel and Joel Selwood who stood up both in the middle and on the scoreboard, whilst Ling put the clamps on Dane Swan and Tom Lonergan moved onto Cloke.

The Cats kicked a couple of crucial stoppage time goals to get within three points of Collingwood heading into the main break.

In the third term the game went to new heights and so did Tom Hawkins with key forward stepping up in the absence of Podsiadly kick three goals in term.

The Cats lead by seven points heading into the final term and it began with more aerial dominance from Hawkins.

Varcoe kicked one of the all-time great goals running from one end of the ground to the other, whilst Bartel kicked his third clutch goal of the game to power the Cats to a 38-point victory.

Bartel was awarded the Norm Smith Medal, with Club greats Ling, Darren Milburn and Cameron Mooney retiring after the season, hanging up the boots with seven premiership medals between them.

Ling was one of 12 players in total that featured in all three premiership teams: Jimmy Bartel, Matthew Scarlett, Joel Corey, Joel Selwood, Paul Chapman, Cameron Ling, Steve Johnson, Andrew Mackie, James Kelly, Corey Enright, Brad Ottens, David Wojcinski.

2011 AFL Grand Final

Goals: Johnson 4, Bartel, Hawkins, Varcoe 3, Selwood 2, Duncan, Ling, Stokes

Best: Bartel, Selwood, Hawkins, Ling, Johnson, Chapman, Ottens, Varcoe