Geelong capped a sensational season with comfortably the biggest win in AFL grand final history yesterday, a 24.19 (163) to 6.8 (44) thrashing of Port Adelaide at the MCG.
The 119-point win, in front of a crowd of 97,302, dwarfed Hawthorn's 96-point win over Melbourne in 1998 asthe greatest margin in an AFL/VFL premiership decider. It ended a 44-year premiership doubt for the Cats, whose last flag came in 1963, the club suffering through five losing grand finals in between.
The Cats dominated from the outset, outscoring the Power 5.7 to 2.2 in the opening term, before kicking five goals in the first 12 minutes of the second quarter to build a 52-point lead.
Geelong were on top in every aspect of the contest, with their defence - which has been the best in the competition all season - keeping the Power to their lowest score of the year.
The backlines, led by an incredibly dominant performance by Matthew Scarlett at fullback, repeatedly turned defence into attack, rushing the ball forward to give the forwards acres of space.
Half-forwards Paul Chapman and Steve Johnson were both magnificent, kicking four goals each and setting up numerous others, combining hard work with some moments of sheer brilliance.
Chapman's fine day included a sensational high mark over Power captain Warren Tredrea during the third quarter.
Key forwards Cam Mooney (five goals) and Nathan Ablett (three) also performed strongly.
Geelong had a huge spread of midfield contributors.
Power taggers Kane Cornes and Domenic Cassisi performed reasonably well against Cats stars Jimmy Bartel and Gary Ablett respectively.
But it did not hurt Geelong at all, with Joel Corey, James Kelly, Joel Selwood and Cameron Ling all making solid midfield contributions and Brad Ottens and Steven King both performing strongly in the ruck.
