10 moments that shaped Geelong Football Club

[Sttew]

In today's Hun there is an article on the 10 moments that shaped Collingwood. I don't know if there will be a series on all clubs or whether it's just the Hun trying to boost sales in the off-season by being Pie-centric. Anyway it got me thinking. What are the 10 moments that shaped our great club. I'll give it a start:

1. The decision by Charles Brownlow and Geelong FC in the early 1890's to sow the seeds for a breakaway competition from the VFA.
2. Brian Cook - at a time when Geelong was insolvent and rapidly becoming irrelevant along comes the greatest administrator the club has had since.....Charles Brownlow. Today GFC is spoken by many as a modern powerhouse and destination club.
3. The signing of Gary Ablett Senior for 1984 season. Not sure if Bill McMaster or Billy Goggin can take the credit. It turned out that be a stroke of genius. While Senior never played in a Geelong premiership his son did, and Junior would never have ended up at Geelong if Senior had taken a different path.

Over to others

 

[winty]

4. The 2006 review. While Bomber didn't like the process, it's hard to argue with the results.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Bobby talking Polly Farmer into coming to play for Geelong in the 60's.

 

[Spazz Cat]

Cool thread.
While I've been alive

1. Brian Cook, Frank Costa, Bomber Thompson, Gaz Jnr all arriving at around the same time. Things were terrible at first but slowly began to turn around and by about 2003 there was a real sense of excitement and optimism after it felt like there was a big black cloud over KP that would never leave for a while.

2. 1989 season. First season I can remember footy. Gaz Snr was more legend than man. When we made the GF there was this magical excitement around town and at school. Started a great era for the club.

3. 1997 final loss against Adelaide. Was our last chance at a flag and we should of won it. That game was rigged and I believe caused quite a few Cats fans to give up on footy for a while.
Gaz Snr officially retired that year.
End of an era.

4. Leigh Colbert leaving. Everything seemed preety depressing. Ayres had walked out on us. The club which always seemed to be financially sound was actually going broke. The stadium was run down and we looked like we might have to move to Melbourne.
We were getting players from other clubs. Murphy thought we were such a joke he was ringing up he's ex teammates and telling them our game plan.
Buddha's knees couldn't take any more and he had to go.
Dark cloud was at its worst.

 

[cats2rise]

The 01 draft, anyone?

 

[cats2rise]

And more recently the Brad Ottens trade.

 

[Sttew]

Bobby talking Polly Farmer into coming to play for Geelong in the 60's.

And Denis Marshall

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Noel Newman (father of Sam Newman) and Alec Popescu paying the clubs bills in the 70's when it was cash strapped, including paying the players.
The club may not still be here without those two.

 

[Spazz Cat]

Who would of thought after this game how the fortunes of both clubs would change in the coming years.



This game was a bit of a turning point. Was a real low for our club.
But how things change. Was the year the scum got busted for cheating the cap I believe.
We helped wreck their last chance of a flag before they hit an era of pain.
The left princess park soon after that too as their CEO had an interest in Docklands.
Little bit of justice after cheating the cap in 95.

 

[Spazz Cat]

Noel Newman (father of Sam Newman) and Alec Popescu paying the clubs bills in the 70's when it was cash strapped, including paying the players.
The club may not still be here without those two.

That is a good one that has been forgotten.
There's also one around that time that Essendon tried to kick us out of the league and would've succeeded except for North voting to keep us in at the last minute.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

That is a good one that has been forgotten.
There's also one around that time that Essendon tried to kick us out of the league and would've succeeded except for North voting to keep us in at the last minute.

Nope, that was what I thought too but no. Already asked RogersResults about this a couple of years ago.

You need this book: Classic Cats
Click on the above link to order a copy.
The there was more to the withdrawal from the competition than just travel restrictions.
The motion "to include Geelong in the 1944 fixture" was carried at a meeting of the League with one
dissenting vote and the dissenter wasn't Essendon. (Although it is true that at various times, Essendon was one
of the metropolitan teams that complained about having to travel to Geelong for matches.)

The Carlton delegate was the only dissenting vote to the motion that "Geelong be included in the 1944 fixture".
There were also suggestions that Geelong should play 'home' matches at a ground in Melbourne as restrictions on
travel (not the only reason that Geelong withdrew) were as bad or worse than they were in 1942.

 

[BotsMaster]

Signing Chris Scott

 

[DangerIsLove]

5. The leadership group coming together after Round 5 2007 which was against North to address the issues that had happened. Geleong went on unbeaten until the Port Adelaide game and also won the premiership

 

[David the Cat]

Signing Chris Scott

Love it!

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

Brian Peake arriving by helicopter

 

[Spazz Cat]

Nope, that was what I thought too but no. Already asked RogersResults about this a couple of years ago.

Oh fair enough. The main reason I heard about it was actually an interview with Colin Carter.
Guess is a bit of a myth.
Bloody Carlton again.

 

[Whit3y]

Noel Newman (father of Sam Newman) and Alec Popescu paying the clubs bills in the 70's when it was cash strapped, including paying the players.
The club may not still be here without those two.

out of curiosity do you remember if that was early or late 70's?

 

[Art Vandelay_]

out of curiosity do you remember if that was early or late 70's?

I wasn't born so not sure.

 

[Whit3y]

I wasn't born so not sure.

i didn't know we were in such a bad shape in the early 70's, coincidentally by dad's uncle 'vern' was the club president for a few years in the 70's. i hope he wasn't the reason why we were in a bad state

 

[Spazz Cat]

out of curiosity do you remember if that was early or late 70's?

I remember hearing of a story of him bailing the club out in the late 80's/early 90's.
Preety sure that wasn't the only time.

 

[Lana]

The 01 draft, anyone?

The 1999 off-season was just as influential.

Colbert left. Bringing us Mooney and pick 47 which we spent on Enright (plus picks 15 and 17 which we didn't use well)
We traded Mansfield out for pick 31 which we spent on Chapman

We also drafted Joel Corey with pick 8 and Ling with pick 38

That's 5 players who went onto become all Australians and multiple premiership players at the club

 

[Vdubs]

Tom Harley being named as captain. (This may well be related to the 06 review)
This led to our team forming a new culture, a way to deal with off-field issues, and he captained our 07 premiership team to perfection.
He wasn't our best player, but his influence and widespread respect in AFL circles was huge.

 

[Gavin Excell]

The 01 draft, anyone?

1999 and 2001 draft were cornerstones of the flag era

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Id say signing Malcolm Blight as coach in 1989 ( and there are posters on this board who bag him ) but really from that year onwards Geelong have been a consistently strong and successful club

Before his arrival - Geelong were a rabble - a joke - use to consistently tease the supporters - thats all the Cats use to do - the 80s - a couple of strong years in 80/81 - then back to an an inconsistent side - out of the finals for 7 years - plenty of infighting off the field - Presidents being sacked halfway through the year

The 70s they were forgettable - a couple of finals appearances - plenty of " shock" losses

So in the 70s and 80s apart from a few good years here there and along the line - their was 20 years of s**t

1989 was the turning point - and with a bit of luck at the right time - where the cards didnt fall Geelongs way - then the Cats could have 5-6 flags since that point which would be an exceptional effort .

 

[Vdubs]

The 1999 off-season was just as influential.

Colbert left. Bringing us Mooney and pick 47 which we spent on Enright (plus picks 15 and 17 which we didn't use well)
We traded Mansfield out for pick 31 which we spent on Chapman

We also drafted Joel Corey with pick 8 and Ling with pick 38

That's 5 players who went onto become all Australians and multiple premiership players at the club

The post 99 Save The Club meeting on a cool off season Sunday.
Unforgettable for those who attended