Elixuh
See you on the 9th green at 9
The year is 2017. Chris Fagan is taking the Lions through their first preseason. One day he devises a list of hoodoos that the Lions would aim to tick off as they work towards becoming a powerhouse of the competition once again.
And so the Lions set off on their journey slowly ticking off hoodoo after hoodoo. At the start of the 2025 season we had three hoodoos remaining. Beats the Hawks and Tigers at the MCG and Geelong at Pork Barrel Park.
With the Lions beating the Hawks and the Tigers at the MCG, only the Geelong hoodoo remains. The toughest of them all.
Now I can hear you yelling - ‘Elixuh, Elixuh, you’re one of the smartest posters on this website, surely winning a flag is more difficult than beating Geelong at Pork Barrel Park!’. Unfortunately, you are mistaken. Beating Geelong at Pork Barrel Park is the toughest test of them all due to the number of barriers you need to overcome to be successful.
In the past, my sense is that we have focused too much on things which are in our control - contested ball, clearances, limiting intercept marks. No matter what we do, it doesn’t matter the outcome is still a loss.
What I am proposing is that we instead focus on what is outside of our control this week. My plan for this preview is to take you on a journey and to show you what we are up against. If you’ve come to this preview for statistics, analysis or comments like ‘this game will be won in the midfield’, you’ve come to the wrong place. It will then be up to you to think about how we can overcome these hurdles and be successful on Friday night.
Lets get started…
Disclaimer: I haven’t watched a Lions game since our loss to Collingwood. So I have no idea what form we are in or how we are tracking. I am also severely jet lagged and have rushed to put this together so not my best!
The ground - Pork Barrel Park
Pork Barrel Park or Victorian Norwood Oval is a peculiar ground that teams struggle to play. With dimensions more akin to a rugby league field, minus the try lines, the ground really sets up for more direct corridor play.
It is something that I thought might be rectified when Geelong commenced the worlds longest and costliest mini extension to the ground, funded by the tax payer. But alas the advantage of playing on mangled dimensions was too great to spoil.
Will our game stack up on the mangled dimensions of Pork Barrel Park? Will Geelong look to clog up the corridor and prevent us from controlling the ball and hitting that dangerous inboard chip?
The hardest working coach in the league
Chris Scott, the self proclaimed hardest working coach in all of footy, is a highly regarded coach and tactician having guided Geelong to two flags and many finals campaigns since 2011.
Despite working seven jobs to put food on the table and transcend the traditional sponsorship model, Chris always seems to be able to tweak Geelong’s gameplan to suit the opposition week in week out and, I would argue, is the best in the business at taking away an oppositions strengths.
The best we can hope for this week is that Chris has some deadlines to meet at Morris Finance and can’t attend to his usual coaching duties and is unprepared.
Geelong’s list
Built off the back of farmland and moggs creek estates for cents on the dollar, Cotton On fashion lines and Ford Rangers, Geelong has built a formidable list that has allowed it to stay at the pointy end of the ladder for over a decade.
Hard to know where to start this week. Geelong are in excellent form and have a largely healthy list in terms of the players they would want to be rolling out each week. Brisbane on the other hand is in a form slump. Despite this, we have done enough to be in a position to win every game this season except for the Pies who beat us convincingly. However, I fear that if we roll out the same level of application and execution as we have the past few weeks, Geelong will take care of us with relative ease.
With this in mind there isn’t really much analysis needed. We are a hardened group, we know the style of football we want to play. It is all about our mentality and if we turn up with the right intent and effort. If we do, Geelong’s rorts and midfield from Temu will be irrelevant.
The AFL administration and umpires
Geelong people are deeply imbedded in the AFL. They make rules which favour Geelong and their gamestyle. The umpires are also afraid of Geelong and its reach.
2021 was the closest we have come to breaking the Geelong hoodoo. With a few minutes left Bailey laid a beautiful tackle on the steeple jumper right in front of goal. A textbook holding the ball. Not paid. A goal would have put us in front and put this hoodoo to bed. It wasn’t to be.
Final thoughts
So will we break the Hoodoo on Friday night? This is something only the AFL and Steve Hocking can answer at this stage.
However, and I said this above, but I think things are pretty simple for us at the moment. Yes we have lost Joe, yes we have players who are out of form…but…We are an experienced and hardened team, we know the style of football we want to play. 90% of it IMO is mentality, intent and effort at the moment while we are in this slump. The finer mechanics of the game and tactics are largely irrelevant if these non-negotiables don’t exist. We have seen the last few weeks we can still give ourselves a chance to win games even when not executing to our best abilities. So time to go to work and beat these rorting catters.
Prediction
Lions by plenty. Go Lions.
And so the Lions set off on their journey slowly ticking off hoodoo after hoodoo. At the start of the 2025 season we had three hoodoos remaining. Beats the Hawks and Tigers at the MCG and Geelong at Pork Barrel Park.
With the Lions beating the Hawks and the Tigers at the MCG, only the Geelong hoodoo remains. The toughest of them all.
Now I can hear you yelling - ‘Elixuh, Elixuh, you’re one of the smartest posters on this website, surely winning a flag is more difficult than beating Geelong at Pork Barrel Park!’. Unfortunately, you are mistaken. Beating Geelong at Pork Barrel Park is the toughest test of them all due to the number of barriers you need to overcome to be successful.
In the past, my sense is that we have focused too much on things which are in our control - contested ball, clearances, limiting intercept marks. No matter what we do, it doesn’t matter the outcome is still a loss.
What I am proposing is that we instead focus on what is outside of our control this week. My plan for this preview is to take you on a journey and to show you what we are up against. If you’ve come to this preview for statistics, analysis or comments like ‘this game will be won in the midfield’, you’ve come to the wrong place. It will then be up to you to think about how we can overcome these hurdles and be successful on Friday night.
Lets get started…
Disclaimer: I haven’t watched a Lions game since our loss to Collingwood. So I have no idea what form we are in or how we are tracking. I am also severely jet lagged and have rushed to put this together so not my best!
The ground - Pork Barrel Park
Pork Barrel Park or Victorian Norwood Oval is a peculiar ground that teams struggle to play. With dimensions more akin to a rugby league field, minus the try lines, the ground really sets up for more direct corridor play.
It is something that I thought might be rectified when Geelong commenced the worlds longest and costliest mini extension to the ground, funded by the tax payer. But alas the advantage of playing on mangled dimensions was too great to spoil.
Will our game stack up on the mangled dimensions of Pork Barrel Park? Will Geelong look to clog up the corridor and prevent us from controlling the ball and hitting that dangerous inboard chip?
The hardest working coach in the league
Chris Scott, the self proclaimed hardest working coach in all of footy, is a highly regarded coach and tactician having guided Geelong to two flags and many finals campaigns since 2011.
Despite working seven jobs to put food on the table and transcend the traditional sponsorship model, Chris always seems to be able to tweak Geelong’s gameplan to suit the opposition week in week out and, I would argue, is the best in the business at taking away an oppositions strengths.
The best we can hope for this week is that Chris has some deadlines to meet at Morris Finance and can’t attend to his usual coaching duties and is unprepared.
Geelong’s list
Built off the back of farmland and moggs creek estates for cents on the dollar, Cotton On fashion lines and Ford Rangers, Geelong has built a formidable list that has allowed it to stay at the pointy end of the ladder for over a decade.
Hard to know where to start this week. Geelong are in excellent form and have a largely healthy list in terms of the players they would want to be rolling out each week. Brisbane on the other hand is in a form slump. Despite this, we have done enough to be in a position to win every game this season except for the Pies who beat us convincingly. However, I fear that if we roll out the same level of application and execution as we have the past few weeks, Geelong will take care of us with relative ease.
With this in mind there isn’t really much analysis needed. We are a hardened group, we know the style of football we want to play. It is all about our mentality and if we turn up with the right intent and effort. If we do, Geelong’s rorts and midfield from Temu will be irrelevant.
The AFL administration and umpires
Geelong people are deeply imbedded in the AFL. They make rules which favour Geelong and their gamestyle. The umpires are also afraid of Geelong and its reach.
2021 was the closest we have come to breaking the Geelong hoodoo. With a few minutes left Bailey laid a beautiful tackle on the steeple jumper right in front of goal. A textbook holding the ball. Not paid. A goal would have put us in front and put this hoodoo to bed. It wasn’t to be.
Final thoughts
So will we break the Hoodoo on Friday night? This is something only the AFL and Steve Hocking can answer at this stage.
However, and I said this above, but I think things are pretty simple for us at the moment. Yes we have lost Joe, yes we have players who are out of form…but…We are an experienced and hardened team, we know the style of football we want to play. 90% of it IMO is mentality, intent and effort at the moment while we are in this slump. The finer mechanics of the game and tactics are largely irrelevant if these non-negotiables don’t exist. We have seen the last few weeks we can still give ourselves a chance to win games even when not executing to our best abilities. So time to go to work and beat these rorting catters.
Prediction
Lions by plenty. Go Lions.
