A flawless end to an immaculate season. Before Saturday, Geelong were the best team of 2022. Top of the ladder. On a 15-game winning streak. There to be beaten. The mostly likely side to do it were Sydney. But if form really does go out the window in big games, the Swans hurled theirs into oblivion in the grand final, blown away by 81 points by a Cats outfit as magnificent as their opponents were textureless.
This decider, on return to a full house of 100,024 at the MCG after a two-year hiatus, was a famous victory for the ages. The 20.13 (133) to 8.4 (52) result is the equal fifth-biggest grand final win in VFL/AFL history. It was also a belting with shades of Geelong’s 119-point 2007 premiership triumph over Port Adelaide, and one that was all but over after the opening quarter. A 35-point quarter-time lead – the biggest in a grand final for 33 years – set the Swans an almost-insurmountable task. They stemmed the bleeding in the second term but by the third the result was academic.
