Geelong Cats

How does a club based in a regional city, 75 kilometres from Melbourne’s football heartland, establish and sustain one of the most successful programs in the history of Australian rules football? The Geelong Football Club, known as the Cats, has been answering that question since 1859, making it the second oldest football club in the world and a cornerstone of the AFL since the competition’s inception. With 10 VFL/AFL premierships and one of the most sustained periods of excellence in the modern era, the Cats have built a tradition whose structural foundations, from list management to coaching to community engagement, deserve study by every organisation aspiring to sustained competitive success.

Club History

The Geelong Football Club was established in 1859, making it one of the founding pillars of Australian rules football alongside the Melbourne Football Club. The club joined the Victorian Football League as a founding member in 1897, carrying with it a rich competitive history forged in the crucible of nineteenth-century Victorian football.

Geelong’s early decades in the VFL were marked by the oscillation between success and frustration that characterises so many sporting institutions, yet the Cats demonstrated from the outset a capacity to produce exceptional teams when the conditions were right. Their first VFL premiership in 1925, followed by flags in 1931 and 1937, established them as a competitive force in the interwar period, while back-to-back premierships in 1951 and 1952 confirmed that the club’s competitive culture could transcend generational change.

A long premiership drought followed, with the 1963 flag being the last for 44 years, a stretch that tested the patience and resolve of the Geelong community. During this period, the Cats produced numerous champion players, including Gary Ablett Sr., whose extraordinary individual brilliance illuminated the competition during the 1980s and 1990s. The paradox of Ablett’s genius and the club’s inability to claim the ultimate prize during those years speaks to the fundamental truth that individual talent, however transcendent, requires structural support to translate into team success.

The modern era has been transformative. Under Mark Thompson’s coaching, Geelong assembled one of the greatest teams in VFL/AFL history, winning the 2007 premiership by 119 points in what remains the most dominant grand final performance ever witnessed. The 2009 flag followed under Thompson, before Chris Scott assumed the coaching role and delivered a third premiership in five years in 2011, maintaining the standard of excellence with a different tactical approach.

Scott’s tenure has been one of the most remarkable in AFL history, defined by tactical flexibility and an ability to reinvent his team’s style across multiple eras. His coaching of the 2022 premiership team, which saw Geelong demolish Sydney in the grand final by 81 points, cemented his legacy and delivered the Cats’ 10th VFL/AFL flag. With more than 200 victories and a winning percentage exceeding 70 per cent, Scott has coached the most wins of any current coach.

Recent Form

Geelong’s recent seasons have presented the club with the perennial challenge of transitioning from a premiership team to the next competitive generation, a process that has historically distinguished the Cats from most rival organisations. The retirement of legendary players such as Tom Hawkins and Joel Selwood created significant gaps, yet the Cats’ renowned ability to develop talent and make astute list management decisions, perhaps the single most important institutional advantage any AFL club can possess, has kept them competitive. Chris Scott’s contract extension through 2029 signals institutional stability, while the recruitment of Nathan Buckley as an assistant coach for 2026 adds further tactical experience to an already formidable coaching panel. The Cats remain a force to be respected, building toward their next premiership tilt with the methodical intelligence that has defined their approach for two decades.

Key Players

Patrick Dangerfield (Midfielder) - The 2016 Brownlow Medallist and former club captain remains one of the most dynamic midfielders in the competition despite being in the latter stages of his career. Dangerfield’s unique combination of power, speed, and skill makes him a force that opposition game plans must still account for, and his tactical intelligence ensures that his influence endures even as his physical capacities evolve.

Jeremy Cameron (Key Forward) - Structurally speaking, Cameron is the centrepiece of Geelong’s entire attacking strategy. His marking ability, goal-kicking accuracy, and capacity to create opportunities for teammates make him one of the premier key forwards in the AFL. His performance in the 2022 grand final, where he kicked five goals, demonstrated the kind of big-game temperament that defines truly elite forwards.

Tom Stewart (Defender) - An elite intercept defender whose reading of the play and clean disposal from half-back provide Geelong with a reliable platform for defensive rebound. Stewart’s multiple All-Australian selections confirm his status as one of the best defenders in the competition, a player whose positional intelligence creates turnovers from seemingly settled opposition forward entries.

Max Holmes (Midfielder/Wingman) - A supremely talented ball carrier whose speed, endurance, and elite kicking ability have made him one of the most exciting young players in the AFL. Holmes’ capacity to cover the ground and deliver the ball with precision at full pace is a key tactical weapon in Geelong’s game plan, providing the link between midfield contest and forward delivery.

Bailey Smith (Midfielder) - The talented midfielder who arrived from the Western Bulldogs has added another dynamic element to Geelong’s midfield composition. Smith’s contested ball-winning ability and explosive pace make him a significant acquisition whose integration into the Cats’ system could prove decisive in their premiership aspirations.

Home Ground

Geelong plays its home matches at GMHBA Stadium, formerly known as Kardinia Park, located in the heart of the city of Geelong. With a capacity of 40,000, it is the largest stadium in a regional city in Australia and the third-largest in Victoria, and its tactical significance to the Cats’ competitive advantage is well documented.

GMHBA Stadium provides Geelong with a home-ground advantage that is widely acknowledged as one of the most significant in the AFL, a factor that shapes the entire competitive equation of the home-and-away season. The passionate Geelong supporters create a wall of navy blue and white that generates an atmosphere visiting teams find genuinely intimidating, and the Cats’ record at their home fortress is among the most formidable in the competition. Significant redevelopment in recent years has expanded capacity and modernised facilities, ensuring the venue remains a world-class destination for AFL football.

The stadium’s location in Geelong, overlooking the Barwon River and the city’s industrial heritage, gives it a unique character that distinguishes it from the Melbourne-based venues. For visiting teams, the trip down the Princes Freeway represents one of the most daunting away assignments in the AFL, a journey whose psychological weight is as significant as its geographical distance.

Honours

Geelong’s 10 VFL/AFL premierships represent a proud history of sustained success:

• 1925 - First VFL premiership
• 1931 - Second flag
• 1937 - Pre-war triumph
• 1951 - Post-war era begins
• 1952 - Back-to-back flags
• 1963 - Start of a long drought
• 2007 - Ended 44-year drought with a 119-point grand final win
• 2009 - Second flag in three years under Mark Thompson
• 2011 - Chris Scott’s first premiership as coach
• 2022 - 81-point grand final demolition of Sydney

The period from 2007 to 2022, during which Geelong won four premierships, featured some of the greatest teams and players in VFL/AFL history and constitutes one of the most sustained periods of excellence any Australian sporting organisation has produced. The 2007 grand final victory by 119 points remains the largest winning margin in a VFL/AFL grand final and stands as a testament to the extraordinary tactical and physical quality of that Geelong team. Chris Scott’s record of two premierships and a winning percentage above 70 per cent makes him one of the most successful coaches in the history of the game, a distinction earned through tactical adaptability and an institutional understanding that premiership contention is a year-round endeavour.

AK — Senior tactical analyst, australiafootball.com