Kennett curse

Former Hawthorn club president Jeff Kennett, after whom the winning streak was named.

The Kennett curse was the name given to Australian Football League club Geelong's dominance against rivals Hawthorn in the period between Hawthorn's upset win against Geelong in the 2008 AFL Grand Final[1][2] and Hawthorn's win in the 2013 preliminary finals.[3]

Background

Geelong and Hawthorn contested the 2008 AFL Grand Final.[4] Geelong went into the match as the favourites; they were the defending premiers, and had lost only one match for the entire season;[5] however, Hawthorn prevailed by 26 points to claim its 10th premiership.[6]

Ahead of the teams' first round meeting at the start of the 2009 season, then-Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett publicly questioned Geelong's mental drive to defeat Hawthorn.[7]

What they don't have, I think, is the quality of some of our players; they don't have the psychological drive we have. We've beaten Geelong when it matters.

Additionally, following the upset Grand Final loss, Geelong players made a private pact, which was later made public by Paul Chapman, to never again lose to Hawthorn.[9][10]

Following Kennett's comments, Geelong won the match in Round 1, 2009,[11] and proceeded to defeat Hawthorn in eleven successive matches: a run that included a number of remarkable games. Kennett's demeaning comments in 2009 came to be seen as the initiating event of a curse on Hawthorn, dubbed by fans and media as the "Kennett curse". Kennett himself (who stepped down from the Hawthorn presidency in 2011) said in 2013 that while he was not proud of what he had said, he did not wish he could take it back.[12]

The curse ended when Hawthorn defeated Geelong in the 2013 First Preliminary Final, after Kennett's reign as Hawthorn president had ended, knocking Geelong out of the finals (Hawthorn won the Grand Final the next week to claim the Premiership). None of the eleven intervening matches which Geelong won were "sudden death" as such; the only final among them, the 2011 Second Qualifying Final, allowed the loser a second chance.

Results

Over the period of the curse, the rivalry between the clubs remained strong. All matches were played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, drew at least 63,000 spectators, and although Geelong won all eleven matches, most matches were close and/or involved one team coming from a long way behind. Nine of the eleven matches were decided by ten points or less, with two decided by kicks after the final siren: Round 17, 2009, with a behind to Jimmy Bartel;[13][14] and Round 19, 2012, with a goal to Tom Hawkins.[15] The Cats' 11-match winning streak against the Hawks is the longest by any team following a VFL/AFL Grand Final loss to their opponent.[16]

# Round/Year Winner Score Widest Margin Winning Margin Venue Attendance
1 Round 1, 2009 Geelong 15.21 (111) – 16.7 (103)Geelong by 43 8 Melbourne Cricket Ground 69,593
2 Round 17, 2009 Geelong 15.9 (99) – 14.14 (98) Hawthorn by 28 1 Melbourne Cricket Ground 64,803
3 Round 2, 2010 Geelong 14.16 (100) – 13.13 (91)Hawthorn by 24 9 Melbourne Cricket Ground 68,628
4 Round 15, 2010 Geelong 12.13 (85) – 11.17 (83)Hawthorn by 13 2 Melbourne Cricket Ground 69,220
5 Round 5, 2011 Geelong 17.15 (117) – 15.8 (98)Hawthorn by 26 19 Melbourne Cricket Ground 78,579
6 Round 12, 2011 Geelong 13.10 (88) – 13.5 (83)Geelong by 20 5 Melbourne Cricket Ground 63,476
7 Qualifying Final, 2011 Geelong 14.14 (98) – 9.13 (67)Geelong by 37 31 Melbourne Cricket Ground 73,400
8 Round 2, 2012 Geelong 14.8 (92) – 13.12 (90) Hawthorn by 18 2 Melbourne Cricket Ground 69,231
9 Round 19, 2012 Geelong 18.10 (118) – 17.14 (116)Geelong by 51 2 Melbourne Cricket Ground 65,287
10 Round 1, 2013 Geelong 13.15 (93) – 12.14 (86) Hawthorn by 30 7 Melbourne Cricket Ground 76,300
11 Round 15, 2013 Geelong 11.16 (82) – 10.12 (72)Geelong by 33 10 Melbourne Cricket Ground 85,197

Source: Footy Wire

The winning streak ended as follows:

# Round/Year Winner Score Widest Margin Winning Margin Venue Attendance
12 Preliminary Finals, 2013 Hawthorn 14.18 (102) – 15.7 (97) Geelong by 20 5 Melbourne Cricket Ground 85,569

The curse looked to continue with Geelong leading by 19 points midway through the final quarter, but Hawthorn rallied and kicked three goals and seven behinds to Geelong's solitary point to overrun the Cats by 5 points.[17]

Interestingly, Paul Chapman (who earlier had publicised the Geelong players' pact never to lose to Hawthorn) missed the preliminary final due to suspension.[9] He was then traded to Essendon at the end of the season.

See also

References

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ Only the first ten matches in this streak are detailed, as this article was published the day before Geelong's eleventh consecutive victory over Hawthorn.