Like much of eastern Australia, the Geelong summer of 2010-11 was wet and dreary. In fact, the previous six months was the wettest since records had begun in 1871.

The grey skies that had apparently set permanently above Kardinia Park were for many a poetic metaphor for the fortunes of the Geelong Football Club.

But the mood inside the club was different.

Clubs will often say that what is being said outside the walls has as much impact on them as the weather on Mars, but it did matter to this group of players.

In particular the heroes of 2007 and 2009.

Harry Taylor said he couldn’t bear to hear talk that the Cats had slipped; other players have said similar things. That the great Geelong’s obituary had apparently been written would power and propel them forward, and it’s why the Round 8 clash with Collingwood was circled on the draw early.

After all, it was the Magpies who had bounced Geelong out of the finals in 2010 on their way to their first flag in 20 years, and it was Mick Malthouse’s men who would need to be beaten if the Cats were to grace the dais once again on Grand Final day six months from now.  

Geelong, December 2010

The pre-season hadn’t been smooth sailing.

The consensus was the game plan needed tinkering, and the ensuing summer of learning was marked by lots of video, botched drills on the track, and some conflict.

“We knew we had to change some things and you can’t learn that in a couple of weeks," Harry Taylor said. “It takes a lot of work and well, a lot of arguments.”

The club would remain a work in progress throughout the season but after a Round 1 scare against St.Kilda, the club would flex its still substantial muscle, dispatching of Fremantle, Port Adelaide, Sydney, and Hawthorn before rounding out the first stanza with an 11 goal win over the Kangaroos which was the Cats 25th consecutive win at home, a VFL/AFL record.

Up the highway, no one had managed to beat Collingwood either, setting up a mouth-watering top of the table clash with the Magpies.

While some pundits had begun to talk up Geelong’s premiership chances after their Round 5 win over the Hawks, the premiership was still seen largely as Collingwood’s to lose.

It was an unusual position for the once invincible Cats to be in, the hunted had become the hunter.

“We were pretty pumped up because we wanted to really prove ourselves against the best, the same as the other teams had done against us for the previous few years,” midfielder James Kelly said.

Melbourne, May 2011

81,691 people packed the MCG on that windy Friday night to see if Geelong could be the one to knock over a seemingly invincible Magpie outfit who had only lost once in the last 22 games.

The Cats were ferocious at the footy early but for wayward kicking couldn’t get a reward on the scoreboard, kicking 2.9 in the first term, but the game would eventually live up to its own lofty expectation, remaining delicately poised for the next 90 minutes.

In his 100th game, Joel Selwood was best on ground, grabbing 28 valuable touches, including seven clearances and eight inside 50s, but Geelong had winners everywhere when it counted.

Dan Menzel’s outduelling of a peak-of-his-powers Dane Swan on the wing with 11 minutes to go to set up a crucial Steve Johnson goal could be sculpted in bronze, and Joel Corey was an irresistible force in the final quarter, just ripping the ball out of stoppages.

The last five minutes are five of the tensest five minutes you’ll ever see in a home and away match. They’re a lesson in resilience and determination, a lesson in the Geelong way.  

The Cats at times look uncertain, and mistakes were made, but they would almost immediately rectify them.

In the dying minutes, Brad Ottens gave up a free kick to Colingwood ruckman Cameron Wood for a shot at goal. The kick fell short, but who would gather and clear it from the goal square and set up another Geelong forward advance? Ottens.

A Harry Taylor miskick was almost immediately followed up by a crucial spoil on Travis Cloke.

In a perverse way, it appeared at times like each Geelong error was making them stronger.

And when the siren sounded, there was no mistaking what the 3-point win meant.

“It was important,” defender Josh Hunt would say later. 

“After what happened in that prelim, this year everyone was saying that Collingwood was the only team in it and the only way they’ll get beaten is if they beat themselves. 

“We took that personally, so to beat them with our new gameplan was a massive statement.”     

Tomorrow: Greatness Inc. Part 4: The Handover: As Geelong wrestles with who would be the go-to big forward behind James Podsiadly, the final call may not have won the club a flag, but the way it was handled may have. 

Sources: Comeback, The Fall and Rise of Geelong, James Button. Greatness Gullan, Scott, Greatness. Scarlett, Matthew, Hold the Line (My Story. Johnson, Steve (with Adam McNicol), Stevie J: The Cat with the Giant Story. Chapman, Paul (with Jon Anderson), Chappy: Believe it or Not.