While many say that nothing in sport is 'deserved,' you would be hard-pressed to find someone that has earned the right to play in a Grand Final more than Geelong VFL captain, Dan Capiron. 

It has been an extraordinary career spanning more than a decade and ask any of his teammates or coaches, and Capiron is described as one of the most selfless, humble and genuine characters both on and off the field. 

The remarkable journey started with the Frankston Dolphins in 2015, but his time there was cut short when the club went into voluntary administration, leaving the brilliant defender searching for a way forward. 

But a call from Troy Selwood would change everything, landing Capiron at the Geelong Football Club and setting in motion one of the great careers in the Hoops. 

Now just one game separates Capiron and a first VFL premiership, with the Cats skipper saying it is almost hard to believe that he and the team are this close to the ultimate success. 

"It doesn't feel real at the minute," Capiron said following Sunday's Preliminary Final. 

"The mind will switch back onto the job quickly and we have to get ready for next week.

"It is a different feeling, but we will try to embrace it and enjoy it.

"The boys were so good today, so just proud of them. We have got four more quarters to go."

After joining the Cats' VFL program in 2017, Capiron has gone on to play more than 100 games in the blue and white Hoops, also into his third season as Geelong's VFL captain. 

He has been the anchor in defence for the Cats throughout that span, highly regarded as one of the competition's best interceptors and continually taking on the challenge against some of the game's top forwards. 

But Capiron has also had to persevere through plenty of tough times, with Geelong coming into the 2026 season not having won a VFL Final since 2013 and their last premiership coming the year prior. 

This year, with a brilliant combination of AFL and VFL-listed players, the Cats set about changing that record and pieced together a sensational season, built off the back of a sensational attacking style, but also a sense of composure that has radiated throughout the playing group.

That notion was on display in Geelong's Preliminary Final as they overcame a slow start, with Capiron noting that the whole focus was not to panic under pressure and continue to play their brand of football. 

"Just to be calm, I think it is a common theme throughout this whole club to be honest," Capiron said. 

"We see it with the AFL consistently, a team might get the jump and the whole message is just being calm, and we can work our way back into a game.

"We are the best contested side in the comp, we are one of the better attacking sides as well.

"So it is just about getting back to how we want to play, we know teams are going to throw different things at us, but just got to be calm in the moment and get it back on our terms as quick as we can."

Geelong are now just one win away from a VFL Premiership, as they prepare to take on the Box Hill Hawks in the season decider at IKON Park this Sunday. 

It has been a remarkable season for the Cats, finishing with a 16-2 record and claiming the minor premiership, sitting 10 points clear of Werribee in second position. 

They continued that hot form into the post-season, claiming two big Finals wins over Tasmania and Port Melbourne to progress to the big dance. 

But despite what they have achieved so far this year, Capiron said it all means nothing if they do not get the job done on Sunday afternoon, with Geelong's eyes firmly fixed on the main prize. 

"To be honest, being the minor premiers, a couple of Finals wins, it really means nothing," Capiron admitted. 

"It is the old adage of what is important next, and what is important now?

"It is not too hard for me to shut it out, not too hard for us to shut it out as a team to be honest. We are pretty process driven, even in the last quarter there we were thinking of game state scenarios to potentially improve on.

"It is pretty easy to shut it out if you keep that mindset of what is important now, and what is the process that needs to be taken."