Four thrillers in as many seasons Dees and Cats hard to split

Recent history points towards Friday night’s preliminary final between Melbourne and Geelong being decided with the last kick of the match.

Last month, Demons captain Max Gawn clinched the minor premiership with a kick after the siren to beat the Cats at GMHBA Stadium.

In 2018, the shoe was on the other foot in a couple of ways. In round one of that season, Gawn missed a set shot in the dying seconds which would have secured victory for his side against Geelong.

Later that season, Zach Tuohy converted after the bell to win the game for the Cats against the Dees.

And then last year, Adam Tomlinson missed a last-gasp chance to beat Geelong at the MCG.

The Demons celebrate taking out the minor premiership at Geelong.Credit:AFL Photos

“I’m big on the history of these two clubs,” Gawn said on Monday.

“I’m presuming that it’s going to be something similar.”

The Dees have been stationed inside Perth’s Joondalup Resort for more than a week and Gawn was excited that the end of the stretch was nigh.

“It’s been a long eight days, nine days stuck in this resort. We’ve been able to get to an oval every now and then but the resort life, we’re very enclosed here. People walk in the car park continuously, Goody [coach Simon Goodwin] I think is up to 1000 laps in about nine days. Now the sense of footy is back, and the sense of normality is back in our week, and even though we’re still here up until the game, we’ve got a bit of content in our lives now, we’re focusing on Geelong, and we know who we’re playing,” Gawn said.

“It was really good that we probably forgot about football for a week, and now we can really focus on footy, so it’s making it a little bit easier to be here, but in saying that it’s a beautiful day today and probably doing still a little bit better than what some people are doing back in Melbourne.”

Gawn was optimistic that the extra break would help the Dees against the Cats, who qualified for the final four by beating Greater Western Sydney on Friday night.

“Who know what two weeks’ break can do. We think we’ve mastered it.”

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