From www.localfooty.com.au
Reported by Paul Amy
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THE five-year sequence of VFL flags held true for Geelong.
The Cats were premiers in 2002, 2007 and now 2012 after they battled past a game Port Melbourne in Sunday's grand final at Etihad Stadium.
There was little between the teams until the last quarter, when the Cats, despite a rash of misses, booted four goals to one to ease to a 33-point victory and send retiring veteran David Wojcinski out on a premiership high.
He received the biggest cheer of all when called to the dais to receive his medal.
In truth, Geelong should have won by more: it wound up with 24 behinds. But the telling statistic was in the scoring shots: 38 to the Cats and 20 to the Borough.
Port Melbourne was brave - it always is - but it was unable to go with Geelong when it lengthened stride late in the game.
The Port players slumped to the ground after the final siren, crestfallen they were unable to repeat last year's drought-ending premiership and deliver the club its 17th flag.
Coach Gary Ayres shook assistant Peter Keenan's hand, thanked other support staff and slowly walked on the ground for the presentation, looking across to a mass of Cats supporters decked out in blue and white hoops.
Port spearhead Dean Galea had kicked the first goal of the final quarter and his fourth for the day to make the scores level.
But Geelong had the finishing kick, going clear with goals from VFL stalwarts Dom Gleeson and Mark Corrigan.
"I think we broke them in the end," Gleeson said after the match. "You could see their heads drop."
Port had led by two points after a tough, tight and tense first half that contained four lead changes.
The Borough started uncertainly, with Geelong scoring early goals through Jonathon Simpkin and Mitch Brown.
But Adam Bentick settled Port's nerves, kicking accurately from 40m, and it got the next three.
Sam Dwyer, taking his place in the grand final after passing a fitness test on Saturday morning, but roaming no further than the forward pocket due to lingering soreness from his broken leg, converted a tight set shot, as did Heath O'Farrell and Billy Burstin.
At that stage the Borough held a 10-point buffer, but the Cats regained the lead early in the second term. It went back and forth like a shuttlecock.
The pressure was fierce, with all players intent on making their tackles stick. The Borough laid 22 in the first term. Port could take a minor advantage into half time after Galea, playing his 100th senior match, nailed his second goal.
It followed an Adrian Bonaddio poster. Big Bonaddio had taken a free after catching Jackson Sheringham so cold he was blue, a passage that highlighted Port's desire to harry the Cats at every turn. The Borough kept it up in the third quarter, but Geelong, with a fraction more speed around the ground and ruling at the clearances, pulled away late to make it the year of the Cats.
Port Melbourne 4.2 7.6 10.9 11.9 (75) lt Geelong Cats 3.4 6.10 10.15 14.24 (108)
Goals: Port Galea 4 O'Farrell 2 Burstin 2 Dwyer Cain Bentick. Geelong: Kersten 3 Brown 2 Burbury 2 Stephenson Gleeson Byrnes Simpkin Corrigan Stringer Hogan. Best: Port Bentick Valenti O'Farrell Pleming Baird Burstin Geelong: Horlin-Smith Burbury Stephenson Simpson Byrnes Bathie
