In their last two meetings, the Saints narrowly won that epic round-14 clash last season, and the Cats scraped home in the grand final. These are the recent records of two outstanding and quite evenly matched teams.
When the rain arrived on Friday afternoon and the wet conditions set in, scoring was always going to require as much good luck as good management.
In the damp conditions, goals were likely to come from moments of individual creativity rather than team system.
Geelong is averaging a competition-high 18 inside-50 marks per game, but a slippery ball and a terrific Saints defence, rendered the Cats' normal forward marking strength into a non-event.
As a guide to the future, the match should be largely ignored. The Saints won because their small forwards crumbed a few opportunistic goals and every Geelong forward had a bad night.
One freakish stat said it all: in the second half the Cats had 25 inside-50 entries for a meagre three behinds. Don't expect that forward impotence to happen again anytime soon.
For the next battle, two match-ups were worth noting. Steven Baker again stitched up the dangerous Steve Johnson, as he did in last year's grand final .
Maybe Johnson should start midfield the next time these two teams play each other. Baker has the Geelong star's measure as a forward so a change of position to get Johnson into the action early might be worth a try next time.
The Geelong decision to start their best stopper Cameron Ling on Lenny Hayes instead of Nick Dal Santo was a failure that will not be repeated.
Hayes is one of my favourite players. The determination and will power he displays week after week is awesome.
When Ling is your opponent, this strength of mind becomes severely tested because the Cats' skipper has the concentration and technique to limit everyone he is assigned to.
Hayes overcame Ling by ignoring his presence; a concept that sounds simple but is not so easy in practice. The tagger so often gets in the head of his opponent and the mental pressure forces a move away from normal game style. A temptation not to run to space or the next contest, because the tagger will be on your tail anyway, must be resisted
Given the hindrance of Ling as his assigned opponent, I thought Hayes was magnificent. He kept sprinting from contest to contest, continually testing Ling's speed to keep up. Ten contested possessions, 16 uncontested and seven clearances was a great end result. His game-high 14 tackles, proving a tagger can never stop a player tackling, added up to a rare occasion when Ling's opponent was a clear winner, and Dal Santo was very good as well.
Expect a Geelong rethink next time on how to use Ling defensively and how to maximise Johnson as an attacking weapon against the Baker tag.
