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GEELONG'S rise to AFL dominance in 2007 and the magnificent period that followed was largely due to brilliant planning and execution across all levels of the football club.

But there was an added factor that helped propel Geelong to eight consecutive finals appearances and three premierships.

Fortress Geelong. Kardinia Park, or in deference to the sponsor of the moment, Simonds Stadium.

Before Sunday's 44-point loss to Fremantle, the Cats had won 46 of their last 50 matches at their true home ground. Of those four losses, the largest before Sunday was by 16 points to North Melbourne in 2007.

The combination of the best playing list in the competition and the genuine advantage that comes from playing up to eight games a year at the ground at which they train, made the Cattery almost impregnable for just about every side making the trip down the freeway.

It also helped that the Cats played most of the other powerful Victorian clubs such as Hawthorn and Collingwood at the MCG, leaving a steady diet of interstate and weaker Victorian clubs just waiting to be feasted upon by the ravenous Cats.

But the home ground lustre might be weakening for Geelong. The Cats are a team in transition. Bottom of the ladder, they are 0-2 for the first time since 2004, and their draw at home is their toughest for years. Their remaining home games are Gold Coast, North Melbourne, Melbourne, the Western Bulldogs, the Brisbane Lions, Sydney Swans, Western Bulldogs, and Adelaide.

At this stage, only the Suns, the Demons and perhaps the Lions shape as reasonably likely wins. Some are even money, while against the Swans and perhaps the Crows, they might even start as the outsiders. The AFL heeded the Cats' request to be given nine home games this year, but they would want to win seven or eight of those remaining in order to build the platform for their ninth straight year in the finals.

So, so sweet for Essendon

This was a win for Essendon to savour, for so many reasons. And deserved too, because they got off to a flier and made the Hawks play catch-up footy.

But if there is one Bomber who deserved to enjoy this win more than any, it is Cale Hooker.

For five years Hooker has had to endure replay after replay of that freakish Lance Franklin running goal from 2010. There was no absence of valour or endeavour for Hooker on that night - Buddy just did what Buddy did. He is the Graeme Jenkin (the Collingwood player whose back Alex Jesaulenko stood on in the 1970 Grand Final) of our time.

So of all the Essendon players to snap the winning goal against Hawthorn in the last minute of what was a torrid, perhaps not a classic encounter, it so deserved to be Hooker.

No doubt, TV producers will keep reaching for the Franklin highlight video from now until eternity. But after five years, Hooker can shrug his shoulders, have a chuckle and think back to a late afternoon at the MCG where he sank the Hawks off his own boot.

Revenge is sometimes a dish best served cold.

Let's talk about Mick, baby

By just about any metric to go by, Carlton is no longer a big club; membership, ladder position, win-loss record, you name it, the Blues are now battling in the AFL's "unofficial" second division.

As coach Mick Malthouse indicated late on Friday night, free agents, at least those not called Dale Thomas don't want to go there. It is all a far cry from when the Blues were the most powerful club in the land.

Yet two days and nine games of AFL football later, we're still talking about them, such is the fascination with the old, dark navy Blues.

The mixed messages keep coming out of Ikon Park. The club seems to be on the same page now and has accepted the need for a slow, patient rebuild. But the uncertainty is over Malthouse's future. Is he the man to oversee the rebuild?

Malthouse is out of contract and is angling for another season. But the Blues are miles off it. The incomparable Chris Judd remains their best player but he will likely be gone at the end of the season. There are no line-breakers, no threatening goal scorers and a dearth of on-field leaders. There is no more introverted team in the AFL.

Every line and just about every position needs to be worked through at Carlton and from the outside it looks like a rebuild that might take five years, perhaps longer.

And that's the question facing the men in the navy blue blazers, aka the Carlton powerbrokers. The next coach needs to be around for the next five years. Is Malthouse, who will turn 62 in August, that guy?

Before anything else takes place at Carlton, that is the question that needs to be answered.

QUESTION TIME

ASHLEY BROWNE: There are marketer's dreams and strategy department's dreams, and the late Saturday afternoon clash at the SCG is the latter – the unbeaten Sydney Swans hosting the, wait for it, unbeaten Greater Western Sydney Giants.

The season is young but the effort by the Swans to keep Port Adelaide to just 6.8 from 62 forward entries on its home deck was remarkable.

The Swans hunted the football and applied the sort of manic pressure that was sadly missing in last year's Grand Final. An interesting takeaway from this one was that key forwards Lance Franklin and Kurt Tippett recorded eight tackles each, equal second highest of any Swans for the match.

It was a clinical performance and you suspect all the talk about this year's premiership battle being a one-horse race had made its way up the highway.

But the Giants were tremendous as well. They overcame a tardy start in Canberra to kick 13 goals to one in the second half against Melbourne, sweet revenge for a side that less than two years ago conceded 12 final-quarter goals to the Demons at the MCG.

What I liked was the bold statement from Giants coach Leon Cameron, who said, "There's a belief amongst the group that we can outrun the opposition and we've seen that today."

The Giants looked great once they put the skates on, and we are getting glimpses of how good that midfield could be when all those talented high draft picks all play well at the same time. They fear nobody, these Giants, which is what will make Saturday at the SCG worth getting excited for.

They'll get the ball down there plenty of times. Whether they can break the impregnable Swans defence is another matter entirely, but for now, all roads lead to Sydney and that is a great outcome for the game.

AB: An interesting theory being peddled through AFL club circles in the lead-up to the season wasn't that Port Adelaide wasn't necessarily the fittest team in the competition, only that Port thought it was the fittest team and that other clubs were happy for the Power to think that way.

We've seen Port fall short twice in two weeks so far, overran late by Fremantle last week and just not good enough to beat the Swans. 0-2 is not the start to a premiership campaign and not since North Melbourne in 1999 has the eventual premier started the season with two defeats. And with North and the Hawks in the next fortnight, it doesn't get any easier.

Port's problem has been its skill execution. Placed under real pressure, finals-type pressure from both Freo and the Swans, The Power have been found wanting, particularly with ball movement. As this video showreel of the shut-down job shows, repeated long bomb entries to the forward line just allowed the Swans to set up, reload and counter attack.

Get that right and the Power will start hitting the scoreboard once again.

AB: I'm not with you on this one. With their hard-running transition from the backline, the Crows have borrowed heavily from their crosstown rivals Port Adelaide, where not co-incidentally, coach Phil Walsh worked as an assistant last year. It also helps the Crows that in their two wins to date they have handily won the clearances and stoppages, so they're getting their hands on the ball first.

There is a fair degree of defensive grunt to Adelaide this year as well, and the Crows also boast three of the most charismatic players in the competition in Taylor Walker, Rory Sloane and Patrick Dangerfield as well as Brodie Smith, one of the silkiest. I enjoy watching the Crows and at this early stage, I'm a fan of the Walsh-inspired makeover.

AB: Based on what we saw at the MCG on Sunday, Beveridge might just fancy his chances, particularly if the Hawks don't turn up expecting to win, which was the case until far too late against the Bombers.