GEELONG midfielder Cameron Ling says forget 1989: the Cats and the Hawks will re-write a new chapter in grand final history this weekend with Saturday’s blockbuster having little to do with the two club’s epic battle 19 years earlier.
Many have liked the romanticism of Geelong and Hawthorn’s match-up this weekend, as the two sides meet again on the big stage.
However Ling says while he can understand comparisons, this weekend is about the two current Geelong and Hawthorn sides, and he knows history will count for little.
“I’m not that good at maths but ’89 was a long time ago,” he said.
“I don’t think there are any similarities [to 1989]. I know everyone in the media loves the fact that that was a great grand final but this is a completely different game.
“We’ll go out there sticking to what we can control. Hawthorn will probably be trying to do the same thing.
“We can’t really take a form line out of the ’89 grand final for how we prepare for Hawthorn, so that’s not in our minds at all.”
Just who takes the field for the Cats has been a talking point all week with Geelong’s light training run on Thursday morning – which was split into two groups – not shedding any light on the final make-up of the Cats’ side.
Coach Mark Thompson said on radio on Wednesday night that Travis Varcoe might have pulled up sore from last week’s win over the Western Bulldogs, however Ling backed the hard-working forward to be fit to take on the Hawks.
“I don’t think he’s in too much doubt, provided he trains today and tomorrow he should be right,” Ling said.
“I think this time of the year there’s probably a lot of sore blokes in the Hawthorn camp and a lot of sore blokes in our camp, but you get up and you get going again.
“As long as [he] get through training he should be fine.”
Ling also backed Paul Chapman to overcome his niggling hamstring complaint and return to the side, meaning one unlucky Cat might face omission.
However Ling said neither he nor his teammates knew who that was.
“He may well know that but I don’t know that, and I can’t answer that one,” he said.
“We’re all preparing as though we’re going to play.
“Everyone should do that … we’ve had 35 guys training throughout the finals.
“They’ve all been preparing as though they’re going to play and it’s been the fantastic thing, we’ve got a good core of guys.”
The large majority of Geelong’s side were all there on the last Saturday last September and while Ling said he remained calm, others would no doubt have a few butterflies heading into the biggest match of their lives.
“Personally I don’t get too nervous,” he said.
“I didn’t last year. Games of footy don’t make me overly nervous.
“A few of the guys are probably feeling it a little bit but we’ve got some senior guys now who have been through grand final week and are probably helping those guys along.
“We’ve also got a few first-timers and they’ll be helped along … as a group now we sort of know what to expect this week.”
