IN SCANNING the Round 23 fixture, there certainly wasn't any trepidation amongst tipsters locking in Geelong to win game 30 in a row down at Skilled Stadium.

The Thompson/Scott fortress hasn't really looked like being breached for a few years and it seemed the most likely scenario was that it would take a fully matured Gold Coast squad, suiting up for the 2018 season, to finally end the Cats' home winning streak (45 touches from David Swallow and 75 hit-outs from Zac Smith, countering 10 goals from Daniel Menzel).

That was until an inspired Sydney Swans team came ready to play on Saturday afternoon, dominated the clearances 56-34 and hopped on the Shane Mumford gravy train to come away with a sensational 13 point upset win.

The level of emotion in the Swans rooms after the game answered the question of whether the tragic death of co-captain Jarrad McVeigh's baby daughter during the week had inspired John Longmire's team to find of a new level of commitment that the Cats couldn't match.

It was, as Paul Keating once said, a victory for the true believers.

After a quiet first quarter, Adam Goodes was naturally at the forefront of the win, notching 30 high-quality disposals.

At 31 and with two Brownlow Medals already in his trophy cabinet, Goodes is still one of just a handful of AFL players who can be classed as 'undefendable'.
Essendon couldn't stop him in Round 20 as he gathered 28 touches and seven clearances but Goodes missed the game-winning shot himself after the siren by the smallest of margins.

Two weeks earlier he torched the Bulldogs for 34 touches to dominate former teammate Barry Hall's final game against the Sydney Swans.

A two-pronged tagging job by Alex Rance and Shane Tuck in Round 21 neutered Goodes' influence and the Swans lost by 43 points, at that stage putting their finals place in jeopardy.

His numbers this year have been comparable to those in which he won the Brownlow and in a team perceived to have plenty of honest triers, Goodes is a beacon of excitement who will be giving Ross Lyon a headache leading into their clash with the Saints in week one of the finals.

This week Goodes joins players of similar calibre in Greatest Team of All, replacing the unlucky Todd Goldstein, who delivered 33 hit-outs against the Saints on Saturday night but won't be part of the finals action in 2011.

And for those bemoaning the apparent lack of a second ruckman in our team, we've now got cover in the form of 2003 All Australian ruckman Adam Goodes!