Round 3
Geelong v Adelaide
7.30pm, March 26, 2026
Kardinia Park
One of the opportunities which presents itself when one steps off the Spirit of Tasmania and onto the saddle of a bicycle in the predawn darkness at North Geelong is that it’s a very short bike ride to a lovely patisserie for a coffee and a pastry of some sort. And, given that I had (more or less) “ridden” all night from Devonport, then I figured that the pastry first thing in the morning was not only justified but deserved.
While I enjoyed my reward, darkness began to lift and by the time I was back on the bike I could see enough to know that the bike path from North Geelong around to the main waterfront was a glorious place to be on a reasonably calm morning such as this. Early morning bait fishers lined the path around the Corio Bay, and the odd runabout was being launched as I trundled towards Eastern Beach.
I was on my way, eventually, to Kardinia Park to see the Cats take on the much fancied Crows is a Round 3 (or Round 3.87, or perhaps round Pi – whatever the latest counting convention is) fixture later that evening. I think the last time I rode my bike to the footy I had a piece of cardboard pegged to the front forks so that, as the spokes struck it, it made a very annoying brrrrrrrr sound. Rest easy People Of Geelong. I think I’ve graduated from that phase of my life.
I enjoyed the best weather of the day poking around the waterfront and city until the rain arrived during the afternoon and settled in properly. By then, I was settled in too, on the concourse of the stadium quite near to some folks who were present with a common focus. They were all holding A4-sized photographs of Oli Wiltshire, who had been selected to play his third game for The Cats, and one of the group, as proud as a riverboat queen, pointed to his sign and proclaimed, “He’s my grandson”.
By 7pm I was seated four rows back from the boundary at the front of the Premiership Stand; close enough to smell the trainers’ linament, but exposed enough to be acutely aware of the several squalls which passed over the ground during the course of the game.
The Cats started strongly and locked the play into the part of the ground to my right as Tom Stewart defied the markets to kick the first goal of the game. But after ten minutes or so the visitors found some possession and connection, and the score differential became small and stable. The crowd around me, understandably partisan, started out offering opera claps and spoken encouragement. But as the umpires began to impose their presence onto the game, the crowd’s responses became increasingly undomesticated.
In the days which followed the game, media outlets competed as fiercely as the football clubs to manufacture outrage at one particular umpiring error late in the game. I suspect, had those media outlets consulted the folks around me, they would have been provided with a comprehensive list of homework for the following week.
On a wet, slippery night, highlights were few. And so when Jack Martin cleanly plucked a fast moving chaos ball at his feet (a pass delivered by the celebrated grandson, Oli Wiltshire), settled, and kicked a narnie with his right foot to put The Cats more than a goal clear, there was much full-throated support where previously there had quiet rah-rahing.
The Cats maintained that lead until the final bell (see what I did there) put an end to the Crows’ plucky attempts to convert it in their own favour. From my boundary-side perspective, Shaun Mannagh seemed to me to be the key difference between two evenly matched teams and, despite Bailey Smith and Josh Rachele having plenty of the ball all over the ground, I’d have given my votes to the Geelong No.7.
And in the wake of the game, I said my early morning goodbyes to Geelong, jumped back onto my trusty bike, and retraced my route around the bay which leads directly to the north coast of Tasmania.
GEELONG 4.4 6.5 7.9 9.14 (68)
ADELAIDE 2.2 5.3 7.5 9.6 (60)
GOALS
Geelong: Martin 3, Dempsey 2, Stewart, O.Henry, Mannagh, Holmes
Adelaide: Taylor 3, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Cumming, Rankine, Neal-Bullen, Murray
BEST
Geelong: Holmes, Dempsey, Martin, Smith, De Koning, Blicavs
Adelaide: Rachele, Rankine, Butts, Worrell, Thilthorpe, Berry
INJURIES
Geelong: Nil
Adelaide: Nil
Crowd: 20403 at GMHBA Stadium
Read more from Danny Russell HERE
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About Danny Russell
Danny Russell, feet planted firmly in the island state, is easily led. "Scratcher" Neal led him to the Cats where his loyalty has remained (despite being sorely tested). The weekly magazine "The Story of Pop" led him to music beyond the focus of Tasmanian AM radio of the 70s.
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Geez, I thought I’d put in the hard yards to get there and back. Well played Danny.
Brilliant Non-Shedders. Guts effort.
Reminds me of the old Geelong Addie reports in the 1920s and 30s when, apart from the overall crowd number, the way they travelled was recorded. e.g. 440 came on the two Warrnambool trains, 765 on the three Ballarat trains, 2173 on the Melbourne trains and 34 on the SS Edina. I think the SS Edina docked at Queenscliff, but someone can straighten me out on that.
The vessel had quite a life. It was used in the Crimean War, the American Civil War, in runs to the Orago Goldfields and eventually it was a Melbourne-Geelong ferry.
My trusty steed does not quite have the honourable pedigree of the SS Edina – although it has survived a particularly embarrassing rollover when my shoelace got tangled in the peddle crank and I toppled over at 0 km/h directly in front of several octogenarians!