WHO’S FLYING

from AFL Record Round 16, 2023

Blastfrom thepast

Each week throughout the 2023 season we will present Who’s Flying, a series of stories which will encapsulate everything that is good about our great game. It could be a star player, a coach who has inspired his men or a team that is – pardon the pun – flying. This week BRENDAN RHODES examines the mental fortitude of enigmatic Geelong forward Gary Rohan.

Ga ry Rohan was fighting back tears last Thursday night.

Having just knocked his forward line teammate Jeremy Cameron out cold with a misdirected hip and shoulder as they attacked a contest from different directions, he cut a distraught figure as other Cats players tried to comfort him in the near 10-minute delay while Cameron was receiving treatment.

There were two ways the rest of the night could have gone against an in-form Melbourne at GMHBA Stadium.

He could have let it affect him long term and Geelong may have slumped to a second home loss of the season, or it could have galvanised him into playing one of his best games of the season to lift the Cats to a crucial win over a top-four team.

It’s the mark of the footballer that the latter came true, with Rohan kicking his team’s next goal and being involved in all four secondquarter scores to keep Geelong within a point at half-time.

His second goal briefly gave them the lead in the third quarter and his third came midway through the six-goal blitz in the last that secured the crucial 15-point win.

Rohan ended with a season-best 16 disposals and seven marks to go with his 3.2 and laid four tackles, had four inside-50s, four intercepts, nine score involvements and 317m gained to be one of the most influential players in the game.

It means he heads to Sydney this week to take on his former team in dangerous form – he kicked three goals against Port Adelaide the week before and has 16.6 for the season with at least one in every game and eight in his past three.

The second of the Grand Final rematches has everything riding on it – they are on track to having both grand finalists miss the finals for the first time since 1963.

The Swans will be keen to carry on their record-breaking form from round 15’s 171-point annihilation of West Coast and the Cats desperate to squash their opponents for the third time in a row after the 81- and 93-point smackings in the Grand Final and round six this year.