Geelong is from north of Melbourne, close to the center of the footy universe but separated enough to have its own culture. Geelong is often considered one of the most 'professional' of the clubs: during the current trading period, when players have the right to say, "I don't feel like playing for you any more - trade me to so-and-so", and the clubs generally have to accede to their wishes (no, really, that's how it happens in Australia! They really ARE free agents, even under contract!), you spend the days haggling over how many draft picks or players to swap, and which ones to swap, and that's not fair, and so forth.... Meanwhile, Geelong just quietly announces a trade, and then goes about its own business.
The Cats were titlists in 2007, 2009, and 2011, and despite always seeming to be on the brink of dropping precipitously out of contention as their star players age, new stars emerge and they continue to be a threat, In 2014, for example, after being predicted to drop from their fourth place standing of a year ago...they ended up at 17-5, tied with Sydney and eventual champion Hawthorn. With Joel Selwood as captain (pictured above), and stars like Steven Motlop and Tom Hawkins on the club doing the scoring, it's hard to believe Geelong could ever be counted out. Then, in 2016, they scooped up free agent Patrick Dangerfield in the off-season (who had such a successful season that he won a record number of votes to win the MVP, the Brownlow Medal), made it to the #2 seed at 17-5, defeated three-time defender and chief rival Hawthorn, and finally fell to seed #1 Sydney in the game before the Grand Final. Where will they be in 2017? Somewhere near the top, of course.
Their American counterpart: The New England Patriots
The Cats have Joel Selwood; the Pats have Tom Brady. Also winners of three titles in the last decade, the Patriots hail from north of the center of the American sporting universe (New York) with a distinctive culture that puts them as natural rivals to New Yorkers, just as Geelong has had a fantastic rivalry with Hawthorn (in Melbourne) in particular. In fact, Hawthorn suffered for years under what was called the "Kennett Curse": after their president, Jeff Kennett, bragged following their 2008 Grand Final win over Geelong that the Cats lacked the 'mental toughness' to beat the Hawks. From that day on, Geelong managed to defeat Hawthorn eleven times in a row, sometimes miraculously from 30 points down, sometimes in dominating fashion when Hawthorn was flying high coming into the game. It wasn't until their preliminary final in 2013, when Hawthorn actually came back from 20 down in the last quarter to beat Geelong and go on to win the first of their current back-to-back titles that the curse was broken.
The Patriots, like Geelong, are often held up as a model of success, of professionalism, of "how do we do it right". Even when Brady doesn't seem to have any good receivers to throw to, they always manage to find a passing game; even when the backfield looks depleted, they manage to run when they need to. That's Geelong.
(Minus the SpyGate. Pretty sure the Cats have ever had that kind of scandal...)
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