Adelaide and Geelong’s only previous finals encounter is remembered for providing one of the most controversial moments in Australian Football history.
Under the old finals system, the two teams met in the 1997 Semi-Final after the fourth-placed Crows beat West Coast and the second-placed Cats lost to North Melbourne in the opening week.
Geelong silenced the parochial Football Park crowd by kicking four of the first five goals to take a handy 20-point break at quarter-time. Adelaide hit back with six goals in the second quarter, as the lead chopped and changed in an enthralling finals affair.
The Cats had an eight-point buffer when utility Leigh Colbert courageously went back with the flight of the ball and threw himself into a pack of oncoming players halfway through the third quarter.
Colbert held onto the ball as he fell to the ground, landing heavily on young Crow Simon Goodwin about 40 metres out from Geelong's goal.
But the officiating umpire signaled that the ball had been touched, and Adelaide captain Mark Bickley and Colbert’s direct opponent Peter Caven piled on top of the contest to force a ball-up.
At the time, Caven was doing as instructed by coach Malcolm Blight and playing in front of Colbert.
The two-time Crows premiership player knew he was in trouble when Colbert started running towards Geelong’s forward 50m to get on the end of the kick from teammate Glenn Kilpatrick.
“He (Colbert) had turned towards goal to almost like the Pagan’s Paddock. I thought, I’d better get on my bike here!” Caven said.
“He landed on the ground with the ball, but it didn’t get paid for whatever reason.
“We were pretty fortunate that the umpire got blindsided or something. I think he thought that it was touched somehow. It wasn’t (touched) by me, I didn’t even get off the ground!”
Adelaide went on to outscore Geelong four goals-to-one in the last quarter, securing a Preliminary Final berth against the Western Bulldogs at the MCG.
Colbert’s unpaid mark is part of finals football folklore.
“There was still plenty of game (time) left at that stage. Who knows what would’ve happened if the mark had been paid? He was 40 – 45 metres out from goal,” Caven said.
“It’s moments in close games that sometimes make you or break you, and you always go back to.
“The controversy was that the mark didn’t get paid and most Geelong supporters would be disappointed with that. Adelaide supporters would just say, ‘Well that’s part of the game’.
“Whether it was the turning point will always be debatable.
“In the end, we got the choccies and moved onto the next week.”
Watch the full interview with Peter Caven and fellow premiership Crow Matthew Robran in Facebook Live: Inside the Four Walls by clicking the play button in the video player above
