2009 AFL GRAND FINAL PARADE
Michael Proitsis 25 September 2009

By Cattery reporter on the ground, Michael Proitsis* A sea of umbrellas, ponchos, blue and white, red black and white, kids, teenagers, families and businessmen lined the streets of Collins Street today to catch a glimpse of the Cats from Geelong and the Saints from St Kilda. This of course was part of the tradition that is the 'Toyota' AFL Grand Final parade. Up to 100,000 fans packed the streets in cold and drizzly conditions to show their support.

The parade kicked off with the police band, umpires, Carlton Draught Clydesdales with their own dedicated pooper-scoopers, the AFL cup and another band or 2. This was followed by the Saints including Zac Dawson who was doing his best to fire up the crowd rather than doing the 'Royal Wave' - presumably he is over the moon about making the cut and playing in his first Grand Final. As the main attraction of the parade the Mighty Cats, then arrived in Collins Street to the cheers of the Geelong faithful. Bomber, Harley, Ablett, Ling, Scarlett, Burns, etc all showed their appreciation to the crowd for making the journey in the drizzle.

Whilst the crowd was happy to see their heroes, there was a noticeable level of disappointment in the amount of cotton wool surrounding the players. The whole point of getting a bunch of specially marked Toyota Utes is so that the players can sit on the back and be seen by everyone. However due to the drizzle, each and every player from both sides was comfortably and warmly positioned inside the cabin (however at least Tom Harley put his head half out the window to wave to the people). Whilst it was understood that sitting in the rain is not an ideal preparation for a grand final, it probably wouldn't do much harm, and if anything may have even acclimatised the players for tomorrow's forecast mud wrestling match. Perhaps everyone else in the parade including the bands, officials and Clydesdale pooper-scoopers took the complete allocation of ponchos leaving none left for the players to wear.

WHAT IS NORMALLY THE CARLTON DRAUGHT FLOAT HAS TURNED INTO A 'BLONDE' FLOAT WITH 'BLONDE' HORSES

After being greeted by the Lord Mayor, supposed Geelong fan Robert Doyle, both teams were introduced by the master of ceremonies and voice of the AFL Craig Willis (this time they all stood in the rain). Both captains were briefly interviewed and then held the premiership cup aloft for the cameras.

Its fair to say that there was probably a few more St Kilda fans than Geelong at the parade along a 60%, 40% split. This is probably a pretty good turn out given Geelong's great form over the past 3 years has given fans the last 3 parades to attend, whilst this is St Kilda's first parade for over a decade.

On final observation is that Hawthorn was last in the 2008 parade and ended up winning the Premiership. This year Geelong came out last in the parade, so presumably this combined with some good form, game plan and ability to play in the wet will put the Cats in good stead to make amends for last year.

THE 2009 PREMIERSHIP CUP

* MICHAEL PROITSIS IS A HAWTHORN SUPPORTER

THE CLEAN UP DETAIL