{"id":890315,"date":"2026-09-13T08:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/890315\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T08:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T08:54:14","slug":"footys-great-modern-rivals-into-vfl-grand-final-as-hawks-face-selection-dilemmas-for-cats-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/890315\/","title":{"rendered":"Footy\u2019s great modern rivals into VFL Grand Final as Hawks face selection dilemmas for Cats clash"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We missed it at AFL level, but footy\u2019s greatest modern-day rivals will still face off in a Grand Final for the fifth time, with the Box Hill Hawks to battle Geelong for the VFL premiership.<\/p>\n<p>Both sides saw off surprising challenges from sides who finished outside the top four, with Box Hill beating Essendon by seven points in Saturday\u2019s preliminary final, before Geelong smashed Port Melbourne by 47 points on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Watch every match of the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series before the Grand Final LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/afl?extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkafl-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-afl-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra\" title=\"kayosports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789289654_435_poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>WHAT&#8217;S GAMBLING REALLY COSTING YOU? Set a deposit limit. For Free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.<\/p>\n<p>With the Cats\u2019 AFL season ending they\u2019ll be at full strength for the VFL decider, to be played on Sunday September 20 at Ikon Park as part of a double-header with the VFLW Grand Final.<\/p>\n<p>Their preliminary final side featured the likes of Jack Bowes, George Stevens, Rhys Stanley, Mitch Knevitt, Jhye Clark and Jed Bews.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile the Hawks\u2019 VFL players will be hoping to earn selection for Saturday\u2019s AFL preliminary final against Brisbane.<\/p>\n<p>Notables from the win over the Bombers included Calsher Dear, Jack Scrimshaw, Finn Maginness, Aidan Schubert, Noah Mraz, Matt Hill and Sam Butler.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawks and Cats will face off in the 2026 VFL Grand Final.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n<p>The Cats finished on top of the reserves ladder with a dominant 16-2 record and percentage of 167.8%. They lost only to Footscray in Round 4 and to Collingwood in Round 19 &#8211; both of whom missed the top-10 finals altogether.<\/p>\n<p>The Hawks finished third, upsetting Werribee in the qualifying final and then making amends after losing prelims in 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the Hawks\u2019 first Grand Final appearance in eight years, when they beat Casey for their third VFL flag.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile it\u2019s Cats\u2019 first appearance in the decider since 2013, when they lost to the Hawks, a year after they beat Port Melbourne for the flag.<\/p>\n<p>The Cats have only beaten the Hawks in one Grand Final, in 1963, with the Hawks winning the next three meetings (1989 and 2008 in the seniors, 2013 in the reserves).<\/p>\n<p>Hawks vs Cats VFL\/AFL Grand Finals<\/p>\n<p>2013 (reserves): Box Hill 99 def Geelong 78<\/p>\n<p>2008 (seniors): Hawthorn 115 def Geelong 89<\/p>\n<p>1989 (seniors): Hawthorn 144 def Geelong 138 <\/p>\n<p>1963 (seniors): Geelong 109 def Hawthorn 60<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We missed it at AFL level, but footy\u2019s greatest modern-day rivals will still face off in a Grand&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":890316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-890315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/890316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}