'Embarrassing' new fallout after AFL finals horror show
Geelong star Isaac Smith has blasted his club's performance in their 'embarrassing' preliminary final demolition at the hands of Melbourne.
The Demons booked a spot in the September 25 grand final at Optus Stadium with a crushing 83-point win over Geelong in Friday night's preliminary final in Perth.
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Max Gawn's men led Geelong by 29 points at half-time.
But the Demons kicked 10 unanswered goals to blow Geelong apart and end their hopes of a grand final spot.
The Demons erupted considering their last flag came back in 1964, when they beat Collingwood by four points.
However, Smith has now revealed the frustration he felt during the second-half dismantling.
Speaking on SEN Breakfast Radio, Smith said his team's performance was 'embarrassing'.
But he also credited the Demons' second-half as one of the best performances he had witnessed.
"But it was probably five minutes into the third quarter, when Maxy Gawn was kicking goals from 60 metres, out of the ruck, that I thought our night was probably done and dusted," the three-time Hawks premiership player said.
"I don't know if they were riding a huge wave of emotion and we didn't rock up, or what was going on, but that's one of the white-hottest teams I've played (against).
"I was pretty embarrassed, walking off the oval, and playing that last quarter and a half was probably the most embarrassing 45 minutes of football that I've played in my career."
However, Smith has backed his team to turn it around in 2021 after a stellar year.
"Our best footy was as good as anyone's in the comp, which is really disappointing and hard to come to terms with," the 32-year-old said.
"Whether we just didn't time our run right or we had other things go against us we need to look at it and figure out what happened, because we still have the list that certainly can have a crack at it.
"We can't be up there for the whole year and then just fall off the edge of a cliff, I wouldn't have thought."
Melbourne fans to watch team in lockdown
After a success-starved 57 years, Demons fans will be locked down and under a 9pm curfew if the club ends the third-longest premiership drought in VFL/AFL history.
The Covid-19 restrictions in metropolitan Melbourne are likely to be almost identical to last year's grand final, when the Gabba in Brisbane hosted the historic first AFL decider held outside of Victoria.
No friends and family around for a barbecue or celebrating at a pub afterwards.
A consecutive night grand final will also be the second time in a row two Victorian teams have contested the showpiece game.
The difference last October was Richmond lapped up their third premiership in four seasons and the Tiger army had already got the emotional and wild celebrations out of their system in 2017 when they broke their 37-year run without a flag.
with AAP
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