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The Kennett curse was the name given to Australian Football League club Geelong's dominance against rivals Hawthorn in the period between Hawthorn's upset win against Geelong in the 2008 AFL Grand Final and Hawthorn's win in the 2013 preliminary finals.
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Background
Geelong and Hawthorn contested the 2008 AFL Grand Final. Geelong went into the match as the favourites; they were the defending premiers, and had lost only one match for the entire season; however, Hawthorn prevailed by 26 points to claim its 10th premiership. Ahead of the teams' first round meeting at the start of the 2009 season, then-Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett publicly questioned Geelong's mental drive to defeat Hawthorn.
What they don't have, I think, is the quality of some of our players; they don't have the psychological drive we have. We've beaten Geelong when it matters.
Additionally, following the upset Grand Final loss, Geelong players made a private pact, which was later made public by Paul Chapman, to never again lose to Hawthorn. Following Kennett's comments, Geelong won the match in Round 1, 2009, and proceeded to defeat Hawthorn in eleven successive matches: a run that included a number of remarkable games. Kennett's demeaning comments in 2009 came to be seen as the initiating event of a curse on Hawthorn, dubbed by fans and media as the "Kennett curse". Kennett himself (who stepped down from the Hawthorn presidency in 2011) said in 2013 that while he was not proud of what he had said, he did not wish he could take it back. The curse ended when Hawthorn defeated Geelong in the 2013 First Preliminary Final, after Kennett's reign as Hawthorn president had ended, knocking Geelong out of the finals (Hawthorn won the Grand Final the next week to claim the Premiership).
Results
Over the period of the curse, the rivalry between the clubs remained strong. All matches were played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, drew at least 63,000 spectators, and although Geelong won all eleven matches, most matches were close and/or involved one team coming from a long way behind. Nine of the eleven matches were decided by ten points or less, with two decided by kicks after the final siren: Round 17, 2009, with a behind to Jimmy Bartel; and Round 19, 2012, with a goal to Tom Hawkins. The Cats' 11-match winning streak against the Hawks is the longest by any team following a VFL/AFL Grand Final loss to their opponent.
Source: Footy Wire
The losing streak ended as follows:
The curse looked to continue with Geelong leading by 19 points midway through the final quarter, but Hawthorn rallied and kicked three goals and seven behinds to Geelong's solitary point to overrun the Cats by 5 points. Interestingly, Paul Chapman (who earlier had publicised the Geelong players' pact never to lose to Hawthorn) missed the preliminary final due to suspension. He was then traded to Essendon at the end of the season.