Geelong locals are today remembering the great Dennis Cometti after his passing.
The Australian Footballer Hall of Famer passed away at the age of 76 after a battle with illness.
Cometti spent more than 50 years in sports commentary, including calling cricket and olympic swimming.
But it was his time calling football that are most rememberd by fans across the region.
Some of Dennis’ best calls came in Cats games, with his time calling VFL/AFL football starting at the time that the great Gary Ablett Snr made his rise in the sport.
The Cats made the 1989 grand final off the back of Ablett, who kicked eight in the 94-point win in the preliminary final against Essendon.
As Ablett pulled in a beautiful one hander late in the game, it was Cometti on hand.
“That’s not a mark, that’s a party trick.”
Cometti would then call Ablett’s nine goal showing a week later in the grand final, calling what many argue is still the greatest game every played.
Five years later, it was Ablett again putting the Cats into the 1994 grand final, this time Ablett kicked three, but it was his goal after the siren that sealed the game.
Marking a Leigh Tudor snap outside the goal square, Ablett’s North Melbourne opponent Mick Martyn collapsed to the ground, knowing that his mammoth job on the supertsar was now in vain.
“There is no justice in football, that was the look on the face of Michael Martyn. Gary Ablett, five metres out, any score will do.
“Geelong are into the grand final.”
When the Cats broke their 44-year premiership drought in 2007, Cometti wasn’t on the television broadcast, but a week earlier he was again calling the name Ablett – Junior this time – as the little master kicked the sealer against Collingwood.
“Ablett gets through, he can do plenty. Hooks it back, how about that,” Cometti called.
“Commeth the moment, commeth the man. The son of the man.”
Geelong broadcasters’ own and former Cat Cameron Ling said it was a tough time.
“He’s a wonderful person,” he said.
“Not just a great commentator, but a wonderful person.
“He was very kind and helpful to me in my early years in commentary.”
Dennis also had a moment for Lingy – “Ling, running off the ground a little bit gingerly.”
Not all his Cats related quotes are great memories.
“Like a cork in the ocean” was Eagle Peter Wilson in the Cats losing 1992 grand final, while two against Hawthorn have gone down in folklore.
Stuart Dew becoming “…an unlikely bulky hero” in the 2008 grand final as the Cats were left heartbroken, while it was Dennis who told the Hawks to “…get the hearse for the curse” in the 2013 preliminary final.
But arguably his magnum opus for Cats fans came a year earlier, as the Cats all time games record holder Tom Hawkins launched a goal after the siren to break the hearts of those very Hawks.
“This for the game then, kick is on the way, siren’s gone.
“They’ve done it again, the Cats.”
