Hawthorn's dramatic rise is the envy of the competition once again, especially after they secured a preliminary final spot following Friday's dismantling of Adelaide.
The Hawks were faced with an almost identical scenario 12 months ago.
After an impressive elimination finals win over the Western Bulldogs, they were bound for South Australia to take on Port Adelaide, which was off the back of multiple fiery contests, and of course, Jack Ginnivan's Instagram comment.
In front of a hostile crowd, the young and brash Hawks took it to the Power, who finished second in 2024 and lost a home qualifying final to a powerhouse Victorian team.
Last year, Hawthorn wasn't able to progress through to the preliminary final. They flipped the script.
"I sat here at this exact table this time last year, heartbroken by the loss and the missed opportunity of what could have been," Hawks coach Sam Mitchell said.
"Everyone had a level of pain and understanding that getting that far is really difficult and enormously hard work.
"You have got to have a huge amount of respect for the teams that just back it up year after year after year - and Geelong are obviously one of those."
Following the "heartbreaking" three-point loss to Port Adelaide, the Hawks were on the front foot, and were already heavily into defensive duo Josh Battle and Tom Barrass.
The work of Mitchell, and his secret weapon, his wife, Lyndall, successfully landed the signatures of the pair.
It followed the acquisition of Jack Ginnivan, Mabior Chol, Massimo D'Ambrosio and Jack Gunston, as well as draftee Nick Watson.
Gunston and Battle were both honoured with All-Australian blazers in 2025, while Ginnivan has become a star of the competition, altering his reputation from a free-kick searching forward to one of the smartest football brains in the league.
Watson continues to build into his career, while Chol and Barrass have arguably produced some of their best football.
And Mitchell hasn't stopped there, putting in time to Oscar Allen, Harley Reid, Zak Butters and Zach Merrett, with the latter genuinely weighing up his future at Essendon.
But the Hawks coach, despite his heavy hand in list management, has remained at the top of his game.
"But our playing group, I couldn't have prepared any better for this game, that's what I would say," Mitchell said when discussing the Merrett speculation.
"My job is to win as many games as I possibly can as the coach of this club and to improve this club in any way I see fit.
"So I will continue to do that."
And after narrowly missing out last year, Mitchell and his men will feature in the penultimate weekend of the AFL season.
"Every prelim, it doesn't matter who's playing in it, is going to be massive," Mitchell said.
"Every club wants to be here.
"The fact that it's Hawthorn-Geelong probably adds a little bit of extra spice.
"And hopefully we can pack out the 'G and make it make a great spectacle, and that the brown and gold army comes out and leaves on top."
Since 1980, the two arch rivals can barely be split, with Hawthorn holding the slightest lead in terms of wins (42-41).
Hawthorn and Geelong arguably played in the most famous grand final, in 1989, whilst they also produced the 'Kennett Curse' following the 2008 decider won by the Hawks.
Then-president Jeff Kennett took aim at the Cats following their loss, which inspired an 11-game win streak, spanning from the beginning of 2009 to the 2013 preliminary final.
With that in mind, what will Friday night have in store?
