Leek Aleer was the hero for the GWS Giants with two marks deep inside 50 condemning Geelong to their fourth straight defeat — but he left his teammates hanging when it came time to sing the song.
The Cats, celebrating Tom Hawkins becoming the club’s all-time games leader, fought back from a 31-point deficit in the third term to briefly hit the front in the last.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Leek Aleer celebrates with fans as teammates wait.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today
Toby Greene kicked a beautiful curling goal to put GWS back ahead but with minutes left on the clock nobody would have been convinced the match was won.
Yet try as they might Geelong could not break through the last line of the Giants’ defence — and Aleer was key in just his seventh AFL game.
He fended off Ollie Henry to mark on his fourth touch with just under two minutes left.
Aleer cleared the ball out of the defensive 50 but it came right back, forcing him to leap high to mark over teammate Harry Himmelberg and Cats forward Tyson Stengle.
The result was sealed a minute later when Ryan Angwin won a free kick against a desperate Tanner Bruhn just inside 50.
And even though Greene kicked the goal it was Aleer who went down as the match-winner.
“Huge moment. I’m so happy for him. Good on him,” Greene said.
Aleer said he had been desperate to make up for a mistake earlier with his game-sealing mark.
“I was pretty filthy with myself,” he said.
“When I saw that ball I said ‘this is an opportunity for me to do something big here, help the team’. I saw it, I went at it and I’m just glad I took it.
“Big moments, I’m very glad to be apart of that.”
Aleer was clearly all too happy to celebrate his heroics, too, with keen Giants fans at the start of the race after the match — so much so that he still signing autographs and taking selfies while the entire team was ready to sing the song.
“If he keeps doing this he’ll miss the song!” Jason Dunstall said.
As the selfies went on, Alastair Lynch said: “Totally oblivious … (he has) no idea, that’s great!
“Here they come (a Giants staffer), they’re going to spoil it,” Lynch added.
GWS players and officials gave Aleer a huge cheer when he finally made it down to the rooms.
The victory sent the Giants back into the top four above their opponents.
It came at a cost, with experienced midfielder Stephen Coniglio substituted out of the game during the second quarter with a shoulder injury.
– with AAP