What started on Thursday evening has ended later than expected on Monday night, but we've had a lot of fun to get here.

And good news! Gather Round is only a couple of days away! It all kicks off again on Thursday night when Adelaide and Melbourne get SA's festival of footy underway.

I hope to see you then!

And spare a thought for Jeremy Cameron and Mitch Duncan, who look like they're just about to burst trying to lift all of Tom Hawkins off the field.

Still, a day Tom Hawkins and his family will never forget.

It was an odd afternoon at the MCG, but in the end a relatively comfortable Geelong win and a perfect way to celebrate Tom Hawkins's 350th game.

The Hawks made their charge in the second quarter, and threatened to repeat the dose after the weather delay in the last, but there was a calmness to Geelong that shone through in the tough moments. Once they got a grip on the clearances again, they were able to nullify the Hawks and bring their brilliant forwards into the game.

There was a bit to like for Hawthorn, but once again a dreadful first quarter has basically cost them the game. They were beaten by a far more experienced side today though, a Cats team that has made a fine start to this season. They look destined for a relly good run at this year.

Both teams exhausted, conditions still so tough. Not making for the prettiest end to this one.

Injury prevention probably the order of the day now.

And with that set shot goal, the Cats are out to a game-high 38-point lead and can begin the celebrations.

They've been so good inside 50 today, both in kicking for goal and picking the best options when going forward. This is going to be a highly professional win.

And that should be that! For all the Hawks' effort, they haven't been able to get the run of goals on to really make this interesting.

Jeremy Cameron marked at the top of the square and gave off the charity handball to the milestone man. Hawkins has four, and the Cats will take four points.

The Cats stopped with the fancy stuff and just got the footy forward. Conway punched it forward, Bowes belted it off the ground as far as he could and it landed luckily in Henry's arms.

He kicks the goals, and a bit of air comes out of the Hawthorn comeback.

He's been good in this last quarter, and his clean hands and clever snap have pulled the Hawks back with 20 points. There's time! This isn't over yet!

They've kicked 1.4 in this last quarter. The opportunity has been there, but there's only 12 minutes to play.

If it's going to happen for Hawthorn, it has to happen quickly.

We've already knocked almost five minutes off the game clock, and the Hawks still need to find five more goals. It's such a slog out there, it's hard to see scores coming quickly.

One Geelong goal might kill it.

It's just going to be about forcing the footy forward and hoping for the best, and it worked out that time for Hawthorn. Ginnivan marked at the top of the square, played on quickly and smashed it through.

Could they?

We've been off the field for about 40 minutes, but we are belatedly ready to finish this game off, with Geelong currently leading it by 36 points.

Some bad news for Hawthorn though — Mitch Lewis is out of this game with a hamstring injury.

It is TIPPING DOWN at the MCG. This is awesome.

Good news. The players will begin their warm ups at 6:03pm AEDT with the game to restart eight minutes after that.

That means we're about 13 minutes away from the last quarter getting underway.

This is now the third time in four seasons that something like this has happened. There was a West Coast-Melbourne game in Perth in 2021 that was interrupted by lightning.

And then last year's Gabba blackout in the Brisbane-Melbourne match.

In both occasions, the games got back underway. In both occasions, the team that was trailing staged a massive comeback and nearly pulled off crazy wins.

It's still pouring with rain and the radar is looking a bit nasty. But there is hope that the danger of lightning will clear off in the not too distant future.

The players are off the field for a minimum of 20 minutes (we've been off for about 10 minutes already), but we have to get back on within an hour otherwise the game will be called off with the current score standing.

The last quarter will not begin on time, as there is lightning in the area and players have been told to go immediately to their changerooms for at least 20 minutes.

This has happened a few times in recent years. It's almost lucky that this time it's happened at three-quarter-time, so there doesn't have to be an artificial stoppage mid-game. The teams will head to the rooms and wait for word from the head honchos, then will get some time to warm back up before play starts again.

It is absolutely tipping down at the MCG right now. Perfect conditions for holding a six-goal lead.

The Cats got back on top around the stoppages in that quarter and very quickly found themselves back on top of the game. They've been absolutely ruthless inside 50 all day, Geelong, taking almost every chance that has presented itself.

You can't rule the Hawks out, because they have basically come back from a hole like this once already today. But it's going to be a tough ask in the rain.

Sounds as if he is going through the concussion protocols as we speak after copping Mabior Chol's knee to the back of the head.

And that is as big as the lead has been all day. The Hawks may have fired their best shot, but this Geelong team remained composed and fired right back.

The rain is starting to hit the 'G, so things might be about to get scrappyy.