Geelong ready to put missed opportunities behind it as AFL grand final date with Richmond looms

It’s one of sport’s great myths that a team needs to suffer defeat and disappointment before it can enjoy success.

Sometimes bright eyes and unbridled enthusiasm is enough to carry a rapidly rising team to the top, as it did for the Western Bulldogs in 2016 and Richmond in 2017.

And just as often, a team that gets battered by blow after blow can find it hard to recover, the fear of further failure so overwhelming that the feeling of winning can’t properly register.

But for some teams, if all the circumstances are right, painful experience can be alchemised into glory. It can create a sense of urgency, making the stage familiar while they strive for something entirely unfamiliar.

This year, Geelong has been told it is now or never, the…