Complex sentence: Geelong, competing in their first ever VFL Grand Final, had been the best side all season, having lost only two games on their way to the minor premiership and at one stage put together a sequence of 12 successive wins.
Split into simpler sentences: Geelong, competing in their first ever VFL Grand Final, had been the best side all season. They had lost just two games on their way to the minor premiership and at one stage put together a sequence of 12 successive wins.