Patrick Dangerfield. That is the last time you’ll here the superstar's name in this wrap up.

Whilst the superstar midfielder was exceptional alongside skipper Joel Selwood on Saturday night, there is a group of Cats who deserve a lot of praise for helping knock off the ladder leaders.

The backline.

Never ones to get the plaudits of the midfielders and forwards, the Cats backline over the last two weeks has been nothing short of exceptional.  Against two high-scoring and formidable attacks that Cats have conceded totals of just 88 and 74 with both sides key forwards having little impact on the game as we can see from the stats below:

Vs Greater Western Sydney

Cameron – Nine disposals, one mark, zero goals, zero goal assists

Patton – 10 disposals, five marks, one goal, zero goal assists

Lobb – Seven disposals, one mark, zero goals, one goal assists

Vs North Melbourne

Brown – 10 disposals, eight marks, zero goals, zero goal assists

Petrie – Nine disposals, six marks, two goals, zero goal assists

Waite – 11 disposals, six marks, zero goals, zero goal assists

That’s not to say that the Cats small and medium defenders aren’t performing exceptionally as well. Tom Ruggles had a career-high 18 disposals in his shut down job on Robin Nahas whilst Corey Enright also racked up 18 disposals as he shut down numerous Kangaroos forays.

Much of the criticism of the Cats in 2016 has been about the age of the backline. But if anything the Cats backline has been the most consistent of all the areas for the Cats. And for most of the year it has been fairly stable. Whilst Lachie Henderson and Ruggles are new players into the Cats backline for 2016, and Jake Kolodjashnij is also having his first solid run of games down in defence, the rest of the Cats backmen know each other inside and out. This is something that every backline coach will tell you is integral to a cohesive defensive unit.

Once again the Cats will have to be on their game this week as they take on underrated forwards Jack Redpath and Tory Dickson whilst also dealing with superstar Jake Stringer.

Bring it on!