The Cats notched up their 11th straight victory on the weekend against St Kilda, but almost as important as the wins themselves is the way they’re getting them.

There’s a confidence to be able to reel in sides that get a jump, there’s the ability to bring in high-quality players from outside of the 22 when injury strikes, and they can play at any pace, fast or slow, whatever the game or the opponent requires.

Now, with two games to go before the end of the home and away season, the Cats have the #1 ranked offence, and the #1 ranked defence in the competition to show for it, and are sitting in top spot on the ladder.

According to ruckman Rhys Stanley there’s a hunger driving the Cats this season that he says is driven as much by selection pressure as it is by honouring your spot in the 22.

“Everyone's hungry, mate,” he told K rock Football post match on Saturday. 

“We're just training on edge, we play as if, I'm one of them, we're on the fringe and you want to be a part of it so you've got to do a bit to keep that spot, and we've got some great guys at the lower level and pushing at training and making us better.”

It’s a similar sentiment to what we’d heard from Tom Atkins a few weeks ago after the win over the Power in Adelaide: Happy to be in the 22, great guys in the VFL missing out, I owe it to them to play well because I’m on the fringe

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Stanley’s knee ‘blew up’ at half time during the game in Adelaide and missed the subsequent game against the Bulldogs, but he picked up right where he left off after temporarily surrendering his spot to Jonathon Ceglar.

Stanley was especially influential when the ball hit the deck against in-form Saints ruckman Rowan Marshall, picking up five clearances, seven score involvements and laying seven tackles, to go along with 17 disposals and 22 hitouts. 

With Ceglar suffering a concussion in the VFL it’ll be another week at least before we see if the Cats will try a twin towers approach, but until then, it’s business as usual for Stanley. 

“Everyone knows their role and we've all got our strengths and we've just got to try and bring them every week.”