After a thrilling draw against the Giants, the Cats have spent the week on the Gold Coast in preparation for their clash with Brisbane this Saturday night at the Gabba.

Cats Media has identified three points of interest to follow:

Domsy 200 

Few have endured the journey of Tom Lonergan. Both in football and in life. 

The 33-year-old veteran defender will play his 200^th AFL game on Saturday night against the Lions at the Gabba – another highlight in a career teammate Andrew Mackie says is “one of the great stories”.

Drafted as a forward from Yarrawonga and nicknamed ‘Domsy’ thanks to his body’s humourous susceptibility to Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, Lonergan was hospitalised and placed in an induced coma following a collision with Melbourne’s Brad Miller in 2006.

Just his seventh AFL game had cost him his kidney and threatened his career and his life. But with the resilience and courage that have become hallmarks of one of the Cats’ most loved figures, Lonergan fought his way back. 

“It’s quite remarkable that he made it back onto a footy field when you consider it was touch and go that he’d live,” Mackie told Cats Media of his great mate this week.

“He obviously felt that he had more to give, that it was his passion, and to his credit he’s gone and done what he wanted to do. Since then, he’s forged a really good career.” 

Having struggled as a forward, Lonergan was moved to defence and played a pivotal role in the Cats’ 2011 grand final win over Collingwood.

He runs out for his 200^th game as one of the AFL’s most reliable defenders, most respected players and an icon of the Geelong Football Club.

The difference a week makes

Following his concussion in the opening minutes of the Cats’ two-point win over Fremantle in round 15, Joel Selwood’s health was under intense scrutiny all week.

Named in the side to face the Giants at Spotless Stadium, the Geelong skipper was withdrawn a few hours before the bounce and 19-year-old rookie Sam Simpson earned his AFL debut.

Simpson has now been omitted to make way for Selwood, but will he play?

"Based on what we've seen at training, he's looked really good. But to be frank, he looked really good last week as well and they [medical staff] said he wasn't right," senior coach Chris Scott told reporters on the Gold Coast on Thursday morning. 

So for the second week in a row, we enter a game uncertain as to whether the no.14 will be there to lead his side out. That said, it’s the second week that really could make all the difference.

Daddy Danger

As announced on Thursday, Geelong star midfielder Patrick Dangerfield and wife Mardi have welcomed their newborn baby George into the world this week.

It’s already been a different week of preparation for the Cats – spending it on the Gold Coast. But having your first child must surely be an experience unlike any other.

Dangerfield seems unflappable and so there’s no point dwelling on the hypothetical of a poor game from him, but could we see the opposite? Could baby George take daddy Danger to new heights against the Lions?

After a 45-disposal, best on ground performance seven days earlier against the Giants, George would need to be a special type of motivation to go one better.