If we’re good enough, we’ll make it.
That’s the message from Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield who says the Cats will be strictly focused on this week’s opponent in Port Adelaide, rather than ladder position, or anything else out of his side's control.
“For us, it's about controlling what's in our area of control and not looking too far ahead,” he said on Wednesday, “understanding where we're at, and not turning a blind eye to it, but unless we take care of business on a weekly basis then that makes that part irrelevant.
“So that begins, starts, continues this week against Port, and then it's keeping things within our control, and currently where we're positioned it's up to us.
“If we're good enough, we'll make it.”
The Power will arrive at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday on the back of three straight losses after a run of 13 straight wins, but Dangerfield says the Cats will be ready for their best from a team that up until recently, had lost a game since early April.
“They've got a brilliant balance around the ball, they're proactive defensively and they've got some potent forwards, so we need to play at our best," he said.
“And whilst they haven't won for the last few weeks, they played a terrific game against Collingwood and they were very unfortunate not to win that so, we know they've been playing great footy and we know we can play better footy, so that's the challenge for us.”
The Cats will go in with a lineup that will look markedly different from any they’ve put on the park this year with stalwarts Tom Hawkins and Mark Blicavs missing, but according to Dangerfield, he’s excited for the opportunity that presents.
“You can never replace two players like that, Hawk is one of the greatest of all time and Blitz is arguably the best Swiss army knife in the competition, so it'll be a different look, but at the same time it provides opportunity and that's the part that gets me excited.
“We've had some players that are playing some wonderful footy in our VFL program so there'll be opportunities this week and our best performances are still built off really great collective performances, never on one outstanding player so that'll be critical for us this week.”
