GEELONG coach Chris Scott says there is no reason why captain Patrick Dangerfield can't peak at the right time of the season after a match-winning final quarter against Fremantle that catapulted the Cats into the top four on Saturday night.
Dangerfield was immense with the game on the line at Optus Stadium, winning six contested possessions and two vital centre clearances while also pushing forward late as the Cats came from behind.
The 34-year-old Brownlow medallist finished with 11 clearances and was spent on the final siren, with Scott confident that a patient program to recover from two hamstring injuries was going to help him produce at a high level over the coming weeks.
"As much as anyone, we thought he was the one that took the game away from them," Scott said after the important road win.
"You never want them to get injured, but when they do at that age, we made a concerted effort to prioritise later in the season and held him back a little bit and we think that that's worked for us before.
"We see no reason why he can't be in really good shape for the last couple of months this year, and this was a good example.
"I tend not to worry about age. I'll just back what the running data is telling us, and more importantly what our eyes are telling us, and he hasn't lost any speed or power to my eye."
Saturday's win moved the Cats up to third on the ladder ahead of clashes against St Kilda (Marvel Stadium) and West Coast (GMHBA Stadium), with Scott well aware of the potential significance of beating Fremantle on the road.
He said the Cats were "confident, but not over-confident" that they could produce their best football at the right time of the year after winning their sixth game in seven weeks.
Asked if he was reflecting on the magnitude of the win and its ladder implications, the premiership coach said: "Yeah, a little bit. I think that's a coach's job and those that say they just take it one week at a time either aren't telling the truth or aren't doing their jobs properly.
"But what you are trying to do is get the players away from thinking that way. We need to be across all that, but our players just need to get the next bit right."
Scott said midfielder Tanner Bruhn had been substituted with "dizziness symptoms", while the club made the cautious decision to hold forward Gary Rohan back after intending for him to return from concussion.
