This week James Kelly and AFL journalist Peter Ryan told Cats TV what Geelong must focus on to mitigate Fremantle’s influence this Saturday at Simonds Stadium.
According to Kelly the Cats can’t afford to take any chances and will have to outrun their defensive pressure, as well as keeping the ball in Geelong’s forward line as much as possible.
“I think we have to make the most of our opportunities, Fremantle are obviously a really good defensive side and we’ve got to make the most of it when it’s in our forward line,” Kelly said.
“On the other side of that we’ve got to really restrict them as well, they’ve got some really dangerous forwards. Pavlich is one of them and Walters and Ballantyne are dangerous small forwards as well.”
“We want to make sure we can contain them as best we can, as well as having really good intensity around the ball.”
Kelly also says that this week’s qualifying final will determine which 22 players will best lead the Cats further into the finals.
“I think (Saturday’s game) it will be a pretty strong indication of what the side will be like, we’ll try and pick our best side this week and ideally going through a finals series you don’t want to make too many changes to the side, so hoping no one gets any injuries the side that plays this weekend you’d like to have play the Grand Final as well if you get that far.”
Ryan is predicting a highly pressured contest between the two sides this Saturday. This week Fremantle will add a number of important players back into their side, which will bolster their force considerably.
“It’s massive, I mean Sandilands is one of the best ruckmen from the last 10 years and Pavlich has the goal scoring power.”
“They also have Mundy and Barlow who didn’t play last time at Kardina Park, and obviously the Cats have Chapman and Varcoe back and Vardy’s also expected to play.”
“I’m actually expecting a really tight contest it’s two of the best teams and a home preliminary final is up for grabs.”
“A home final is going to be a little bit of an advantage (for Geelong) but when you’ve got two teams and one coached by Ross Lyon it’s going to be a ripper.”
To catch the complete episode of Argue the Toss on Cats TV please click on the video above.
