Cameron Guthrie showed why he is such an important member of Geelong’s engine room in their 20-point semi final victory against West Coast on Friday night.

After missing last week with calf soreness, Guthrie stepped straight into the middle and was influential across all four quarters.

He finished with a game-high 33 disposals, eight clearances and seven marks. It was the first time he has reached 30 disposals in a game since 2016.

“I think we let ourselves down a little bit with our effort last week, so to bounce back the way the boys did and get a good win in front of a great crowd was amazing,” Guthrie said.

“We are not going to get too carried away with ourselves, we are going to enjoy the win, but we know there is plenty of work to do.”

After receiving some heat during the week for their recent slow starts, the Cats came our firing early. Setting up a 25-point lead at quarter time.

The Eagles pressed them in the middle stages of the game, but the Cats finished strong, restricting their opposition to a solitary behind in the final term to run our comfortable winners.

“I think we got off to a really slow start last week, so we really wanted to throw the first punch I guess and we kicked the first two or three which got us off to a really good start, they came a little bit in the second quarter, but we finished the game off really well.”

It was clear for all to see that Geelong took the game to the Eagles and were far more efficient than a week prior with their use of the pill.

Tom Hawkins and Esava Ratugolea benefitted in attack kicking seven goals between them.

“You get a little bit of a different perspective sitting on the sidelines for sure.”

“It was pretty clear for everyone to see last week that we were a little bit cautious and we really wanted to play with a freedom this week and I thought the boys really did that.”

“We made a few mistakes, but we really got back after it and took care of it.”

“I am looking forward to next week now, it’s an exciting time of year.”

A preliminary against 2017 premiers Richmond awaits at the MCG on Friday night. The winner will book themselves a place in the 2019 Grand Final.