What an intriguing season this has been for the Cats.

The boys have beaten most of the teams at the top of the ladder but have slipped up against three opponents they were supposed to account for comfortably: Collingwood, Carlton and St Kilda.

Saturday night's clash with the Saints was a classic contest that was packed with drama from start to finish.

But it's fair to say that Chris Scott and his men were kicking themselves afterwards, having wasted a number of golden opportunities to win the game during the last quarter.

Geelong's roller-coaster form has led us at Cats Media to wonder if there are some common threads in the losses to the Pies, Blues and Saints.

This is what we've come up with so far:

* The Cats seem vulnerable after great wins. They lost to Collingwood a week after toppling Adelaide in Patrick Dangerfield's much-hyped return to Adelaide Oval. They then lost to St Kilda a week after smashing the Bulldogs in a performance that saw them hailed as the best team in the competition.

* The Cats suffer when they waste early opportunities. They squandered three great chances early in the clash with Collingwood, then saw the game slip from their grasp as the Magpies responded with a barrage of goals. The same thing happened the following week. At quarter-time, Geelong had registered nine scoring shots but had only three goals to show for its effort. Carlton, in contrast, kicked 4.0 in the first quarter, then piled on 6.4 in the second and was never headed from there. The same thing happened against the Saints. The Cats had five scoring shots in the first quarter but kicked 1.4. St Kilda, in contrast, had six scoring shots but kicked 4.2. Those early misses proved very costly.

But enough of the negative stuff. Here's something to warm the hearts of all Cats supporters ...

We have a couple of seriously talented players waiting in the wings and primed to step up in the VFL and AFL after the bye.

Mitch Clark has now played three games in the VFL looks ready to rumble in the AFL, while Scott Selwood will return to action via the VFL when the Cats play the Northern Blues at Ikon Park on Saturday June 9.

On top of those two, Sam Menegola is also pushing hard for a chance in the AFL.

Now it's your turn to let us know which of these players you think can have the greatest impact at the highest level in the lead-up to the finals.