A first half of alarm bells. A third quarter of potential. In the end 22 players are better than 19.

As one astute Twitter user posted, the Cats were like the Melbourne weather on Sunday; four seasons in one day.

Apologies to the neighbours of Cats fans yesterday who also would have beared witness to everyone human emotion possible.

But what is to be made of these wild fluctuations?

To understand this we need to look at the full spectrum of what happened at Optus Stadium.

First the bad.

Once again the Cats struggled to get the ball inside the forward 50 in the first half. This time though, the entries that did penetrate the Cats forward line were of a poor quality.

At one point in the second quarter, the Cats had a forward entry efficiency of around 30%. This can be mitigated by a high number of entries, but the Cats had just 25 first half entries meaning their 2.7 at quarter time showed a forward line bereft of legitimate chances at scoring.

The 17 third quarter inside 50s, with much better efficiency, resulted in a much more palatable 6.3.

The Cats were fortunate the Eagles hadn’t punished them in the first half when they registered an inaccurate 7.9.

This point also leads to the good from yesterday, aside from the third quarter barrage that nearly stole the game for the Cats.

Under the immense pressure of 36 forward 50 entries in the first half for the Eagles, the Cats young defenders, in particular Tom Stewart and Jack Henry, showed immense poise.

Stewart’s fist could be excused for being a bit sore after he produced an impressive 10 spoils for the game. At least four Eagles goals, not including an interesting score review, were prevented by Stewart’s aerial defence.

So where to from here?

There is no doubt that the Cats were severely impinged by the losses of Cam Guthrie (ankle), Nakia Cockatoo (PCL) and Gary Ablett Jnr (hamstring).

The warm weather, interstate travel and effects of a bruising encounter with Hawthorn six days prior overwhelmed the Cats when they were reduced to one fit player on the interchange bench.

However, the Cats will now get the chance to head back to the familiar surrounds of GMHBA Stadium for a must win clash with the Saints next Sunday, the lessons of the Eagles clash still fresh.

Nothing less than an improved performance will be expected and there'll be a great opportunity to continue the development of a side that clearly has a lot of potential.