Geelong’s emerging forward, Jordan Murdoch, concedes the Cats will look to lift their game once they return from this week’s bye after leaving the ground dissatisfied with their last two performances.
The first one was the 40-point loss to Port Adelaide and the second was Sunday’s close five-point win over Richmond, who sit 10 spots away from the Cats on the ladder.
“The first five weeks were a bit more of what we’re about this season,” Murdoch told News Limited.
“We’ve probably come away (from the loss to Port Adelaide and the narrow win over Richmond) thinking we’ve got a lot of improving to do.
“I couldn’t put a percentage on it, but we know we’ve got to improve to match it with the top-sides.”
Although this week’s bye will give the Cats the opportunity to unwind and re-charge their batteries, Murdoch says it won’t make their battle against the Dockers any easier.
“We have a lot of things to work on but now we’ll go and relax and prepare for Freo in the coming weeks.”
“It’s going to be hard. Any way you go about it, it’s tough playing last year’s grand finalist and we’re not going to take it lightly.
“Yes, we’re going to be refreshed, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do and it’s going to be really hard over there.”
However, Murdoch is confident the Cats, with a bye or not, have the preparation to re-ignite their tough brand of footy in time for round 9 at Patersons Stadium.
“Had the bye not come this week, I think we’d back ourselves to get back to our best,” Murdoch said.
“We’ve gone in 6-1 and everyone gets a bit of a refresher before we make the trip to Perth so that’s quite good timing.
This year Murdoch hasn’t missed a game and on Sunday he again demonstrated why. The speedy youngster, with only 26 AFL games under his belt, continues to show that he has the courage to step up when the Cats need him most.
Coming from nowhere, on more occasions than one, Murdoch has been able to change the game with his snapping kick in front of goal.
In round five against the Hawks he added two crucial goals to the scoreboard, which he then replicated against Richmond last week.
“I personally have felt the best I have in the last two weeks, which is surprising,” Murdoch said.
“But it’s still a good time to have a break and relax the muscles. It’s a hard game, AFL so it will be quite refreshing.”
