Tough finals ahead
Cats TV ask if this year's finals could be one of the the toughest contests we've seen for a long time, on Argue the Toss?
Cats TV asked James Kelly and AFL journalist Adam McNicol if this year’s finals could possibly be one of the most even series yet?
According to Cats TV, five of the top eight teams have lost two of their last five games.
Kelly agrees that this year’s competition has been tight, however, he believes final’s football always provoke tight contests.
“I think last year and the year before were quite even as well, there’s been standout sides but I think as you go into the finals you know that it’s always going to be really even,” James said.
“It’s a different brand of football and I think the top five especially will be really hard to split.”
Out of the two topsides, Hawthorn and the Cats, McNicol identifies numerous areas that each team must improve on in order to maintain their dominance come finals.
“Both sides have got some weaknesses; the Cats were pretty badly beaten out of the middle by North and that’s a big thing they’ve got to rectify coming into the finals, and the Hawks seem to struggle to go with sides that seem to really spread hard against them.”
“The Tigers (on Saturday) really got on the outside of them, they’re pace and ability to go with sides is probably not what it once was,” McNicol said.
Overall, Kelly felt the Cats lacked energy in a number of key areas on Friday night, which affected their attacking abilities as well as their defence.
“I think our attack wasn’t good enough and that really hurt us defensively,” Kelly explained.
“We went too quick with the ball, which meant our defence didn’t have a chance to catch up behind it. I think that is probably one thing that we’re looking forward to this week, and that is to make sure that we’re cleaner in our attack.”
Click on the video above to watch the complete episode of Argue the Toss on Cats TV.