Steven Motlop told SEN Radio that the Cats find it difficult not to think about finals, however, they know when to shut off and concentrate on the task ahead.

And that’s exactly what they’ll do this Saturday against Port Adelaide at Simonds Stadium.

After last week’s defeat by the Roos, Motlop reassures that the Cats will set their sights high on completing the next challenge, to make sure they are in full swing once September arrives.  

“Now we just want to focus on this week and try and turn it around and finals aren’t too far away and we want to be playing our best footy by then,” Motlop told SEN Radio.

Motlop says the Cats' plan of attack is the same with every opponent they meet, and that is to stop them from gaining access to the scoreboard.

He says their strongest brand of footy is “being hard to score against and not letting the other side score easily, like North Melbourne did.”

Last Friday night the Cats let the Kangaroos steal their rhythm and unfortunately they weren’t able to retrieve it back before the final siren.

“We just let them have a little bit of confidence early and they’re a good side at flicking the ball around and working through the defence, and they’ll score pretty heavily when you let them do that,” Motlop said.

“We pride ourselves on our defence and when it comes to our attack we just let it take over and run itself and it usually comes out fine.
“I just try and do the basics first and kick the goals.”

At this time of year Motlop admits that the finals tend to slip into your mind, however he says the Cats' main focus is on the job that remains in front of them.

“Yeah you do always think about finals but we do have some pretty good opposition to play in the next four weeks and we have to take it week by week,” Motlop said.

“We’re coming up against Sydney and Port who had a good win last week so they will try to do the same as the Kangaroos.”