All Eyes On… The Full Litter

Gary Rohan’s head was everywhere on Friday night. The second he took the grab all 6583 phones at GMHBA Stadium came out to try and catch the game-winner as it happened. Here’s proof:

But if you want to taste the real secret sauce, watch the final 50 seconds and you'll see a conga line of Cats each doing something a little bit special to ensure the ball got to where it did in the dying seconds.

Witness Pat Dangerfield’s clearance, Joel Selwood’s contested ball win, and then Dart’s feed to a still running Danger, whose kick lands in front of Luke Dahlhaus and Bulldog Zane Cordy one out at half forward.

If Dahl doesn’t drag Cordy down the way he did, the ball does not land anywhere near Cam Guthrie, but he does, and it did. Without Guthrie’s quick-step to his left, there’s no space to find Issac Smith whose perfectly weighted kick finds Rohan.

Straight poetry.

All Eyes On… Stewy’s Century

Tom Stewart plays his 100th game this weekend.

Zach Tuohy told ABC Radio post-match that the two-time All-Australian is the best defender in the game, and it’s hard to argue after the masterpiece he submitted on the weekend.

He had 27 touches, six score involvements, a team-leading 697 metres gained, and oh yeah, his 10 intercept marks tied the record for the most by a player in the last 20 years. Read that again.

He also had 15 intercept possessions in total.

Twitter user @MitchKeat probably summed it up best when he said: “71% of the earth is covered by water. Tom Stewart covers the rest”. Bravo Mitchell.

But if you really want to know what the soon to be 100 gamer is all about, he said this after the game:

“95% is my teammates who allow me to fly and impact.. the other 5% is dumb luck.”

Go well, Stewy.

All Eyes On… Issac Racking them Up

It’s time to talk about Issac Smith.

He was literally everywhere on Friday night (53% in the back half/47% in the forward half), including in the stands retrieving errant footballs, and his 30 touches (at 90%) were a team-high.

Most fans knew he could play – Cats fans saw plenty of those Hawthorn teams – but he’s been a revelation this season in the hoops. He’s rated above average for disposals (22.7) and score involvements (5.4) and is elite for kicks (15.5) and metres gained (458.4). With Sam Menegola, he is forming possibly the best wing combination in the game.

As mentioned above, his kick to Gary Rohan with 31 seconds on the clock could not have been delivered any better. And he did that with a total of 16.1km already in his legs, second only to Jake Kolodjashnij’s 16.2.

All Eyes On… Our Newest Rivalry

The Cats are 21-3 against the Lions since 2006 and 12 of those wins have been decided by more than 40 points but as we have seen over the last 18 months, Chris Fagan has turned the current crop of Lions into a formidable unit.

Presently they sit fourth on the ladder with a percentage of 128.4, and if not for a certain contentious umpiring decision, they’d be in third, shunting the Cats down a spot. They would also have played off in a Grand Final on the Gabba last season if they didn’t run into Geelong in the preliminary final.  

In short, there’s a rivalry brewing here and you’d expect the niggle we saw back in Round 2 at GMHBA Stadium to return in full force.

Find a TV, this one will be on from the bounce.  

Go Cats!