Finals still on young Cats’ radar

GEELONG hasn’t given up hope of playing VFL finals, says experienced player Jake Edwards.

The Cats sit 11th but are one game and 50 per cent out of the top eight, with a favourable fixture still to come.

They face the three clubs below them on the ladder — North Ballarat, Coburg and Collingwood — in the next three weeks, starting with the struggling Roosters away on Sunday.

“The VFL season is kind of up and down at the moment with clubs,” Edwards said.

“There’s a lot of opportunity to move up quite quick into the final eight. We still want to play finals footy, that’s what we’re all about.

“We’re pretty confident we’ve got the list that can achieve that by the end of the year.”

On Geelong’s best form, there’s no reason why it can’t — a win over reigning premier Footscray three games back showcased the Cats’ best, but inconsistency continues to dog the young side.

“The game we performed against the Bulldogs, we performed really well. We do have the belief we can match it against the best teams in the competition, it’s just a matter of on game day executing that for four quarters,” Edwards said.

“It’s probably consistent with having such a young team. I think a lot of time, even though Geelong has incredible talent, you kind of forget they’re still very young.”

Tom Ruggles’ shoulder injury leaves the Cats thin on experience in their defensive half, but Edwards said the side’s “younger, middle-tier players” would need to help Geelong break out of its rough trot.

“We’ve got a great opportunity the next four weeks to get our season back in the green,” he said.

“We all know defence is a critical area of set up and structure, so it is going to be a young team, but North Ballarat have had a difficult year this year and we’ll be looking to bounce back from the last couple of disappointing weeks.”