Cats’ uphill battle

IF only it was a bad dream. But it’s appearing more like a recurring nightmare.

Geelong and finals don’t mix.

What I saw against Richmond was a Geelong side that had no pace out of the backline, couldn’t run and carry the ball through the middle of the MCG and couldn’t handle the heat of the contest, so they just turned the ball over.

We saw Tom Hawkins and Harry Taylor spend far too much time up past the halfway point of the ground, which is not where you want to see them.

We saw that Geelong didn’t have any small forwards with speed, or any small forwards with nous to get out the back.

A lot of guys were jumpy, fumbly, pushed aside. It was slippery but it was also down to Richmond’s pressure.

For me, that’s a quick snapshot of what I saw at last Friday night.

So how can it be fixed? Sydney is going to apply the same level of manic pressure and the Cats don’t have any pressure forwards to bring in, so we could be set for much of the same, unless the Cats can work out how to be more composed with the footy.

I’m still 50-50 about the Daniel Menzel decision. It seems weird to back a bloke in for the whole season, then drop him for the final when he is your equal second-best goalscorer for the season.

When the ball was inside 50 for Geelong, there wasn’t much pressure — very little pressure in fact — and so I understand that in the modern game, there’s nowhere to hide if you don’t pressure well enough. An accusation levelled at Menzel.

Then again, you had a guy who kicked 38 goals and, more to the point, someone who can kick two or three goals at critical times in big moments, can make something out of nothing. Sure there were a lack of entries, but Geelong was in the match until three- quarter time. Menzel only needed to turn two or three of those entries into goals and the match could have had a far different complexion heading into the final quarter before the dam wall broke open.

You talk about defensive pressure, scoreboard pressure can be as telling.

The question is: does Chris Scott go back on his decision and pick Menzel, which, to many, would look like a backflip. Or, does he stick to his convictions and keep him out of the side, believing the problems are more than him and that the Cats are better without him?

The loss of Cam Guthrie is significant. He did an outstanding job on Dustin Martin last week, until he went off, and then Martin just ran rampant and went from being a solid contributor to being probably the best on the ground.

It’s time to get Jackson Thurlow back into the side. He’s a guy with leg speed and neat skills to help trigger the transition off half-back.

Some senior players need to stand up against Sydney. Steven Motlop made some unbelievably bad errors. To win the crowd over, he needs to have a big game on Friday night. Now 133 games and nine finals into his career, it is the time to be a matchwinner.

I also want to see Hawkins playing closer to goal. If they persist with Taylor up forward, use him as the bailout kick up the ground.

Taylor has the work rate to play that role and Hawkins simply needs to be as close to goal as possible.

That also means the Cats have to get Wylie Buzza back in the side — a guy who can provide another target, who makes a contest and at least gets shots on goal.

Seriously, if I see Hawkins