NAKIA IS IN
Cats ready to bring down AFL’s top team: Danger
GEELONG superstar and former Crow Patrick Dangerfield says Adelaide is the best team in the AFL — and has been all season.
Dangerfield said the Crows ran a lot deeper than star midfielder Rory Sloane, who had starred in their last meeting — a 21-point Round 18 win by the Crows.
What’s more, the 50,000-strong crowd will take some quietening.
But Dangerfield still thinks Geelong can win tonight’s preliminary final and, with it, a place in the grand final at the minor premiers’ expense.
The Cats have made two changes, recalling Tom Lonergan and rolling the dice with Nakia Cockatoo for his first match in 55 days after hamstring issues. James Parsons and Zach Guthrie have been dropped.
“Our best is good enough,” Dangerfield declared yesterday at Melbourne Airport as he prepared to fly to Adelaide.
The Brownlow Medallist says the battle of the season’s top-two finishers is the biggest game of his career.
Dismissing pre-game jibes from Josh Jenkins and other ex-teammates as “tongue in cheek”, he made clear his respect for Adelaide.
“They’ve been the best side all year and play a really strong brand of footy,” he said.
“Adelaide are far more than just Rory Sloane. We understand that he’s a gun of the comp.
“So’s Matt Crouch, who was All-Australian this year. And there’s many others.
“Tommy Lynch has had a really good season. They’ve got so many attacking weapons off half-back.
“(Against Adelaide in Round 18) the scoreboard flattered us.
“But I think we’ve been really competitive against the best sides.”
Geelong’s defeat of Sydney erased any lingering doubts over whether the Cats belonged in the top four.
Dangerfield was deployed in the forward line in their semi-final, unsettling the favoured Swans.
He was not giving anything away as to his positioning against the Crows, saying he would take advice from coach Chris Scott.
“I don’t think it’s going to be back pocket,” he said.
“It’ll be midfield and forward depending on the flow of the game.”
The 27-year-old has returned to Adelaide Oval twice in Geelong colours, which he suggests will prepare him for the inevitable onslaught from the 50,000-strong crowd.
Dangerfield says the start will be key.
“You can’t look too far ahead. It’s simple. It’s the first five minutes,” he said.
“We need to make sure we bring the intensity that finals warrant.
“Nothing I can say really matters all that much . . . it all comes down to actions.”