Heat on Cats to put nightmare to rest
TONIGHT is huge. How are the nerves?
Adelaide has a point to prove. Geelong has to back up last week’s win.
The Crows are fighting for respect. The Cats are fighting for finals.
Adelaide players and fans will be buzzing with the news yesterday that Rory Sloane is staying in South Australia.
The next captain has committed to the club for another five years and in doing so has finally brought about a good news story for a team battling a bit this year.
But I reckon the pressure is all on Geelong.
For starters the players will have a niggle in the back of their mind that the last time these two teams met was last year’s preliminary final. And they were spanked. It was 61 points in the end and not the way the club would have liked to end the year.
Redemption for that starts tonight. Same venue. Same need to win. But some things are different.
There’s now a bloke named Gary Ablett running around in hoops.
He hasn’t been doing too well of late. He must lift his game to the next level tonight. We’ve seen this year that he can. He’s not finished. Tonight is his stage.
Same, too, for Patrick Dangerfield. There’s always a bit of extra cream on top when “Danger” plays his old side.
His mates become his enemies. It’ll be a hostile crowd at the Adelaide Oval.
It’s the one and only Thursday night game there for the year. It is school holidays. The weather looks favourable.
But the Cats must play consistent footy like they did at the SCG last weekend.
Chris Scott coached really well in that game.
There were players around the ball at every contest.
There was no fear factor or intimidation by the Cats players with the likes of Buddy Franklin.
It’ll have to be the same with Eddie Betts and Taylor Walker tonight.
Betts is back and Tex has points to prove.
As we get closer to finals I can’t remember a season so unpredictable.
Usually the final eight is set and only a few moves within it are made.
But right now, the only real guarantee is Richmond will play finals. Everyone else has to win.
Which means if Geelong can beat Adelaide tonight and then defeat Melbourne next week it can exhale slightly.
But it still has to play Richmond and Hawthorn.
It’s not easy. It’s a must win.