PRESSURE TEST
Youngsters face test on footy’s biggest stage
GEELONG will find out on Friday night if it is up to playing competitive finals football.
Facing the reigning premier and benchmark of the competition in Richmond, the Cats must bring their A-game at the MCG if they are to prove themselves worthy of a crack at the premiership.
Geelong Advertiser columnist Cam Mooney says the biggest test is whether the Cats can go with the Tigers for four quarters and, more importantly, the final term when the Tigers put the foot down.
FRIDAY night against the reigning premier is by far the biggest test Geelong will face, not only because it is playing the best side in the comp but because the Cats are playing at a ground they are yet to prove themselves on.
They’ve lost eight of their past 18 games at the MCG, including three of their past four, but this is where the Grand Final is won.
From a Geelong point of view, this is when you want the big test, not in Round 22 when you may get rolled.
This is when the coaches find out exactly how they’re going after a couple of really big wins and this is where Chris Scott will want to really know what Geelong’s best 22 will look like before finals.
The biggest test in football now is whether you can go the four quarters of pressure against Richmond. We’ve seen teams — and Collingwood last week is a great example — go for three quarters or go for a half.
If you can’t last four quarters of high-pressure football, physically or mentally, the Tigers will get you.
That’s why it will be a great test to see physically and mentally where the Cats are at, because for 120 minutes, Richmond is going to bring it — it’s what the Tigers based their premiership around and it’s why they’re the best team in the competition.
Geelong’s weapon is its midfield.
I’m absolutely thrilled Rhys Stanley has answered the challenge that the coach laid down a couple of months ago.
He’s been in great form and the midfield on its day is as good as any in the competition.
It runs extremely deep — Gary Ablett, Joel and Scott Selwood, Patrick Dangerfield, Mitch Duncan, Tim Kelly, Sam Menegola — and with its other major weapon, Tom Hawkins, in scintillating form, the Cats need all cylinders firing.
The Cats can’t expect that Hawkins is going to kick another big bag, particularly coming up against the best defender in the competition in Alex Rance — and at times he’ll have David Astbury, who is no slouch either. So it will be interesting to see if someone else can put three or four goals on the board, or if the Cats can have a really good spread of 10 or 11 goalkickers.
My biggest concern for Geelong, however, is its young group. The only way those players are going to get better in big games is by playing in them and learning from them.
The last time the Cats played Richmond, in Round 13, they trailed by a point at three- quarter time but fell away in the last term. I want to know, in particular, what the young boys learnt.
For three quarters they were fantastic, but they just couldn’t go for four quarters.
Until any team can prove they can stick with the Tigers, it’s hard to go tip against Richmond. But if the Cats can win this, they set themselves up for a huge finish and with the confidence that this is the only ground you can win the Grand Final on.