FAR FROM TOP CATS
Ladder leaders can improve, says Gaz
GEELONG champion Gary Ablett maintains there is still a lot for the Cats to improve on as they eye Saturday night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium.
The Cats extended their lead at the top of the ladder to eight points courtesy of Friday night’s win over Adelaide and Collingwood slipping up against North Melbourne on Saturday. However, Ablett said Geelong knows it can get better.
The Crows were clearly on top in the contested possession and clearances against the Cats early in Friday night’s clash and were able to get out to a 20-point lead.
Moving Mark Blicavs into the ruck helped stop the rot and the Cats were able to get back on top in the contest and surge away.
Port Adelaide also exposed them a fortnight ago when it handed the Cats their second loss for the season.
It is something the Cats can’t afford to repeat against the Bulldogs on a fast deck at Marvel Stadium.
“(Adelaide) has obviously been in good form, they’ve won seven out of their last nine leading into this game,” Ablett said after the 27point win over the Crows.
“We knew if we stuck to our structure, won the contested ball — that was a big focus of ours leading into this game — that we’d give ourself a big chance of winning and it was just good to get the win and get over the line.
“It starts in the middle and we know that, it’s something we spoke about last week that we need to win the contested ball and get it inside-50 to give our forwards a chance.
“We’ve been a good one-on-one team this year and we knew if we were able to get those opportunities and hold it in our forward half that it was going to go a long way to winning it.
“We watched a lot of tape this week and we needed to make sure we were on.
“It was good to get over the line … but there’s still plenty of improvement ahead of us.
“We will make sure we are training well.”
Skipper Joel Selwood, who has spent a lot of time on the wing this season, returned to the middle for the first centre bounce and was instrumental for the Cats after halftime, finishing the night with 33 touches.
“I thought he was fantastic. It’s not easy being played out of a position he has played for a long time,” Ablett said.
“He has been getting used to that role this year and we don’t expect Joel to touch it 30 times. We know he is hard at it, wins the contested ball for us.
“He usually uses the ball well as well. It was good to see him get his hands on it a bit tonight.”
The Bulldogs host ladderleaders Geelong on Saturday night, although Dogs coach Luke Beveridge ruled out stalwart Dale Morris from returning to AFL ranks.
Morris played a VFL game on Saturday, just 106 days after having knee reconstruction surgery.
“It will definitely take him another one or two (state league games) before we consider him,” he said.
“There’s no absolute need to bring him in right at this point of time. We need him to really find his feet, feel good about it, be ready to come back up — we’re not going to rush that.
“But the great thing is he got through and hopefully he pulls up well.”