‘WE WON’T JUMP AT SHADOWS’
DANGER: Forward mix doesn’t need reshuffle
STAR midfielder Patrick Dangerfield insists Geelong “won’t jump at shadows”, despite falling to its second loss in three starts.
As the Cats’ revamped forward line came under the microscope following a wayward outing against the Western Bulldogs, Dangerfield backed the group to rediscover their form.
“I don’t think it needs revisiting,” Dangerfield said of potential changes to the forward mix.
“I don’t think you need to jump at shadows after one or two games. We’ve had great pressure in that forward half, we’ve had great execution and we’ll continue to get that for the rest of the year.”
Kicking 7.13 under the roof at Marvel Stadium, Dangerfield blamed inaccuracy, rather than forward structures, for the loss.
And he remains confident the club is tracking in the right direction. “If you look at it in isolation you’d say ‘Oh, we haven’t been great over the last three weeks’,” Dangerfield said.
“But at the same time we’ve played some pretty good footy at times on the weekend but we just weren’t able to kick goals so I think you can look at trends all you like but I still think we’re playing some good footy.”
Preparing to review the 16-point loss following yesterday’s training session, Dangerfield said the Cats would still take plenty of positives from the match.
“There is disappointment in the loss, it’s certainly a game you’d rather win,” Dangerfield said. “But there’s areas of the game where we played quite well and then our ability to finish was poor when we had the flow of the game going our way, just taking the ascendancy on the scoreboard which we weren’t able to do. And the Western Bulldogs played some pretty good footy.
“It’s always a balanced review whether we’ve been winning games of footy or losing, you take the emotion out of the result and you review it thoroughly but without the emotion attached otherwise you spend the whole season up and down with your emotions.”
Asked if opposition clubs had “worked the Cats out”, Dangerfield quipped: “They did on the weekend, but does it happen if we kick straight? Perhaps not”.
“They certainly played their brand of footy which we weren’t able to counterpunch against. We’ve got to make sure we play ours for longer periods of time.
“I think we’re always attacking in our approach to a game. We’re never trying not to lose, we’re always trying to play our brand.
“I think not trying to lose is perhaps going away from what you know works well, whether that’s an attacking mindset or a defensive mindset. We’re always pretty attacking in the way we play our game and we’ll continue to do that.”
Recovering from a hamstring injury, Esava Ratugolea took part in a large chunk of today’s training session and Dangerfield expects the big man to be in the frame for AFL selection.
“By all indications, he’ll be available,” Dangerfield said.
“We’ll know later in the week when we have our main session and whether he’s able to undertake that, but we’re pretty confident he’ll be ready to go.”
Dangerfield will also have his hand up for selection, declaring he is in no rush to be rested, despite copping a battering in recent weeks.
“When we’re playing as well as we’re playing, as a player you want to constantly be a part of it and go along for the ride,” he said. “As young players come in you want to enjoy the journey with them as well.
“We’ve had some players in great form that at some stage will push their name onto the magnet board. Whether it’s listed as rested, I think it’s more that we’ve got players in really good form that are going to earn their opportunity to play.”