Morale high at Cattery

‘We’re still hungry’

A SURF Coast training session and a tough workout under Friday night lights will have the Cats primed to tackle Collingwood in next week’s MCG qualifying final.

Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield has declared the minor premier a different outfit to those that failed in previous September campaigns.

The Cats have made the finals in seven of the past eight seasons but despite making three preliminary finals have not reached a Grand Final.

Geelong this week trained in Torquay ahead of match simulation tomorrow night and Dangerfield said the club was “really confident with what we’ve delivered this year”.

“We’ve finished where we have for a reason … we’ve had down patches as every team this season has had,” he said.

“But we’re going into the final rounds confident, and we still played some really good footy against Brisbane (in Round 22).

“We didn’t quite execute as we’d have liked in the last five to 10 minutes, but we’re really confident. We’ve played some great footy at the ’G this year, so in front of a packed crowd it will be great.”

The 29-year-old said he considered the team to be “totally different” in personnel to that of recent years while his desire to win a premiership still burned. “It burns, but at the same time you’ve got to make sure that you get there,” he said.

“Our preparation can’t be any further than this week.

“Our first session Friday night will prepare us as best we can for the first quarter against Collingwood … we can’t afford to look any further ahead. Collingwood is too good an opposition to do that and the competition is too even.”

Taking opportunities would be vital to the “hungry” group.

“We’ve had really good opportunities (in the last few years) … you’ve got to make the most of those opportunities and we haven’t been able to do that,” Dangerfield said.

“This is a really united group that has really flourished in the contested style of footy that we’ve played. We’ve got some hungry players that are really eager for success, so that’s a good starting point.”

Fellow Cats star Gary Ablett is yet to sit down with the club to discuss his future, but said he had been pleased with his output in his 18th season.

“The focus for me going into pre-season was just getting my body right, sitting down with the doctors and physios and just working through what I needed to do to get healthy,” Ablett said.

“I knew that if I was able to get my body right, footy IQ is not something you lose. I’m really happy that I’ve been able to get out and play 21 games, and hopefully plenty more.”