We need to lift: Carter
Cats chief expects grand final berth
GEELONG president Colin Carter reiterated his disappointment in this year’s preliminary final exit at last night’s annual general meeting.
About 100 members attended the AGM held at GMHBA Stadium in which Carter implored his side to improve on its third-placed finish.
“At the end of the day we came up a bit short so we can’t call it a great year,” Carter said in his opening address.
“The message that will go into next year is that there is still work to be done.
“If you come third in an Olympic event, you get a medal. In football, the conventionalism is that you’ve failed.
“We think third was a very good outcome given where we’ve come from, but we accept we weren’t quite there.”
But Carter said there was “a lot of optimism” that the Cats could reach the decider in 2018.
“It was a great effort in a sense that there were only six players in our preliminary final side that were in our 2011 premiership side,” he said.
“What our football department has been able to do is rebuild the list while maintaining a very competitive team.
“We’ve made the finals in 10 of the last 11 years and had eight top-four finishes in the last 11 years.
“We realise we have to take a step further and a lot of effort is going into that, but we’re well placed for another assault on a top-four or better position.”
Cats membership is up 4000 on this time last year, according to Carter, while the club has set a target of 60,000 members for next season.
It achieved a record of 56,500 members in 2017.
Carter also welcomed the 2018 fixture, which will see the Cats play nine of their 11 home games at GMHBA Stadium.
“We’ve been frustrated, as you know, for years ... about having to play home games at Etihad,” he said.
“We’ve finally got rid of those. Next year we get nine here, which is going to be terrific, and two big ones at the MCG so that’s a step forward.”