Cats will not point finger if they fail

THE decision to not reschedule Premier Cricket’s abandoned round will cost Geelong a likely win, but the Cats will not be using it as an excuse for missing a top four chance.

Only seven points separate second from eighth and the Round 11 fixture against Camberwell Magpies, which was abandoned because of the lockdown, would have given Geelong a chance to move into the top four.

But the match will remain a draw after Cricket Victoria’s decision not to replay the round.

Geelong director of cricket Travis Agg said the Cats were “definitely in favour” of finding a new date to play the games but not enough clubs supported the idea.

“I guess from a purely cricket perspective and playing perspective, we would have loved to have played because the more cricket we play, the better for the season more than anything,” Agg said.

“All our players just want to play cricket and having the season postponed and then up and running and then a round postponed upset their outlook and focus and being able to play cricket.”

Camberwell has won just two games for the season and Geelong would have been favoured to make it five wins from six matches.

But Agg said it would not use that as a reason for missing out on a finals double chance.

“I think it’d be really easy for us to say, ‘This has the potential to cost us top four’,” he said.

“Reality is, you’ve still got to win games of cricket. We were in a really good position to win against Melbourne and we didn’t so that could potentially cost us a top four (spot).

“I think it’s a really easy out for us to say, ‘We would have finished top four if we had have played an extra round of cricket’. In reality, we kind of control the result in terms of where we finish.”

Geelong has a 7-1-4 record and has games still to come against St Kilda (third), Richmond (12th) Prahran (fifth), Fitzroy Doncaster (seventh) and Northcote (fourth) before the finals.