Cats on the verge of top four finish

GEELONG could sew up a top four spot if it can overcome St Kilda at Marvel Stadium tomorrow (Saturday, August 17), with the Cats keen on a return to the finals following the tribulations of 2023.

The Cats sit on 56 points in fourth with two games left to play in the home and away season, with Brisbane just behind on 54 points.

If Geelong can defeat the Saints and Brisbane fall to reigning premiers Collingwood in Round 23, the Cats will be well placed to potentially earn a home final, with Round 24’s game against 16th-placed West Coast at GMHBA Stadium.

Cats head coach Chris Scott has been extremely pleased with his side’s play in recent weeks, including Saturday’s hard-fought 62-73 win over Fremantle.

“In the context of the season, it was a pretty important game for us,” Scott said.

“We’re confident, but not over-confident, I hope, because I stress we were 7-0 at the start of the year, but it didn’t feel like we were the best team in the comp, and everything was perfect.

“Then we lost some games in the tough part of the draw to good teams, most of them by small margins, and I didn’t think we were going that badly, either.”

Among the list of performing Cats was small forward Shaun Mannagh, who kicked two goals against the Dockers – including the game-sealing major in the last quarter – and collected 15 disposals.

“Hopefully all our fans turn out for us and push us off into a nice little finals series,” Mannagh said ahead of this week’s game.

Patrick Dangerfield was elite last week with 11 clearances, while Shannon Neale also kicked a brace in another important showing for the young forward.

Gryan Miers led all ball getters with 23 disposals and 292 metres gained, while Max Holmes, Zach Guthrie, Ollie Dempsey and Dangerfield all finished with 20 disposals each.

Gary Rohan is likely to return to the line-up for this week’s matchup with the Saints, after a decision to delay his return from concussion an extra week.

Tomorrow’s game at Marvel Stadium begins at 7.30pm.