By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
GEELONG is in for a tough stretch, travelling twice in three weeks while working in back-to-back six-day breaks to boot.
Coach Chris Scott acknowledged the challenge but said it wouldn’t change the Cats’ approach to facing West Coast in Sunday’s game at Domain Stadium.
“We have a relatively tough fortnight post the game,” he told this week’s media conference.
“But we won’t be taking it easy leading into the game because we have a tough fortnight post the game.
“We’ve known the fixture since it came out and have been planning around it.”
In fact, the break following the West Coast game is in reality only five days since it’s scheduled as the final match of the round.
The team then spends most of Monday travelling home before fronting Essendon the following Saturday.
After that Geelong backs up against the Power at Adelaide Oval on a Friday night.
And the Cats have to wait until the second of the bye weeks for a rest before heading back to South Australia to take on Adelaide.
At first glance Geelong’s challenge against West Coast in its own nest appears formidable.
Second on the ladder and posting impressive stats across a number of categories, the Eagles have been one of the surprise packets of the season.
Scott’s own observations of West Coast showed it was a tough team to beat.
“They’re six and two for a reason,” he said.
“Their midfield is getting a lot of the ball and when they don’t get the ball they’re pressuring the opposition pretty well.
“They’ve got a star-studded forward line, which means if their midfield dominates and gives them a lot of supply they’re going to be hard to beat.
“The challenge is to reverse that and put their defenders under pressure and prevent the ball from getting to their gun forwards.”
Closer inspection of the Eagle’s record shows that the bulk of their wins have come against lesser opponents on exposed form so far, making assessment difficult.
The task is similar to that posed by Collingwood two weeks ago when it was sitting second on the ladder, with the added complication of travel thrown into the mix.
“The draw does mean probably more than other seasons it’s a bit hard to work out exactly where everyone sits,” Scott said.
“The season has a little bit to go before we settle down and see where everyone’s at.
“I think this week will be a pretty good opportunity for both teams to get a bit of a clearer picture.
“I suspect it’s going to be a season with momentum shifts.”
