By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
THE Cats are hoping to kill two birds with one stone at the expense of the Swans this week.
A good showing resulting in a win against a likely finals’ opponent would also produce in a top two ladder finish.
Interest in the final make-up of the top four has sharpened, with pundits declaring a top two finish creates a definite advantage by avoiding interstate games and probably an MCG qualifying final.
But with Sydney being Geelong’s closest competitors for a top two finish, the Cats have the chance to inflict double jeopardy on the Swans.
As he has done all season, coach Chris Scott held he was more interested in his team’s form line than the win-loss column.
“Second is important, but playing good footy and beating a high quality opposition on the weekend is more important,” Scott said.
“I’ve heard some commentary around where finals could be played, who you’re going to play. From our position, it’s still a long way away.
“We won’t be engaging in who we’d like to play or where we’d like to play. We’re just going to play the best footy we can and we’ll take on anyone anywhere,” he said.
“The top four teams would all say the same thing.”
While Scott may hide a couple of tactics up his sleeve, he declared that what Sydney sees is what Sydney gets.
“Because we prioritise playing our best footy we won’t be holding too much back.
“Maybe there are some one percenters tactically, but to be honest, in the context of a game against the best opposition, those things are really one percenters,” he said.
“The little tactical battles are insignificant compared to the core parts of your game style and we’d be foolish to muck around with the fundamentals of our game style at this time of year.
“So what Sydney sees from us this weekend will probably be what they see from us in the finals if we are fortunate enough to play them.”
Geelong’s goal-kicking did not suffer against West Coast despite the absence of Tom Hawkins, with skipper Joel Selwood again bagging multiple majors.
Scott said Selwood’s role changed “a little bit” but put most of the forward thrusts down to self-improvement of his “exceptional young captain and leader”.
“Most of what Joel does is driven by him. He along with our other senior players identify where they like to improve and coaches have some input into that.
“We try to coach players to play to their strength. Joel’s the one who should take responsibility for that improvement in his game.”
But Scott was pleased with the result, given Steve Johnson’s lower point-scoring while speding more midfield time.
“It definitely helps the midfield. I’d like to think we have a wide array of options available to us. Joel is contributing to that but he’s not the only one,” he said.
“We’ve had a few subtle changes within the make-up of our team so it’s important others pick up the slack in that regard.”
Scott admitted the absence of Paul Chapman had “potentially hurt us a little bit, so fortunately Joel has been able to stand up”.
However, he did not give his veteran forward a “golden ticket” back into the side.
“We won’t roll the dice at any stage. We’ll make a really considered decision around when he’s ready to play and how he’ll help the team.”
