All of a sudden Geelong’s GMHBA Stadium fortress looks penetrable and it doesn’t get any easier tomorrow.
The Cats have lost two games at home this season, to GWS in round 11 and to Fremantle last weekend.
Tomorrow night’s massive clash against second placed Port Adelaide could be season defining for both sides.
The Power have a few problems of their own. Three straight losses after a 13-game winning streak have many questioning their premiership credentials.
Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield said the shock loss to Fremantle had been put aside.
“It was a tough game to get our heads around initially, it was obviously tight throughout, it was very much a grind and we didn’t execute our game the way we really would have liked,” he said.
“But the game moves fast, it moves quick and we’ve got to get over it.
“It’s a big challenge this week against Port who are obviously at the punchy end of the ladder so we’ll have to be at our best.”
Geelong will be without key forward Tom Hawkins and swingman Mark Blicavs through injury.
“Hawk’s one of the greatest of all time and Blitz is arguably the best Swiss Army knife in the competition,” Dangerfield said.
“It will be a different look but at the same time, it provides opportunity and that’s the part that gets me excited.
“We’ve had some players who have been playing some wonderful footy in our VFL program so there’ll be opportunities this week and our best performances are still built off the back of really great collective performances, never on one outstanding player so that will be critical for us this week.”
Geelong’s top four hopes are in tatters and it faces an uphill battle just to make the finals. The Cats are in ninth spot, half a game behind Western Bulldogs.
“For us it’s about controlling what’s in our area of control and not looking too far ahead, understanding where we are at and not closing a blind eye to it, but unless we take care of business on a weekly basis then that makes that part of it irrelevant,” Dangerfield said.
“It’s up to us. If we’re good enough we’ll make it.”
Geelong’s round 21 game against Port Adelaide is at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday August 5 at 7.25pm.
