Geelong is back in the AFL top eight and coach Chris Scott is bullish about the chaos the reigning premiers can cause.
The Cats belted North Melbourne by 62 points on Sunday at GMHBA Stadium to honour Zach Tuohy’s 265th game.
Tuohy took the record from Jim Stynes for the most matches by an Irishman with the 19.11(125) to 9.9(63) win.
Geelong now has a tough end to the season, starting with next Saturday night’s home game against a resurgent Essendon.
Other than Fremantle, which made the finals last year, all the Cats’ opponents are above them on the ladder.
But Scott is relishing the challenge, saying his team’s best form will test the best in the league.
‘We still have the capacity to find our best footy and be very, very dangerous,” Scott said.
“We thought today was a step in the right direction there. We are very confident that if we play our best footy, we’re the danger.
“We’re OK with (our fixture) … at least you can co me away from those games, if you play well, thinking that’s a bit more validation, that our best is going to be good enough. But I think we know that already.”
Adding to the optimism, key forward Jeremy Cameron should return from injury to face the Bombers.
North kicked two of the first three goals, but Geelong claimed the next 11 to kill off the match.
The Kangaroos’ third goal did not come until nine minutes into the third term.
Adding to a dirty day, Griffin Logue has a knee injury that is feared serious and co-captain Jy Simpkin was also forced out of the game because of concussion.
North coach Brett Ratten said his side was smashed in centre bounce clearances and that put it on the back foot throughout the game.
“We just know when you play Geelong down here .. they get run-ons, lock you away and set the game up and to lose centre bounce you give them exactly what they want,” Ratten said.
“They kicked a goal, we went back to the middle and we start the game in their forward 50 nearly,”
The Kangaroos were 68 points down in the third quarter, but they stopped the game becoming a total rout.
Ratten spoke of them trying to have little wins and one came in the last quarter when Cooper Harvey, the son of AFL games record holder Brent, kicked his first goal on debut.
North players ran from everywhere to congratulate Harvey and Ratten said that showed their spirit remained strong, despite 14 consecutive losses.
Tyson Stengle kicked five goals and Ollie Henry four for the Cats as Mitch Duncan impressed with 30 possessions, while Luke Davies-Uniacke was best for North and kicked two goals.
