The Kangaroo who knows every corner of the field like the back of his hand, Drew Petrie, is itching for Saturday night’s clash against the Cats.
Having endured a disappointing 23-point fall to Carlton before the bye, the Kangaroos are determined to hit back to re-ignite their final’s campaign.
“Saturday night can’t come quick enough,” Petrie told www.nmfc.com.au
“We’ve still got to make sure we remain in the eight and that starts with Geelong on Saturday night.
“I think a couple of weeks ago we were eyeing a possible top four spot, but now we’ve just got to worry about staying in the eight.
Currently the Roos are in sixth place on the ladder with Geelong, GWS, Western Bulldogs, Adelaide and Melbourne on their battle list for the run home.
This Saturday night will be Geelong and North Melbourne’s second meeting of the year. Last time the two contenders met in Round 10 the Cats came away with a 20-point win on their home turf.
“Geelong rolled us pretty comfortably down there earlier in the year, they controlled the whole game and we were fairly average for four quarters so we’re looking to rectify that,” Petrie recalled.
Kangaroo’s vice-captain Jack Ziebell says the Roos have acknowledged the fact they were out-played by the Blues, however, they haven’t accepted it.
"We didn't play the way we wanted to play. Don't take anything away from Carlton, they played really well," Ziebell told Fairfax Media.
"The review was good - we had to get some things out of it and identify things we needed to fix. Through training we have gone a long way in doing that but, obviously, you can't fix anything until you play another game.
"We just have to go out with the right mindset against quality opposition (and) we have to play the way we want to play. If not, everyone can see what Geelong wants to do. We have got to make sure we are on top of them."
The Roos best bet this Saturday night, according to Ziebell, is to beat the Cats at their own game and to keep far away from bruise-free-footy.
"If you play safe footy, it's pretty easy to defend. You almost have to keep the ball going around a little bit. In a sense, Geelong do it the best I reckon," Ziebell said.
"They just keep the ball flipping around, they do it pretty well when they attack (through) the corridor. They move the ball - it's really hard to defend.
"We have been trying to work on some things, we'll see how they go Saturday night. Hopefully, we can be a lot more attacking and get the ball inside 50 more to our big forwards."
Saturday night at 7:40 the Cats and the Roos will kick off at Etihad Stadium in a crucial battle to better their position for finals.
