Football is back and so are the Cats for the 2024 AFL season.

As the club continues to ramp up preparations with round one looming, we take a look at the year ahead in a three part Cats season preview.

Part Two focuses on the Cats fixture looking at the top three games you can’t afford to miss, and running through the Geelong home games where you can see the team live.

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The Fixture | Home Games

The Cats will play nine games at GMHBA Stadium this year, starting with an opening round clash against St Kilda to officially open the brand new Joel Selwood Stand.

Big name Melbourne teams such as Hawthorn and Richmond will venture down the highway for the first time in years, while finalists from last year, Port Adelaide and GWS will also visit in the middle of the season.

The Cats will play their remaining two home games at the MCG; one in Round 7 against Carlton and one against Essendon in Round 16.

CLICK HERE for a full rundown of the Cats 2024 season fixture.

The Fixture | Top Three Can’t Miss Games

1.     Geelong v Gold Coast – Round 10 @ TIO Stadium

The Cats have played at 33 football grounds right across Australia in their V/AFL history, but no Geelong team has ever competed for Premiership Points in the Northern Territory ……. until this year.

Geelong will travel to TIO Stadium in Darwin to take on the Gold Coast Suns on a Thursday night in week 10, to open the Sir Doug Nicholls Indigenous Round.

The clash will be the only time Geelong feature on Thursday night football in 2024, while also marking the only match up with the Suns in the regular season.

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2.     Geelong v Collingwood – Round 18 @ MCG

One of the more underrated rivalries of the 2020’s reignites in round 18, when the Cats travel up the highway to take on Collingwood in a blockbuster at the MCG.

The clash will mark the only meeting between the two sides in the regular season, with four of their last five games being decided by 13 points or less.

Geelong’s last outing against the Magpies was a classic, with Jeremy Cameron booting seven goals while Ollie Henry kicked four majors against his old side.

3.     Geelong v Richmond – Round 12 @ GMHBA Stadium

Geelong will host Richmond at GMHBA Stadium in 2024 for just the second time in the past 12 years, with the Tigers last visiting late in the 2017 season.

Another rivalry that has dished up some of the most memorable games in the past decade, the Cats have had the better of the match up in recent years winning three of the last four clashes.

Geelong hasn’t been beaten by Richmond at GMHBA Stadium since round nine in 2006, during a stretch where the Cats beat the Tigers 20 times from 21 clashes.