With the Lions making the trip south to take on the Cats for our first home game of the year and both sides looking for their first win, here’s a few things geelongcats.com.au will be keeping an eye on this week. 

All eyes on… the stands

Welcome back, Cats fans!

Finally, it’s here. AFL fans, back in the stands in Geelong.

This was Chris Scott in Tuesday’s press conference:

“We haven’t played in front of loud Geelong home crowd since August 2019 for premiership points,” he said. “It feels like a long, long time ago.”

It’ll be 580 days to be exact. Five hundred and eighty days.

He went on: “Our people are starved of footy and we’re just looking forward to putting on a good show in front of a hostile, but fair, Geelong crowd.”

Everyone knows GMHBA Stadium is one of the hardest places for opposition clubs to play. Let’s keep it that way.

All eyes on… the response

Understandably, there’s been a bit of talk across the week about the Round 1 results for both sides heading into Round 2.

Both clubs’ were ambushed by a younger side, suffocated by the physical pressure, only to kick back into the game, but ultimately falling short.

And star players for both clubs fell under the scrutiny of the MRP, and we know how that went.

But all that matters now is what happens from 7.50 on Friday night. Cam Guthrie told K rock last week that the team was ‘dirty’ with their performance, and there was only one way to fix it:

“We need to take it on from the start and throw the first punch.”

No team wants to drop their first two games of the season, least of all teams with September aspirations.

And with an (almost) packed GMHBA Stadium behind us and in full voice… there’s no doubt the boys will be ready.  

All eyes on… the next man up

As we know, there’ll be a Patty Dangerfield sized hole on Chris Scott’s whiteboard this week, so we can bank on at least one change at the selection table.

Talented on-baller Charlie Constable got his opportunity on the weekend, subbing in for an injured Sam Menegola and responded with six final quarter touches, and he’ll no doubt come into consideration.

Zach Tuohy made his case for a call-up after being named among the Cats’ best in the VFL on the weekend, and then there’s Mitch Duncan.

Probably Geelong’s best player in last year’s finals series, his pre-season has been interrupted by a calf injury but hasn’t yet been ruled out for Friday’s clash.

Feels unlikely… but what a boost that would be.  

All eyes on… Tom Hawkins

While we’ll have to wait at least another week for the first episode of The Tom and Jeremy Show, Tom Hawkins has made a career out of doing just fine as the Cats’ main target in front of goal. Even with the Geelong midfield outduelled by the upstart Crows last week, the big fella still finished with two goals from four shots. History tells us however that he might be due for a big one.

Get this: Hawkins’ 55 career goals against the Lions are the most he’s booted against any side and his nine Brownlow votes are also a personal record.

And another stat: the Cats have lost just three times to the Lions since 2006 and two of those losses are by a combined total of six points. The other one we don’t talk about.

What does it all mean? Probably not a lot, but you’ll be an odds on favourite to win any Cats Trivia comps you’re a part of this week.

Go Cats.

Important

All patrons attending Friday's game at GMHBA Stadium will be required to sign in with a QR code. This will add time to enter the venue. We strongly encourage all people attending the game to arrive early.