After another thrilling Easter Monday contest against the Hawks, Geelong will be back at the MCG after a six-day break to take on the unbeaten Demons.
Here’s what geelongcats.com.au will be keeping their eyes on this weekend.
All eyes on… Mitch Duncan
While the likes of Cam Guthrie and Mark O’Connor have taken up plenty of column space this week for their recent efforts, and rightly so, the return of Mitch Duncan has slipped under the radar.
Let’s start with this: 37 touches, including 25 in the second half, 10 marks, six score involvements and a team leading 566 metres gained.
Not bad for a player coming off just one half of VFL football for the season.
His performance in last year’s finals series probably won him a few additional admirers but he remains wildly underrated beyond the Cattery.
All eyes on… The forward line. Again.
The make-up of the Geelong forward line around Tom Hawkins is becoming a weekly discussion and will once again be a talking point after both Shaun Higgins and Frank the Tank both went down with injuries on the weekend.
With Patrick Dangerfield and Gary Rohan both a week away and Jeremy Cameron and Esava Ratugolea still sidelined, Chris Scott will be forced to spin the magnets once again to try and kick a winning score.
If Sam Menegola returns, he could be thrown into the mix, and Jack Henry showed on the weekend what he can do forward of centre. And as we mentioned last week, Ben Jarvis, Brad Close and Josh Jenkins have all kicked bags in the State League recently.
All eyes on… The Demons
Here’s a stat to impress your mates:
The Cats have lost just twice to Melbourne since 2007, for a 16-2 record. Three of those wins have been by over 100 points, and one was by over 180. Of the rest, 11 of them were by over 40 points.
Looks good on paper. But if you’re debating a Demons fans, prepare for the counter blow.
If you remove our 80-point win in Round 2, 2019, the margins have been 3, 2, 3 and a five-goal win to Melbourne in the 2018 Elimination Final, so you know they’ll remember that one.
They’ve been coming for a while, the Demons, and they’re now one of only three teams still undefeated in 2021.
All eyes on… Milestone Miers
How time flies.
The Cats’ dreadlocked dynamo will line up for game number 50 in the hoops this week. It seems like just yesterday when he bobbed up on recruiters’ radars everywhere with a seven-goal showing in the Geelong Falcons’ 2017 grand final win.
But he’s been nothing if not durable, Gryan, having played 25, 21 and all three games this year, respectively, so we shouldn’t be surprised, and in that time he has established himself as a key cog in the Cats’ weekly mix.
The good news is he averages 20.5 possessions per game when he faces the Dees, his highest numbers against any team, so here’s hoping he gets off the leash and snags a couple of goals as well to celebrate.
Go well, Gryan.
