After a 25-point defeat at the hands of the unbeaten Demons at the MCG last week, Geelong return to GMHBA Stadium on Sunday to face North Melbourne.

Here’s what geelongcats.com.au will be keeping their eyes on. 

All eyes on… Patrick Dangerfield 

Unfortunately, the Thursday night team drop looks to be a thing of the past thanks to Covid but we should be right to pencil in a few names to the Cats’ side to take on the Roos: G. Rohan, B. Parfitt (hopefully), and P. Dangerfield when the team is released sometime on Saturday. 

We won’t put Jeremy Cameron on that list just yet but it says here the signs are good and getting better. 

Rohan will add a much needed X-Factor to the forward six and Brandan Parfitt’s defensive pressure shouldn't be underestimated, but it’s hard not to be pumped for the inclusion of #35. 

After a couple of (kind of) controversial hitouts in the VFL over the last couple of weeks, Danger should be ready to go. And he’s got a solid history against the Roos too. While his numbers were down in the corresponding fixture last year he does have a history of big numbers and bags of Brownlow votes against the Roos – see R12 2016, R2 2017, and R8 & R21 2019 for reference. 

The other one who racks up Brownlow votes in this fixture is Shaun Higgins who has polled in four of the last five games. But we won’t talk about that today.

All eyes on… The Book of Joel

The Cats sit in tenth place on the ladder with a 2-2 record. It’s not where you want to be, but premierships aren’t won in April and there’s a long way to go before the history books are written.

If it all seems a bit familiar, it’s because it is. The Cats sat at 2-2 last year after four rounds and then went 12-3 the rest of the way on route to the Grand Final.

Listening to Joel Selwood post-match last week, the side is well aware of the challenge ahead, but they’ll be ready come 4:40 on Sunday.

“If you had asked me the same question this time last year I probably would have said we were in a worse position,” Selwood said.

“We just have to concentrate on what is in front of us. We did it last year and we will just have to do it again.”

It’s a good time to mention that skipper was a beast on the weekend, notching up 30 touches, 14 of which were contested. 

All eyes on… The Next Cult Hero

If you were to list the current clubhouse leaders for Carji after four rounds it’s probably Cam Guthrie, Tom Stewart, Joel Selwood, and maybe Mark O’Connor in some order. Probably. 

But there’s a quiet achiever down back who won’t be too far behind – Tom Atkins. As we talked about here, Atkins’ 25 touches against the Demons was a career-high, and his ability to find his own footy each week in a new role has his career-high disposals list being re-written by the week.

The move of the former small forward to the other end of the ground this year has been a big win for Chris Scott and his coaching team - it’s hard to overvalue a lockdown defender who has good hands, can get his own ball, and provide drive off of halfback.  

He’s a great story, Tom. And with his mustache, 70's footy card looks, nuggety rig, and never say die attitude, the 25-year-old is fast becoming a fan favourite down at the Cattery. 

All eyes on… Harry & The Goat

It’s been a long time coming but Cats fans can now officially farewell freshly retired club legends Gary Ablett Jnr. and Harry Taylor this Sunday.

The boys’ will be piling into a pair of Fords with their families well ahead of the first bounce of the main game for a lap of honour, so if you’re coming along to GMHBA Stadium on Sunday afternoon, make sure you’re in your seat no later than 4pm so you don’t miss a minute.

It goes without saying that with four premierships and 637 games between them, Ablett and Taylor are genuine Cats royalty, so if you’re looking for another reason to grab a ticket to the game, this is probably it.

Plus, there’s a VFL curtain raiser kicking off from 1pm.