Preview How do you see the Cats 2024 Finals going?

[Interdimensional Bigfoot]

If Danger plays his best we win if he doesn't we lose.

 

[Geminicatz01]

Sportsbet details?

 

[Footy Smarts]

If Danger plays his best we win if he doesn't we lose.

Good chance for him to atone for one of the all time worst finals games you'll ever see in 2021. From memory Danger and Henderson combined to gift 5+ goals to Port from absolutely calamitous mistakes.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

View attachment 2091694

These odds pretty spot on IMO.

Carlton are worse than 330 even with their talls back and gws are very good value at that price.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Good chance for him to atone for one of the all time worst finals games you'll ever see in 2021. From memory Danger and Henderson combined to gift 5+ goals to Port from absolutely calamitous mistakes.

I must have blanked that from the memory bank as some weird form of self preservation.

Just watched the highlights again, my god it was bad. Wasn't from a result of extreme pressure either, just blatant u/12s errors that all resulted in goals.

I'm not feeling confident of this one, but I'm confident enough to say we won't play that badly again. It looked like a team actively trying to lose.

 

[catsfootyfan89]

Good chance for him to atone for one of the all time worst finals games you'll ever see in 2021. From memory Danger and Henderson combined to gift 5+ goals to Port from absolutely calamitous mistakes.

Owes us nothing after his heroics in 2022. Should've had the Norm Smith. His inside midfield work was just breathtaking.

 

[catters05]

If we somehow beat Port, then there’s a very good chance we’ll be playing in the GF and from there who knows. If we lose, very real chance we’ll go out in straight sets. Either way, finishing top 4 this year exceeded my expectations and we should all be very proud of our team. Let’s go into this finals series with minimal expectations and see what happens. The race is as wide open as I can remember; there’ll be lots of surprises I’m sure.

High hope, low expectations. Cats for the flag.

 

[Lethal09]

Lets go boys, lets go to there home ground and knock them pretenders off, and take out the prize.

its so even this year

We can win the whole thing.

 

[dazbroncos]

No one.. and I mean no one had us 3rd in the pre season polls.


This is a truly remarkable outcome and one that the club, players and coaches can be proud of.


The mantra is always to be there and to be able to compete and that has been done in spades.

I know people dont count that as much but ask North, GCS, Essendon, Saints, Richmond and Freo fans about that.

They'd all give their left $%#$ to be able to compete.

With that said, this is probably the most tentative and resigned i've been heading into a Finals series - and its ok IMO.
We just dont have the cattle than can play their best for long enough to get it done IMO.

Now - when we do our best... its great. But stopping the opposition has been an issue and getting into shoot outs aint been a recipe for our success either - but we can score.

If we hit a 3 game purple patch id be worried if I was Port - the pressure is all on them as we shouldn't rally be here

I think the next 2-3 games will be fun

GO Catters

 

[fpm84]

Last time we played Port in a final (2021), we had these players in the side:

Parfitt, Smith, Menegola, Selwood, Guthrie, Simpson, Hawkins, Rohan, Higgins, Henderson, Bews, Dahlhaus, O'Connor.

13 players, and only two of them (Bews and Rohan) any chance to play next week.

 

[DanA]

No one.. and I mean no one had us 3rd in the pre season polls.


This is a truly remarkable outcome and one that the club, players and coaches can be proud of.


The mantra is always to be there and to be able to compete and that has been done in spades.

I know people dont count that as much but ask North, GCS, Essendon, Saints, Richmond and Freo fans about that.

They'd all give their left $%#$ to be able to compete.

With that said, this is probably the most tentative and resigned i've been heading into a Finals series - and its ok IMO.
We just dont have the cattle than can play their best for long enough to get it done IMO.

Now - when we do our best... its great. But stopping the opposition has been an issue and getting into shoot outs aint been a recipe for our success either - but we can score.

If we hit a 3 game purple patch id be worried if I was Port - the pressure is all on them as we shouldn't rally be here

I think the next 2-3 games will be fun

GO Catters

I think our issue is we have struggled at stoppages and especially in the wet games where there are lots of stoppages. Definitely, there was a noticeably uptick when Danger returned and Stewart was inserted in the middle, but even with that we've still had quarters where we have collapsed.

I think our finals campaign lives and dies by how much we get from Stanley and weather conditions.

 

[someday-somehow]

Big if, but, if we can win first week of finals I’d fancy our chances in the prelim

There's no bigger "if" than that. I give us no hope against Port - even if played in Melbourne but I think we have a better than average shot against Brisbane in Melbourne the week after, I'd rather face them than Bulldogs or Hawthorn.

EDIT: just realized we would play Hawthorn or Bulldogs!!! - straight sets it is

 

[Johanpetro]

There's no bigger "if" than that. I give us no hope against Port - even if played in Melbourne but I think we have a better than average shot against Brisbane in Melbourne the week after, I'd rather face them than Bulldogs or Hawthorn.

EDIT: just realized we would play Hawthorn or Bulldogs!!! - straight sets it is

Have some faith man.. why be so negative “straight sets it is”? Ports midfield is on another level but we cover them everywhere else on the ground. No houston and Farrell is massive as well. A team going in with Esava, Francis, Sweet and Visitini is not unbeatable by any stretch come on

 

[stac]

To beat Port you need to stop Wines
so Bowes to tag Wines

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Win this and we win the flag.
Huge game.
Regardless though, just don't straight set, imo this is more about experience for younger players than a genuine crack at the flag (I know I know, top 4 is a genuine crack etc. you know what I mean) so making a prelim is par, GF is a huge win.
Straight sets is a failure.

 

[nohairandfair]

We leak easy goals and our contested work at stoppages isn’t great. Our recent form doesn’t instil much confidence but there is no stand out team this year so there is always hope.

Must beat Port to have any real chance.

 

[Munich]

Not overly enthused about playing over there but if we're good enough we can win anywhere.

Let's see.

 

[calder_daddy]

Can we open a preview thread so we don’t have to sift through 4 different threads just to talk about the upcoming game?
I tried but for some reason it was closed.

 

[CHAWKTS]

So if we win we go straight to an MCG prelim vs one of the syd teams (i dont see brisbane beating either).

If we lose we get the dogs or hawks at the G followed by a rested swans/giants away?

Pretty big carrot to win this game.

Yep. For all players with double chance a win first week is really important - for Cats I think it is crucial.

I don’t subscribe to the view that if we lose first week we will automatically go out in straight sets (although playing Dogs/Hawks right now means that is a likely scenario) but I do think if we lose first week it is almost impossible to win the flag. We just won’t be able to win 3 games in a row without a break in a month.

BUT if we do snag the win we then get another break (2 breaks in 3 weeks will help our team) and it is then not impossible to muster up a further 2 wins in a row to finish the year! (Got to dream)

In terms of Port…it is very very hard to see how we blunt their midfield (already accepted we can’t win that battle). Who do we send Bowes or Atkins to (I don’t think we would bring in Mullin despite needing someone for a run with role?) - given they have 3 (4 if you count Wines) star offensive midfielders…

So the question then is can we slingshot off half back with Holmes/Humprhies linking up with Dempsey and the small forwards? If we get it forward enough I will be confident…Big ask but not impossible

 

[CHAWKTS]

High hope, low expectations. Cats for the flag.

I am the same. Low expectations is not just protection mechanism but is frankly realistic given the task…they have already exceeded my expectations and I have to be disciplined not to raise them too much! But I do have high hope - it is not impossible IF we win the first game.

In some way I prefer to play at AO than MCG as it lowers expectation and puts pressure on Port not to screw this up. Understand that the ground and crowd make a real difference so we have more to overcome - but it might bind us together for an “against the odds” win

 

[Biased99]

I can't help of thinking of 2022, insofar as potential parallels with this year go.

Realistically, if the Cats lose to the Pies in that QF, the most likely outcome from there would have been a Swans/Pies GF, and I reckon the Pies win the flag. Genuine sliding doors moment.

I reckon it's also true of the coming weekend. Beat Port, and there's a genuine chance the Cats could pinch the Flag (and they would be pinching it, given their fluctuating form recently).

Lose, on the other hand, and best case is likely a 2017-style Prelim belting away...

 

[CoolCat75]

This highlights the crazy evenness of 2024. In round 10, Port had a miracle win against hawks where they kicked 2 goals in the last 40 seconds to win, including the winner right on the siren. If Hawks win that, they are 2nd, Port 3rd and Cats 4th.

 

[InnocentBystandr]

This is a huge game for us (so says Captain Obvious). But avoiding Bulldogs/Hawthorn is critical, and winning means we'd play the losing Syd side/Brisbane/Carlton in Melbourne. If Carlton survive that long, they might get some decent players back so could more like they were mid-year. Either the winning Sydney side or PA will take care of Bulldogs or Hawthorn.

My 2008 nightmare scenario is 'hosting' Hawthorn at the MCG in an elimination semi.

 

[someday-somehow]

Have some faith man.. why be so negative “straight sets it is”? Ports midfield is on another level but we cover them everywhere else on the ground. No houston and Farrell is massive as well. A team going in with Esava, Francis, Sweet and Visitini is not unbeatable by any stretch come on

ok granted there is always hope. But this isn't 2022, we don't have a strong midfield and yeah sure when we can move the ball easily with no opposition we can score heavily but the saints just showed us how a bit of pressure will bring us unstuck and very rapidly.

Credit to the club and the coaching staff, sure we had an easy draw this year and winning early games got us into 3rd spot which is an amazing achievement, the experience this will give our youngsters is invaluable.

In my mind this year has been an outstanding success based on our current list, any win from here is just a bonus but reality tells me we just cannot match it with anyone in the 8 except for Carlton, perhaps Hawthorn and Brisbane if playing in Melbourne.

 

[dangerwood]

This is a huge game for us (so says Captain Obvious). But avoiding Bulldogs/Hawthorn is critical, and winning means we'd play the losing Syd side/Brisbane/Carlton in Melbourne. If Carlton survive that long, they might get some decent players back so could more like they were mid-year. Either the winning Sydney side or PA will take care of Bulldogs or Hawthorn.

My 2008 nightmare scenario is 'hosting' Hawthorn at the MCG in an elimination semi.

I think we can beat hawthorn, I don't think we can beat the Bulldogs.