Geelong coach Chris Scott was confident that his side's best football was good enough to take on the best in the finals, after the Cats jumped to third place on the ladder with one round to play after a regulation 10-goal win over the Lions.
But Geelong's hopes of a home final are still in the balance and they may live to regret their failure to truly put away the Lions, with some inaccurate goalkicking and a lack of intensity hurting a golden chance to further boost their percentage.
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AFL plays of round 22
Kennedy heading for back to back Coleman's, Swan Heeney too fast, too good, Stevie J works his usual magic, Eddie Betts with yet another Goal of the Year nomination and Carlton's Dylan Buckley proves his name is not so unlucky.
The Cats are equal on points with Sydney, Hawthorn and Adelaide heading into what looms as a thrilling final round.
They will host Melbourne at Simonds Stadium on Saturday afternoon, needing to win as big as possible to have any chance of leapfrogging the Swans or Crows into the top two.
![Purring along nicely: Cats players sing the team song after beating the Lions.](/web/20160823133714im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/x/t/5/n/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqxt5e.png/1471827187482.jpg)
However, coach Chris Scott didn't see it as a missed opportunity though he said his side still had things to work on, "but when you have a win away from home by that margin I don't think we can be too picky. So it was OK.
"We rate Melbourne; we think they'll be a real challenge for us this week, I think that'll be good preparation going into a contested finals series.
"But I find it hard to rate how we're going. I don't think we've got any excuses with our preparation; I think we'll go into the finals series really confident that our best footy is good enough."
Scott said both the coaches and players were keenly aware of the importance of percentage and the potential ramifications in terms of where the finals would be played, but said "I think the risk is you can start focusing on the outcome and lose track of how you get there."
![New breed: Lachie Henderson has been a successful addition to the Cats' line-up in season 2016.](/web/20160823133714im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/x/t/4/1/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqxt5e.png/1471827187482.jpg)
Sam Menegola, who found the ball 33 times in his fifth game and was close to best on ground, was a revelation. "He's a big midfielder, he's an elite runner, really strong over the ball so the signs are good he's going to add something to our midfield mix," Scott said.
"He's had time [as a rookie] at Hawthorn and Freo, he's still a young man, but he's had some pretty good experience in footy even to this stage of his career, with some good coaches."
![For a winning coach, Chris Scott was quite low-key.](/web/20160823133714im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/d/o/5/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gqxt5e.png/1471827187482.jpg)
Lions coach Justin Leppitsch said his players' effort had been good. "We were beaten for class and turnover again," he said. "[We] lacked a bit of run again in the second half.
"I don't speak about cajoling effort out of players, that's what they have to bring. The beauty is they just kept going, even though we made a few costly blues ... We didn't get despondent from mistakes and continued on, there were some key moments where we could have given up but didn't.
"That's all you require, and I think what we have shown the last couple of weeks is that we are going to fight the season out. Whether they become wins or losses is not going to matter to where we finish on the table."
Leppitsch said he put all of his side's leaders around the ball, but the Cats were too slick. "They were really good in there and fought it out, [but] their mids were very good also and Menegola bobbed up, he's obviously a name you don't plan for."
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