GEELONG is facing a season-defining game on Saturday against fourth-place Richmond, and the Cats have one key area of improvement if they're any chance of knocking off the Tigers.
Sitting a game-and-a-half outside the top eight, the Cats' season finishes with Richmond at the Swinburne Centre, Brisbane at GMHBA Stadium, West Coast at Mineral Resources Park and will host Adelaide to round out the home-and-away season.
Before last year's preliminary finalist even thinks about the need to defeat at least one of powerhouses Lions and Crows, Richmond awaits.
Geelong's accuracy in front of goal has been a serious issue this year, kicking 0.5 against Carlton, 3.9 against Fremantle and scraping over the line by three points on Sunday, kicking 5.14 in its win over Sydney.
Even in the Cats' relatively pressure-free 69-point victory over Gold Coast, they kicked 14.12.
Of those four games, just one – the Swans match at Henson Park – wasn't played in a stadium.
"They are realistic (finals chance), they're not locked in. But if they keep building this momentum – I really liked Darcy Moloney going into the midfield initially for Georgie Prespakis, and now for Amy McDonald. I really like what she offers round there," Gemma Bastiani said on the Credit to the Girls podcast.
"They just have to make the most of their opportunities in front of goal. That has been their issue for most of this year. They can get the ball forward, but they can't finish the job.
"Aishling Moloney has been a little bit behind what she was last year, she obviously started with a bang, and has been very good, but they're missing the class of Chloe Scheer (toe injury).
"In that second quarter (against Sydney), they lived close to goal, they weren't able to manoeuvre or create better opportunities at goal. They were stuck in congestion, 10m out from goal, rather than kicking it out."
