In football, the term refers to the stage, which – for the home and away rounds – is the Friday night fixture.
North Melbourne, with a long list of injuries, will play a brave David in both senses this week when it meets Geelong for the first time since last year’s qualifying final.
That was a match the Cats won by 106 points and the chorus at the Kangaroos is to throw everything at the reigning premier this time.
"We were humiliated by Geelong in the finals last year," club chairman James Brayshaw said on Thursday. "They were much better than us, they played obviously much better than us – 100 points is not good enough in September – so we do need to make a statement.
"It’s Friday night, it’s the big show, close to two million people watching, there’ll be a huge crowd there and we’ve put the acid on our blokes to really sort of measure up. When we go to the AFL and say 'We want more Friday night games', they quite rightfully turn around to us and say 'Well, show us you’re worthy of it'.
"So Friday night’s our go."
Full-forward Nathan Thompson, who jarred his reconstructed knee in the loss to the Brisbane Lions last Saturday night, is in a race to prove his fitness ahead of the Geelong match.
"I think he’s going to battle," Brayshaw said. "I’m not saying he won’t play but from what I’ve seen of him, he’s got some chronic soreness that may impede his progress.
"But we’ve got another 24 hours and he’s a trojan, Thommo, so we’re hoping he’ll come up. We’ll have our fingers crossed."
After announcing plans early in the week for a $15 million redevelopment of its Arden Street base, the club will be searching to maintain a positive theme.
But Brayshaw, despite unwavering faith in his players, conceded it would be tough.
"North Melbourne play unconditional football anyway, that’s what we pride ourselves on, so when you play against a team as good as Geelong you’ve got to crack in like your life depends on it," he said.
"[That’s] what the footy department’s instruction’s been to the blokes and we’ve got to see how they respond. Even though we’ve got injuries, I think we’ve still got 22 blokes who are going to play very well.
"Friday night football’s huge, we like to think that we put it on the map – we don’t get too many cracks at it these days so we want to make a big impact when we do. But I reckon we’ve got 13, maybe 14 even out of our squad of 40 … so it’s going to be a tough night."
