ASSISTANT coach Shaun Grigg believes Geelong’s best football “is in front of us” heading into Saturday’s grand final clash with Sydney.
The Cats have strung together 15 wins since losing to St Kilda in Round 9, highlighted by a 71-point hiding of the Brisbane Lions in a preliminary final.
“We’ve just been on the path of that continual improvement,” Grigg said this (Tuesday) morning outside GMHBA Stadium.
“We’ve got one more week to put that in place and give ourselves a shot.”
Grigg is confident Geelong has a handle on how the Swans want to play despite Round 2 being the last time the two teams met.
On that Friday night at the SCG, among the chaos of Sydney star Lance Franklin’s 1000th goal, the home team handed the Cats their biggest loss of the season by claiming a 30-point victory.
“Good teams usually set up the same way; you know what they’re going to do,” Grigg said.
“Sydney are going to be a real handful. They’re great in all areas of the game; around the contest, they’ve got some obviously dangerous forwards and some good intercept defenders.
“We’ll go to work on that.
“The way we’re playing is a bit different (from Round 2), so we’ll go to work on our game.
“We’re confident in the way we’ve prepared, and the footy we’re playing stands up for finals.”
Max Holmes will be given every opportunity to overcome a hamstring injury suffered in the win over the Lions.
“It’s day-by-day at the moment,” Grigg said. “Max is optimistic; we just don’t know yet.
“We’ve got some more training tomorrow (Wednesday), so we’ll give him a chance to prove himself.
“Our medical team and fitness staff have performed so well throughout the year with (the) planning of players and having players ready.
“So, we’ll lean on them and just take it from there.”
However, Grigg is confident Geelong can cover the young winger if he doesn’t get up.
Sam Menegola, Brandan Parfitt, and preliminary final medi-sub Mark O’Connor among the names likely to be considered by the Cats.
“We’ve got a number of players that we’d be happy (to have) come in and play,” Grigg said.
“We’ve got some really good players who have, unfortunately, missed out on finals, and that’s the hardest part of coaching.
“As coaches, we’ll (have) plan A, plan B, plan C, as you expect we would.
“But, at the moment, it’s too early to tell what will be.”
Twitter: @krockfootball
