Geelong may have had some recent attention on their second half fadeouts but Bulldogs Senior Coach Brendan McCartney knows better than to underestimate the Cats’ abilities.

“I’ve gone well past ever underestimating that group of players and that Club and putting too many labels on what they can and can’t do,” McCartney said.

“Their strengths are still their strengths, though, if you give them the corridor and give them space they will hurt you.”

While the fifth placed side is having no difficulty in securing the four points, their performance late in games have seen them win just one second half of football in the past nine rounds.

The Cats have still managed 10 wins this season, however, with just percentage keeping them out of the top four on the ladder and they will certainly provide a tough test for the Bulldogs come Sunday.

“We go down there knowing how they play – they play the ground incredibly well, they have a very experienced defence, they have people around the ball that know what to do,” McCartney said.

“It’s well documented that they bring their young players into the team trained up the right way and ready to go, so it’s a challenge.”

Under McCartney’s tenure as coach the Bulldogs have played at Simonds Stadium just once in season proper, going down to the Cats by 34 points.

“We haven’t been down there much in my time, only once with a really young team and it feels like 20 years ago – the team has totally transformed and matured,” he said.

While the round 15 Bulldogs side reflects a similar age and experience profile to the team that played Geelong in round 22 in 2012, the evolution of the side and current personnel has them much better placed.

Since that game the Bulldogs have added four first round draft picks to their list, four players traded from other clubs and have had 11 – soon to be 12 – players debut in Club colours.

Sunday’s double header gives the Bulldogs their first opportunity for the two affiliated sides to play on the same day at the same venue and is a test McCartney believes the Club is ready for. 

“We are looking forward to the challenge of our whole club going down there, we’ve got a VFL team that’s going to play first – it’s going to be like the old days,” he said.

“We want to go down there and compete and we are confident of playing some good footy.”