Pure Footy: David King and Daniel Hoyne look at the latest trends in the AFL after round 21

Geelong is producing ‘freaky’ stats that make the Cats a clear flag favourite. But to claim the ultimate success these players will need to improve their finals record.

There might be only one thing that can stop Geelong this year.

Several players shaking their finals monkey will be massive as the Cats set themselves up for their best shot at a premiership since 2011.

Champion Data ranks Geelong as the No.1 team with the ball and the No.1 team without the ball this season – numbers that have analyst Daniel Hoyne shaking his head.

“We haven’t seen a profile like this for so long,” he said on Pure Footy, the weekly AFL analysis show exclusive to heraldsun.com.au.

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“In basic terms the game is – can you score when you win possession, and can you restrict the opposition when they win possession.

“Only two teams in the competition rank top six on both sides of the ball – Sydney and Geelong.

“For Geelong to rank No.1 in both areas is freakish.

“Twice in 20 years we’ve seen a team rank No.1 (in both) and one of those years was when Geelong won the flag by 119 points in 2007.”

Gary Rohan will be hoping to improve his finals record this year. Picture: Mark Stewart

Hoyne said “it’s going to take something pretty special to knock them off” but North Melbourne champion David King added there was one factor that would make Cats fans nervous.

“The only thing that can happen is players get tight and don’t play as well as they did in the home-and-away season in finals – and that has happened across the journey to Geelong,” he said.

Based on AFL Player Ratings points per 100 minutes, the Cats have eight key players whose output is at least 20 per cent down in finals compared to the home-and-away season.

Gryan Miers is on top of that list (down 33 per cent), Gary Rohan is down 30 per cent and Tom Atkins is down 26 per cent.

Key forwards Jeremy Cameron (-24 per cent) and Tom Hawkins (-20 per cent) are also on the list, along with ruckman Rhys Stanley (-23 per cent) and veteran Mitch Duncan (-21 per cent).

Hoyne said: “There are eight players on this list that have performed well below their home-and-away season output, and there’s probably another four or five that have performed below their usual output, but not that degree.

“There will be a few individuals there that would like to see their finals record improve this September for Geelong.”

Originally published as Pure Footy: David King and Daniel Hoyne look at the latest trends in the AFL after round 21