FOR ANY other team, it shaped as the Nightmare on Brunton Avenue. 

No other team has Patrick Dangerfield though. 

CATS v HAWKS Full match coverage and stats
MATCH REPORT Danger drives Cats home over Hawks
ANALYSIS Defeat shows Hawks exactly what they're missing
'SHATTERING' Cats star to miss Grand Final due to concussion
DANGER'S FIELD Cats star cool as ice in hottest finals cauldron
SAM MITCHELL Hawks to hit trade period hard to make list 'best it can be'
CHRIS SCOTT Cats hint at big-man strategy for Grand Final

Geelong started Friday night's preliminary final as shaky as a shopping trolley with a dodgy wheel. Kicks were missed. Marks not attempted let alone taken. A backline decimated in the space of 15 minutes first with Jack Henry suffering a foot injury and then Tom Stewart driven into the ground in a tackle and ruled out with concussion.

And yet this was just the Cats warming up. A panic room is a foreign concept for Chris Scott. Chaos is just background music. 

Lesser teams, and certainly less experienced sides, would have been shaken by such an out-of-character slow start against a Hawthorn team that was firing. But this is the model the Cats have taken in their quest to be perpetually premiership relevant, always on the hunt for big guns, backing themselves with late picks to develop and continuing to chase flags.

Next Saturday, against either Collingwood or Brisbane, the Cats will be back on Grand Final day. It will be their seventh Grand Final since 2007, and their fourth under Scott's stewardship. 

That they will be without their defensive 'Stewart-ship' through concussion protocols will ignite more debate on the pre-finals bye being moved to before the Grand Final, as the AFL finally has had a gun player be ruled out of the flag decider since the 12-day rules were introduced in 2021.  

But the Cats steadied, took control and held on without Stewart against the Hawks, and it was largely due to Dangerfield, who produced one of the best of his 30 career finals to carry his team into the decider. Actually forget finals – this was one of the best of his 359 games. 

The 35-year-old in the No.35 kicked Geelong's first goal of the contest at the 28-minute mark of the first term after winning a free kick, with his confident execution of the set shot belying the pressure of the moment. 

As the Cats stirred in the second term, they were led by Dangerfield, whose combative, physical, damaging brand was built for September. He had nine disposals in the second quarter as his side snatched a one-point lead into half-time, before his third quarter cracked open the contest. 

Dangerfield's physicality in attack couldn't be matched by the Hawks, with the Cats great having 10 disposals (seven contested) for the term playing largely in attack. He kicked the second of the quarter, then set up another for Jack Martin with sheer force. 

And then, just to put a full stop on his best-afield performance, Dangerfield booted his third goal early in the fourth to seal the preliminary final win. That goal was the best of the lot – he dived at a ground ball with ferocity and without fear, got back to his feet, got a handball from Gryan Miers and broke away to snap and then be swamped by teammates. He finished with 32 disposals and eight clearances. 

This was no lone hand. Though upended early by Hawthorn's speed and verve, Geelong wound up with winners everywhere. Oisin Mullin was sent to stop Nick Watson and blanketed the Hawks' firestarter. Tom Atkins nullified Hawthorn's Mr September Jai Newcombe. Mark O'Connor shut down Josh Weddle. Zach Guthrie filled the role of Stewart brilliantly. Bailey Smith and Max Holmes lifted after quarter-time. And Mark Blicavs was excellent throughout in the ruck.

But it was Danger's field. 

After playing in either six losing preliminary finals or Grand Finals between 2012-2021, the former Crow got his long-awaited premiership in 2022, in his 303rd game. He was top-rate in that final, too, having 27 disposals, 11 clearances and 19 contested possessions and finishing second in Norm Smith Medal voting to Isaac Smith.

But in a career bound for legend status in the Hall of Fame, Dangerfield now has the chance to secure his career's crowning moment as captain of Geelong with the Cats one win away from their 11th flag. They will face either the Lions, who they beat comfortably at the MCG in the qualifying final, or the Pies, who they beat in round eight by three points after Jack Crisp's wayward shot at goal after the siren. 

Playing either of the previous two premiers will be a task, but they will be thinking the same thing about the Cats, and in particular one man: how to stop the unstoppable?