You wouldn’t have wanted to be claustrophobic and wearing blue and white hoops at the MCG in the cutthroat 2012 match, as Ross Lyon’s men displayed an irresistible brand of shutdown footy.
The usually slick Cats were forced into a bevvy of turnovers on that occasion, and McPharlin said it would take much of the same to knock the second-placed Cats off at Simonds Stadium on Saturday.
“Pressure’s the key to beating anyone, and Geelong, from a skill point of view, are up in the upper echelon of teams,” the All Australian defender said.
“We’ll be looking to play our brand of football, which is to apply enormous amounts of pressure all over the ground in the hope that we can stifle their ball movement.”
McPharlin, who missed the 2012 final against the Cats, labelled key Geelong forward Tom Hawkins as a likely opponent on Saturday.
Hawkins has kicked 32 goals this season at an average of three per game.
“He’s a big guy,” McPharlin said.
“I’ve had the privilege of playing on him a number of timers over the years.
“He’s certainly hard work and he knows how to use his body.
“Between myself and Zac (Dawson), we’ll be getting the job and relying on plenty of pressure up the field and lots of roll-off supportfrom other defenders in the vicinity.”
McPharlin did not agree with journalists who claimed he was the side’s most important player, structurally, in the absence of star veterans Matthew Pavlich and Aaron Sandilands.
He said Ross Lyon’s Fremantle model did not rely on any one player, which the team had proved was the case on a number of occasions this season.
“It’s everyone playing their role,” McPharlin said.
“I’m certainly the most senior player - I think I’m three years older than the next guy that is playing at the moment - and I take that responsibility in my role as a captain."
“But, structurally, I play my role as a tall defender, and we’ve got another tall defender in Zac Dawson and we’ve got ruckmen and we’ve got tall forwards and everyone is playing their role to the best of their capabilities.”
On being the captain for an extended period of time, McPharlin said he had enjoyed the role.
“I’ve been in the leadership group for a number of years now and worked alongside ‘Pav’ pretty closely,” he said.
“I feel I’ve been a leader at this club for a long time, and with the big guy going down, I was his natural replacement.”
