Getting hot at the right time will be the key to winning this year's flag, and Geelong coach Chris Scott hopes his team will be flaming in September.
The Cats gave their top-four hopes a massive boost with an 11-point win over Fremantle in Perth on Saturday.
The result means Geelong (14-7) will end the round in fourth spot, just 4.1 per cent adrift of second-placed Port Adelaide.
Given the Cats face strugglers St Kilda and West Coast in the final two rounds, they are a genuine chance of nabbing second spot.
This year's flag race is wide open, with ladder leaders Sydney looking vulnerable and fellow premiership contenders Brisbane suffering a shock loss to GWS at the Gabba on Saturday.
Geelong, with six wins from their past seven games, look to be timing their run perfectly, but Scott is taking nothing for granted.
"We're confident but not overconfident I hope," Scott said.
"Because I stress - we were 7-0 to start the year, and I didn't feel like we were the best team in the comp and everything was perfect.
"And then we lost some games in a tough part of the draw to good teams, most of them by a small margin, and I didn't think we were going that badly either.
"I suspect what's going to happen at the end of the year is one or a couple of teams will get hot and play their best footy and they'll be the ones to beat.
"And it may well be that better teams get beaten because they're just going through a patch of the season where they're not peaking.
"So we spend a lot of time thinking about that stuff. It's art as much as science."
Geelong's fighting win over Fremantle could prove to be season defining, and Scott was refreshingly honest in his assessment of what the victory meant.
"Those (coaches) that say they just take it one week at a time either aren't telling the truth or aren't doing their jobs properly," Scott said.
"But what you are trying to do is get the players away from thinking that way. We need to be across all that (ladder ramifications) but our players just need to get the next bit right.
"So much depends on the day. If you start as a player thinking too far forward you're going to get stung."
Tanner Bruhn will miss next Saturday's clash with St Kilda due to concussion, but late withdrawal Gary Rohan is on track to return.
