Coach Mark Thompson might deny it but his Geelong's charge towards back-to-back premierships could prove unstoppable if it hands out the same kind of thrashing to Hawthorn on Friday night at the MCG as it did to the Bulldogs last week.
The Cats - aiming for successive flags for the first time since 1952 - have now won 34 of their past 36 matches and all that is left standing between Thompson's team and a one-horse race for the premiership is Alastair Clarkson's Hawks.
The three Victorian teams have dominated the 2008 season to such an extent they have lost just six games between them with Sydney a distant fourth with just 10 wins and a draw from 16 rounds.
But the Cats' 61-point rout of the second-placed Bulldogs last week - a game that while played in Geelong, also came against a side missing Brownlow Medal favourite Gary Ablett and Cameron Ling through injury - more than suggested Geelong remains a fair way ahead of the Hawks and the Bulldogs.
However, despite the fact the Hawks are in third spot - half a game adrift of the Dogs who they lost to back in Round 10 - there is also strong suspicion that it will be Clarkson's team and not Rodney Eade's boys that pose the greatest threat to the Cats' dream of back-to-back flags in September.
This is not only based on the fact the Hawks have won the past three meetings between the teams (all of them coming before the Cats' began their current hot streak) but also on the fact the Hawks have the big forwards to trouble Geelong's outstanding defence.
The Cats have not conceded more than 70 points in their past five matches and have only conceded above 100 points four times in the past 36. But in Lance Franklin and Jarryd Roughead, who have kicked 125 goals between them this season, the Hawks have the most potent key forward pairing in the AFL.
That has not stopped bookmakers installing the Cats as $1.70 favourites to win the flag - the shortest ever for a team in the home and away season. But Thompson has scoffed at suggestions his team is 'over the line' for successive flags, even if they flog the Hawks on Friday night without Ablett and Ling.
"They are pretty short odds a long way out and a lot can happen and who can predict things like injuries," he said.
Thompson also does not subscribe to the theory that a win over the Hawks on Friday night will give his team a psychological advantage come September.
"Remember Port Adelaide beat us late last year and that didn’t matter too much come grand final day (when the Cats handed Port a record 119-point thrashing)," he said.
"You know everyone has been waiting a while for us two to play. so there is as much pressure on both teams."
But while the Cats-Hawks game dominates Round 17, there are several other intriguing games this weekend with arch-rivals Essendon and Collingwood meeting at the MCG on Saturday while St Kilda and North Melbourne will look to continue their finals push by beating struggling West Coast and Melbourne respectively.
Richmond and Brisbane also battle in a crucial game for both teams while Sydney hosts fading Adelaide, the Bulldogs will look to bounce back against Carlton and Port Adelaide hosts Fremantle.