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Chris Scott admits Geelong suffered the ‘culmination’ of almost four weeks of bad form in shellacking from Gold Coast in Darwin on Thursday night.
The Cats conceded their highest score since 1994 in the 64-point defeat, and despite kicking exactly 100 points themselves, spent more than half the night out of the contest.
With several key players out for various reasons against a Suns side that also played in Darwin last week, the game could still be a breakthrough until September.
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But it also extended previously unbeaten Geelong’s losing streak to three games and, according to Scott and his former captain Joel Selwood, deepened some problems for the 2022 premiers.
Asked if he could blame the conditions or the breakdown of their defensive system for the nature of the loss, Scott said “it was even more than that”.
“We’ve been realizing for probably three weeks, probably even (including) the last 15 minutes of the game before that, that we were just a little bit off,” the coach admitted.
“Tonight was kind of the culmination of that. We got beat by some good players around the ball. It was a very unusual result, to give up so many results is unusual for us. All stats do not improve as you work down the list.
“From our point of view, it’s not like we have a history of playing so poorly consistently, so we always tend to look on the bright side and try to find the positives.
“But we are not playing well and we have to try to activate the group. We’ve got a longer break to target another good team in GWS (next Saturday night) and we can stop things, I’ve got no doubt about that.”
Scott said he was “always concerned” about the poor form affecting the players.
“But it’s a balance between … not glossing over it – obviously we won’t – but also not overreacting,” he said.
“That’s the challenge, trying to find that reality, and hopefully it’s somewhere in the middle, but it’s clear that we’re some distance away and we have some issues that we need to correct.”
Selwood, speaking on Channel 7’s post-match report, said Scott’s calm demeanor belied how disappointed he would be.
The former captain said even the return of Mitch Duncan, Jeremy Cameron and Tom Hawkins would not cover the “cracks” appearing in the Cats.
“He’s always very level-headed, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t come home and kick the cat and bite his pillow,” Selwood said.
“Because there are several problems. There are a few cracks there.
“They need to be better on the ball, the defense is being scored too easily at the moment and even the way they take it in the forward line — it’s not just one part of the pitch.
“They will get a few players back next week but they will have to play a lot better to deal with GWS.”
Geelong remain defiant that they are taking the right approach in managing their players during the season.
Rhys Stanley was replaced last week and is resting this week during that time Cam Guthrie’s minutes have dwindled each week since returning from injury and was substituted against the Suns.
Scott’s post-match concerns about the Cats’ cohesion raised the question that they might just have to change their plans.
“Always a big picture with Chris … but there are challenges,” Selwood said.
“These young players, it’s time to step up. They were biding their time.”
Scott, meanwhile, dismissed questions about the officiating.
He made headlines last week with a lengthy State of the Game speechand then I watched Geelong concede the first eight frees on Thursday night.
The Suns finished 25 to the Cats’ 14.
“We weren’t even thinking about it tonight,” Scott said of the officiating.
“We just thought we got beaten in every zone and sometimes when you get beat around the ball you can get a little desperate, get the arm or something, so it’s probably more likely to have that kind of thing.”
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