Cats could get four back for Dog fight
Geelong could get up to four of their regulars back for Friday week’s meeting with the Western Bulldogs at Etihad Stadium.
Cats coach Chris Scott said basic skills let his side down in Sunday’s three-goal loss to Richmond at the MCG, but on the plus side he was optimistic the defeat hadn’t exposed key flaws in Geelong’s game plan.
The Cats won the centre clearances 18-6 and the inside 50s 61-52, but the Tigers kicked four goals to one in the final term to claim victory.
Despite the loss, Geelong reach their mid-season bye with an 8-5 record, and have plenty of reinforcements to return.
Scott said Cameron Guthrie, Harry Taylor, Daniel Menzel and Scott Selwood were all in the mix to take on the Bulldogs, but said the Cats would need to find a way to best integrate them as they returned.
Lachie Henderson, who is working his way back from a knee issue, is further away from a return.
Injury-prone forward Lincoln McCarthy experienced a hamstring complaint in Sunday’s defeat and is set to be assessed.
Scott said the Cats had been inefficient on Sunday.
“Our effectiveness wasn’t as good as we would have liked, with that dominance. Even the clearances around the ground, we were on top for a lot of it. The penetration they got, from the boundary throw-ins in particular was better,” Scott said.
“Just not as good at the fundamentals as they were. In what was a really tight game. It was statistically a tight game, but it felt a tight game for the most part, generally.
“The difference was they were able to make the most of some of their opportunities, and were really strong at the fall of the ball.
“It’s not the game where we’re coming away thinking there were really important parts of our game that didn’t stand up.”
Scott agreed Richmond were probably the team to beat for the premiership but acknowledged that the finals remained a long way away.
“You would have thought if they were good enough to make it to the last game here they would be the team to beat,” he said.
"If you held a gun to my head and asked me to pick a team I'd probably pick them.
“We didn’t come away from the game thinking we're miles behind the benchmark and we're going to have to tip our game style upside down.
"We're certainly not going to rely on personnel coming back by itself. I think that potentially could help us. But sometimes it's a mistake thinking that guys who have missed 14, 15 weeks can come back in and help you straight away so there's going to be some thinking and some planning that needs to be done to integrate those guys back in the team."