Scott: Our depth was stretched

GEELONG coach Chris Scott concedes his side’s depth was shown up by a rampant Sydney as the Cats crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season last night.

Scott, who regarded some of Geelong’s errors as “diabolical”, admitted his side showed signs of vulnerability without Patrick Dangerfield and, for a period last night, an injured Joel Selwood.

“It hurt a bit,” Scott said of Dangerfield’s omission.

“He’s one of the best players in the comp and our other high level midfielder, our captain (Selwood), was injured. It makes it hard.

“And it’s (Sydney) a very deep midfield, so clearly their strength is when a few good players go out (they can replace them). They brought in (Sam) Reid, (Gary) Rohan, (Kurt) Tippett and (Jake) Lloyd and they’re pretty good players.

“We need to get to that level where if our really good players don’t play to the level or go out, that we’re bringing in players that could do almost as well.

“Clearly we’re not at that point yet, but we’ve played a pretty high level footy with some young players, so I think we’re sneaking up on that. Tonight was very disappointing, obviously, but we’re not throwing the baby out with the bath water.”

Scott admitted his side was beaten up in a number of areas, having been blown out of the water late in the second quarter.

“They were very good around the ball,” Scott said. “It was a game where the numbers didn’t reflect the efficiency around the contest.

“Most of the numbers were pretty even, inside 50s, clearances. We handballed a lot more than they did, so we were high in terms of possessions, but the quality of their ball in and around the contest was just much better than ours.

“The game actually started well for us but we gave them a few easy goals. Inside 50 stoppage goals are diabolical against a team like that.

“We gave ourselves a chance at three-quarter time and then effectively handed them two goals and the game was over.

“Looking on the bright side, which we should, at least for half the time, it was a really good experience for the 10 guys in the team that played under 50 games.

“And a lot of those guys, we were really happy with.”

With Selwood hurting his left ankle, he could be in doubt for the clash against Richmond on Saturday. But Scott remained optimistic. “They’re (medical staff) actually very confident,” he said.

“I’m actually confident now that he’ll be fine.”