THE PUZZLING CATS

IT was the same old story from a Geelong perspective.

A slow start, holes across the ground and no sign of hope, only for the Cats to unleash their best footy in a flash to power back into the game.

Sometimes it is enough to sneak home, other times — like on Saturday night — it counts for nothing.

Are they training the right way day in, day out? Are they feeling a bit too comfortable down there?

To rock up and produce that type of performance for close to three quarters against Carlton puts the spotlight on preparation and mindset.

Do they turn up ready to go? Do they train and prepare like the next game is the most important they will play?

Are they hard enough on each other?

The post-game debrief, where Chris Scott called his players into a meeting, was needed. We famously had a player-led one after that North Melbourne loss in 2007, but it needs to translate into something. The message cannot be watered down this week.

It’s not quite at deep soulsearching levels yet — after all, they’re not in a horrible spot — but they might be soon if they don’t improve.

With respect to Carlton, it was unforgivable to fall that far down.

Given the talent in the Geelong line-up, and where both sides are at, there is no way Geelong should have fallen 42 points down in the third quarter at home.

The frustrating thing is no team in more than a decade has been better at chaos footy — to take the game on, play quickly.

It has been in Geelong’s DNA for a long time. That is Geelong’s strength, but I fear the Cats are trying to be too cute, too smart and, ultimately, too slow.

When the Cats are “on”, no one can stop them. Sure they might get scored against a bit more, but they need to find more attack in their game.

The positives outweigh the negatives.

I’ll be keen to see how they respond on the wider MCG this weekend against Melbourne.