Our defence ‘wasn’t on from start’: Bowes
FIRST-game Cat Jack Bowes says Geelong’s defence wasn’t on the same page in Thursday’s tight loss to Carlton as the reigning premiers iron out some kinks in their game.
For the second week running, the Cats battled to get their hands on the ball and were well beaten on the outside as the Blues gathered 36 more uncontested possessions just six days after Collingwood had 63 more than Geelong.
In both those losses, the Cats struggled to stem the flow as the Blues and Pies moved the ball with ease, with the 215 combined points the most Geelong has conceded in a twogame span since early 2017.
Bowes said the Cats were off early before some tweaks made at half-time swung the game in their favour.
“Full credit to Carlton, I think they were fantastic in the way they approached the game,” he said. “They chipped the ball around on us a bit early and got a lot of uncontested marks and we weren’t able to stop that.
“We sort of got the game on our terms in the second half but probably left our run a little bit too late.
“It’s easier to stop (an opponent) when we are all on the same page and connected but we just felt like our defensive system wasn’t on from the start. But once we were able to turn that around after half-time, we were able to keep that to a minimum.
“It was just the start of the game that let us down.”
Geelong will take a 10-day break to tinker with its game before meeting Gold Coast next Sunday.
The Cats expect to get defender Jake Kolodjashnij (concussion) back for that trip north, while veteran Mitch Duncan is targeting a return either at AFL or VFL level the following week.
Despite some heavy blows, both Jeremy Cameron and Sam De Koning walked away without major concerns from the Blues loss, while Rhys Stanley was subbed out with a corkie.
Bowes said he had no concerns about his side competing at the highest level this year, despite an 0-2 start.
“We are confident our best footy can beat everyone, we are going to do whatever we can and keep working on those things that we can tinker at and play our best footy,” he said.