Scott employs tact tactic for Roos

GEELONG coach Chris Scott does not expect his observation that North Melbourne is performing above expectations this year to cause any friction at the next extended family function.

The Cats sit in fifth spot at the midpoint of the season, roughly where most pundits expected. The same cannot be said of tomorrow’s opponent North Melbourne, with Brad Scott’s team matching Geelong’s 7-4 win-loss record after widely being considered a bottom four prospect coming into the 2018 campaign.

“I don’t think my brother will be offended if I say I think they’re going better than I expected — I think they probably think that as well,” Chris Scott said yesterday.

“I never had any doubt that they had some good players and they run a good system. They just seemed to have taken a path that suggested it was going to take a little bit longer for them to be right up the top or competing for a position up there.

“[But] their form-line has been consistent over a period, so it’s not a purple patch of form they’ve hit. They’ve been pretty good the whole season.”

For one of the few times in Scott’s tenure at Geelong dat- ing back to 2011, the Cats are set to go in with the same lineup for two straight weeks.

Key defender Harry Taylor is among a group of big names unlikely to return to action until after the mid-season bye.

A foot problem has limited Taylor to only three senior matches this year, and with the Cats getting a 12-day break after the following weekend’s clash with Richmond, there’s little appetite to rush him back.