Cats beaten but not far off their best, says Scott
GEELONG’S best footy is not far away, according to coach Chris Scott, despite its home fortress being breached by plucky Fremantle on Saturday.
The Cats were beaten for most the day by the upstart Dockers and were flattered by the three-point margin but still showed patches of dominance early and late.
Scott pointed to those periods as signs his team was not far off stringing together a run of consistent footy as it looked to jump out of a 4-3 hole and put its top-four hopes back on track.
“I think we’ve shown patches where we’ve looked as good as the best teams,” the coach said after the Dockers won 10.9 (69) to 10.6 (66).
“Melbourne are the best team, but there’s a big pack chasing.
“It’s just going to be a struggle throughout the year, so the challenge is to not throw in the towel and let the bad days snowball into consecutive bad days.”
Geelong will assess in coming days the extent of ankle injuries to young gun Max Holmes and in-form ruck Rhys Stanley, with the loss of Holmes’ dash crucial to a lack of spread against the Dockers.
Powerful midfielder Patrick Dangerfield (calf) should return to face the GWS in Canberra next weekend. Despite losing to Fremantle at GMHBA Stadium for the first time since 2015, Scott was not too concerned about what the result meant for his side.
“It’s frustrating now but . . . it’s not the end of the world for us,” Scott said.
Despite missing key players Sean Darcy, Matt Taberner and Nat Fyfe, no-fuss Freo left Geelong with a 6-1 record and a top-four berth beckoning
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir rated the smashand-grab win as among of the best of his tenure.
“I don’t know where it stacks, as a coaching group you don’t sit around rating it but it was a great win,” Longmire said.