Calling Cats a kick-and-catch team is wide of the mark, says Scott

IT “would be a mistake” to label Geelong a kick-andcatch side, Chris Scott says, despite a dramatic change up that saw the Cats take 55 more marks last weekend than their previous season average.

After ranking fourth in the league for marks per game with 101.3 in 2021, the Cats drastically cut them down to start this season and took only 86 grabs per game in the first seven rounds.

That went through the roof in a 53-point demolition of GWS last weekend, as Geelong took 141 marks and the sting out of the Giants.

The return of the kickand-catch was a successful tactic, but Scott (pictured) said it would not be a weekly occurrence.

“It would be a mistake to say we are a kick-mark team,” he said.

“But if the opposition forces us to play that way, that is a weapon we have in our arsenal.

“We play what the situation dictates . . . I think it depends on the way the opposition play.”

While the game style changed up, Geelong was still able to generate plenty of shots at goal and kicked 12.16 (88) to demolish the Giants.

Ahead of a meeting against finals-bound St Kilda on the traditionally fast-flowing Marvel Stadium surface, the Cats could look to slow the game down and take the sting out of the Saints attack.

Scott said the Giants game was a “realignment” of the style the Cats were hoping to nail down in 2022.

“The way we played last week is consistent with the way we have tried to play all year,” he said.

“I think we have been a little bit inconsistent with the way we have played overall and if anything last week was a bit more of a realignment to what we are trying to do. In the end I thought we gave our forwards really good looks.”