Geelong coach Chris Scott says the disorganised efficiency towards St Kilda which ended the Cats’ finals bid was reflective of a marketing campaign which felt like taking part in “Whac-A-Mole”.
As battered stars Jeremy Cameron, Patrick Dangerfield and Tom Hawkins struggled as soon as once more and a hamstring damage to Esava Ratugolea “threw out” his ruck plans, Scott mentioned the 33-point loss summed up the continuing points which had plagued Geelong’s premiership defence.
He was cautious of constructing excuses for his underperforming senior gamers however mentioned there have been “various reasons” their affect had been down in latest weeks, pointing to Dangerfield’s collapsed lung and damaged ribs suffered in June as chief amongst them.
“It has sort of felt like ‘Whac-A-Mole’ to an extent, and tonight was a bit the same, it just felt reflective of our season,” Scott mentioned.
“There were patches throughout the year where we felt like we were getting going, but then two or three things would go wrong again and we’d be catching up.
“That’s one of the things with our season – it wasn’t just the guys who weren’t on the park, it was the ones who could get out there but were just way off their best for various reasons.
“We don’t want to advertise that … it doesn’t sound that good anyway, it sounds like an excuse and I’m not sure whether people believe you or not, but we’ve been aware that some guys have been really restricted, and a lot of those guys haven’t had a long off-season for 10 years.”
Scott mentioned Ratugolea’s first quarter departure from the match had harm the Cats, as Sam De Koning was compelled right into a key defensive submit when he had been slated to behave because the No. 1 ruck within the absence of Rhys Stanley and Mark Blicavs.
“We didn’t really prepare to have Shannon in the ruck as much, the plan was for De Koning to be in there, so (Ratugolea’s injury) really threw those plans,” he mentioned.
He prompt veteran Mitch Duncan, who was one in every of Geelong’s greatest with 27 disposals and a objective, can be unfortunate to obtain a ban after his heavy deal with on Jack Higgins following a free kick name for the Saints.
Higgins was assessed for concussion earlier than he returned to play out his a centesimal recreation, booting 2.3.
“It’s a really tough one when the player making the tackle, it’s hard to work out how much force he can apply because it depends on how much the ball carrier braces,” Scott mentioned.
“St Kilda had the free kick, and so (Higgins) stopped, but Mitch didn’t know that he’d stopped, so he was taken to ground as if the ball carrier was going to ride the tackle … it’s hard to sum that up in a moment and apply the correct level of force.”
Scott mentioned the Cats medical employees had dominated Brad Close out of the ultimate spherical on account of an ankle damage, however he wouldn’t be amongst gamers pencilled in for post-season surgical procedure.
“(Close) won’t play next week. We’ll have a few guys that will have surgery pretty quickly, but I don’t have any indication that he’ll be one of those,” Scott mentioned.
Source: www.news.com.au
