Questions remain for Cats, says Scott - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Questions remain for Cats, says Scott

Roger Vaughan 14/05/2011 05:06:31 PM Comments (0)

Beating the reigning AFL premiers and becoming the only unbeaten team after eight rounds changes nothing for Geelong coach Chris Scott.

The Cats were outstanding on Friday night, overcoming their inaccuracy and rallying from 17 points down early in the third term to beat Collingwood by three points in a pulsating clash.

The win was particularly significant for Geelong given the last time these two teams played, Collingwood took them apart in last year's preliminary final.

That loss was widely seen as a landmark moment - the ending of the Cats' golden era.

Instead, Geelong have changed their playing style under Scott and not missed a beat despite the departures of Mark Thompson and Gary Ablett.

But Scott is mindful they are only a third of the way through the season.

"Winning every game so far is better than not, but the questions that have been put to Geelong shouldn't change, because they're all legitimate," Scott said.

"It's a long season, we do have a lot of 29-plus year olds on the list, they've been up for a long time, can they keep going - they're all very real questions.

"We just have to keep answering the questions.

"So far - and all I can talk about is what's happened to this point - they haven't shown any signs of lacking motivation and they haven't shown signs their age is a problem."

Scott conceded that beating Collingwood was a boost to his own credibility among the Geelong players.

"It's a reasonable observation - it's really hard to build belief if you're not seeing results," he told SEN radio.

"We've talked a lot about the things we think will work against the best sides.

"To get some sort of result last night only strengthens that belief.

"There's no doubt you have to establish your credibility, it's important that those guys feel like I have some idea of what I'm doing."

Scott also admitted he had made an error in subbing captain Cameron Ling out of the game immediately after the midfielder went off in the third term with a shoulder injury.

While Ling was initially unhappy with the move, sub Allen Christensen played an important role in the latter stages of the game.

Ling was in agony as he left the field, but his injury does not appear as bad as it looked initially.

Scott was not too worried about their goalkicking inaccuracy - Geelong kicked eight behinds before their first goal - provided the players kept working on that.

"None of the guys who missed those shot are poor kicks," he said.

Scott responded to concerns about Tom Hawkins' form, saying the ruck-forward played an important role in the win and said his form had been "adequate".

Tall forward Cameron Mooney missed the game with a knee injury and Scott is hopeful he will play an important role for the Cats leading into the finals.

One potential negative is that David Wojcinski will probably come under video review for leg contact with Alan Didak in the first quarter.

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