GEELONG coach Chris Scott has refused to buy into the discussion that his team is the best in the competition, saying the Cats need to improve if they’re to challenge for a first premiership in 11 years.
Since losing to St Kilda in Round 9, an eight-match winning streak has seen Geelong jump from fifth to first.
The Cats’ victims during that time included fellow top-eight teams Richmond, Carlton and reigning premier Melbourne, ninth-placed Western Bulldogs, and this week’s opponent Port Adelaide.
“I don’t think about it,” Scott said when asked if Geelong was the AFL’s best team at the moment.
“One thing I will say – if that is some of the commentary around, I’m not really across it- maybe, as an industry, we get too focussed on yesterday, today and tomorrow.
“And we don’t take a step back often enough to have a look at who’s been really consistent over a longer period of time.
“I didn’t listen too much when I heard that we weren’t going that well early in the year. And I don’t listen too much when I hear we are going well now.
“Where you sit in the competition is always relative to where the others are as well.”
Scott expects those in the top half of the ladder to improve in the run to September.
He says if Geelong doesn’t get better over the next ten weeks, it will fall short of a 10th VFL/AFL premiership.
“If we stay where we are, I don’t think that will be good enough,” Scott said.
“It’s just so hard to judge where we’re going to be, much less where the other teams are going to be as well.
“History’s a pretty good guide. You kind of need to flush the last six weeks – to use a golfing expression. You need to nail it.
“We’re just trying to set up all the pieces to give ourselves a chance to do that.”
Geelong will have to make one change for Saturday’s clash with Port Adelaide after winger Sam Menegola suffered a concussion in a tackle that cost Carlton rookie Will Hayes a two-week suspension.
However, his replacement won’t necessarily be Brandan Parfitt, who, after being sidelined six weeks with a broken hand, contracted COVID-19 AND entered the AFL’s health and safety protocols ahead of the win against Carlton.
“Parfitt’s missed a lot of footy now, so we need to think through it,” Scott said.
“The vagaries of the competition again mean that we don’t have a VFL game this weekend.
“We’ll just think through that a little bit more; we’ve got an important session today.
“Parf’s missed with a (broken) hand. So, the positive there is he’s got a power of running in, and at least he’s running fit.
“(It’s) hard to gauge how footy fit he is. But, he’ll certainly be in our squad, and then we’ll work through exactly how that plays out.”
Midfield duo Cooper Stephens and Quintin Narkle will likely join Parfitt in the squad.
However, Scott said former Hawthorn ruck Jonathon Ceglar won’t come into the frame until next week.
Twitter: @tom_king79
