3 minute read

Geelong coach Chris Scott is aware the Cats tend to slump after AFL mid-season byes but he's more worried about how they've been starting games in general.

Chris Scott is more worried about Geelong's overall failure to get going early, than their perennial struggle to stay awake after AFL byes.

Saturday's upset 11-point loss to Port Adelaide means the Cats have lost their last eight games immediately after the mid-season bye.

Cats great Jimmy Bartel says that's not a good sign ahead of the finals, where Geelong will have to cope with the pre-finals bye and also another week off if they win a qualifying final.

But the bigger issue for Scott is Geelong having lapses during games, often in the first quarter.

Scott was asked on Monday night if it was not galling not to put the mid-season bye issue to bed.

"A little bit, but it's not high on my radar," Scott told AFL360.

"I'm not saying it's unimportant ... it's clearly there."

The discussion then turned to Geelong's sluggish start against Port.

"So now you're talking - that is a bigger issue, a more important issue, and that is real," Scott said

"The biggest issue we have - besides some of the things we've decided to tweak with our game style since last year - was in some big moments, we were just terrible.

"They weren't early in games, but a lot of them were.

"Even the week before the bye, we had a bad first quarter against Richmond."

Scott said a positive so far this season, with the Cats a game clear at the top of the ladder, is that those 15-20 minute lapses had not been happening.

"On the weekend, we had more than a couple of those periods," he said.