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Geelong coach Chris Scott says both negative and positive aspects of the last meeting with Melbourne will be revisited ahead of their AFL preliminary final.
Chris Scott will look to reinforce the positive takeaways from Geelong's recent regular-season meeting with Melbourne as they prepare for their AFL preliminary final showdown.
Just don't expect the experienced Cats mentor to turn into Australian football's version of 'Ted Lasso'.
The fictional American soccer coach from the television comedy series of the same name is renowned for being optimistic to a fault.
But Scott insists he will take a more balanced approach this week in addressing last month's after-the-siren defeat to Melbourne with his players.
The Cats had led that contest by 44 points during the third quarter before conceding the final eight goals.
"Hopefully we're not so positive and all 'Ted Lasso' on our optimism, because there were parts of that game that weren't good enough," Scott said.
"There were lessons learnt on both sides of the coin that, especially given it was so recent, have some relevance."
Geelong have regained experienced stars Mitch Duncan and Zach Tuohy from injury since the round-23 encounter with Melbourne and have recalled Esava Ratugolea in attack.
"There's a few shifts to our personnel; some will help, some will hurt," Scott said.
"But when you get two teams that have been entrenched in the top-four playing late in the season and then meeting again in the finals, it would always be a surprise if the teams were going to play a completely different style."
Scott said Ratugolea is "likely" to be picked when teams are named on Thursday night, with the versatile tall set to feature alongside Tom Hawkins and Jeremy Cameron in attack while providing support for ruckman Rhys Stanley.
The three talls in the forward line will aim to make life difficult for Melbourne's All Australian defensive duo Steven May and Jake Lever.
"Lever and May have got to stop our guys - that's the way we're looking at it," Scott said.
"I'm a real believer in what Esava can be and, more than that, I'm a real believer in what he is right now.
"He can be an imposing force for us even if he doesn't get a whole lot of the ball."
