By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
IT WAS the round-one set back that has taken Geelong until this point to overcome – the 62-point drubbing at the hands of Hawthorn.
Geelong is finally on a winning run and coach Chris Scott agreed this week that it was as good a time as any to meet the Hawks.
“It’s a good chance to see how far we’ve come in a way but we won’t be measuring it based on one game,” Scott told this week’s press conference at Kardinia Park.
“It’s an important game for us, there’s no shying away from that, but, to be frank, it feels like the last six weeks have been important.
“Three or four weeks ago the Hawks looked unbeatable and I’m not falling into the fact that they’re a little bit off now.
“At our best we can present a challenge for them but it will need to be our absolute best because if they’re not the best team in the comp it’s pretty close.
“And if the game is on their terms they’re almost impossible to stop.”
Scott was pleased his team had finally began producing the improvement it had been working toward all season.
“We’ve been defending well, which has helped our contested ball and vice versa and both those things have helped our attack.
“We’re clear and the players are clear on what we need to do to get those numbers looking better.
“The uncontrollable part to a certain extent is what the opposition do. In terms of that challenge it doesn’t get much greater this week.
“We’re still confident the things we talked about the last month or so are possible to be executed this week.”
Scott considered the evenness of the competition and finding form when it counted were the keys.
“The way the season is going it’s difficult to get a handle on where everyone sits and I suspect that when it gets to the pointy end of the season it’ll be about whose going the best at the time.”
Steve Johnson, forgiven for his slip-up against Brisbane, would be selected for his 250th game, Scott confirmed.
“He’s a lock and we’re confident he’ll play well. We would have loved to have him in the team last week but the positive of him missing is that physically he’ll be in better shape for this one.
“I’m pretty confident he feels like he owes the team one.”
Scott used words like “genius”, “self-starter”, “entertaining”, “exhilarating” and “exciting” when describing his place in the coach’s box as “the best seat in the house at the Stevie J show” for the past five years.
