By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
Geelong coach Chris Scott was right to be wary of Essendon last week and his wariness has not lessened this week.
The Cats face a Port Power side being roasted after a “disgraceful” thumping at the hands of the GWS Giants.
Everyone at the club, from chairman David Koch and coach Ken Hinkley down, is feeling it.
Human nature dictates that people – even professional athletes – get angry at suffering such embarrassment.
It’s times like these that football turns into an emotional game despite the cold professional approach required in the big league.
Scott prefers to rely on the professionalism of his players to understand the dynamics of the situation and prepare accordingly.
But understanding it logically and responding to the emotion of the situation can be two different things.
Scott said he was anticipating a big build-up from the Power after their heavy defeat.
“They’re a talented team, not so far removed from the team that beat Hawthorn last year,” Scott said.
“The weekend’s performance was quite poor but right at the moment they will be feeling some scrutiny.
“Our challenge is to prepare for Port Adelaide at their best.”
Scott said exhorting his team to get Port Adelaide while it was down was fraught with danger.
“It’s a dangerous place to be to manipulate the opposition’s mindset,” he said.
“We will look to get on top and put some pressure on them early but not because they are susceptible mentally.
“It’s the worst thing in footy to go in expecting the opposition not to give a yelp because invariably when you go in with that mindset you get ambushed.”
The great performance against Hawthorn in round one – when Geelong won the contested ball and clearances – may have masked the fact that it takes time to gel.
Mitch Duncan admitted the side had a lot of work to do after the win over the Bombers.
“We’re just a mediocre side at best at the moment and very inconsistent,” Duncan said.
“I think we can get a lot better. We’ve only played a few games together now.
“We’re still gelling together as a group, it’s just a very different looking side to the one we had last year.”
Geelong will follow up the visit to the Adelaide Oval for Saturday night’s game against Port Adelaide with a return engagement against Adelaide a fortnight later.
