Serve of ‘crap for Cats stars’

Andrew Mathieson
CHAMPION Cats full back Matthew Scarlett has revealed that a few home truths have emboldened Geelong to return to its best just before another tilt at an AFL flag.
The Cats had a confronting week on the training track leading up to last weekend’s Western Bulldogs match after all but surrendering the AFL minor premiership to Collingwood the week before.
Scarlett said the players had decided they would refuse to “dish that crap up any more” and then went about delivering a 101-point belting to contender the Bulldogs last Saturday night.
“There was never any doubt that we were going to bounce back,” Scarlett told Cats TV.
“We were all disappointed what happened last week (against Collingwood) and it was totally out of character.
“We rocked up at training Monday, trained really hard and had a good look at ourselves, basically.
“We’re not going to dish that crap up any more.”
Geelong booted 14 unanswered goals, including 10 in the second quarter, while restricting the Bulldogs to just six 50-metre entries for the same term.
Scarlett paid tribute to the Cats’ midfield, calling stars like Gary Ablett, Joel Selwood, Corey Enright and Jimmy Bartel “awesome”.
“I think they got a bit of a wind-up after last week – we lost contested ball by a mile,” he said.
“I knew they would come out and respond.”
Geelong went into the match without onballer Cameron Ling who was suffering hamstring soreness.
His absence was enough for media pundit Robert Walls to suggest the Cats skipper’s best days were behind him.
Walls, a former Carlton premiership coach, added that the Cats’ midfield moved the ball quicker without the 29-year-old.
“I’m not sure he’s in the best 22 at Geelong now,” Walls said on OneHD this week.
“Now we’re talking about a player that I admire greatly but I think he’s fast losing the impetus and the strengths that he had.
“He’s nowhere near as quick, he’s giving away free kicks and the role that he plays is to play on the opposition’s best midfielder and I’m not sure he does that as well now.”
Walls anointed James Kelly, Bartel or Enright to fill Ling’s boots as Geelong’s preferred tagger.
Footy Confidential’s Craig Hutchison – a Geelong supporter – also joined the chorus to say Ling’s future was in doubt.
“There will be questions marks raised in the wider football world over the role (Ling) is going to play in the finals,” Hutchison said.
“Ling didn’t play on the weekend and they looked a lot quicker.”
Geelong takes on Carlton tonight at Docklands.
The Blues dealt the Cats a shock defeat in round five when Carlton ran out six-goal victors.
Coach Brett Ratten noted earlier this week that the round-five win was against a Geelong side without Scarlett, who was “probably” the best full-back of the past decade.