By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
GEELONG coach Chris Scott is not into the cat and mouse games of previous footy eras – but he’s not giving everything away, either.
The Cats meet Hawthorn in a blockbuster MCG clash this weekend with second spot on the ladder at stake and finals looming two weeks later.
While Scott concedes Hawthorn-Geelong games are big purely by dint of the post-2008 record between the two – 12 of 13 clashes going Geelong’s way – he also recognises the result is unlikely to play a large bearing on the finals.
Regardless, the pair is likely to finish second and third and the order won’t matter too much because they will then meet again in the first week of the finals.
And that’s assuming they complete the tasks they face in the final round; Hawthorn meeting a spent Collingwood and Geelong facing a resurgent Brisbane but at home.
Scott ventured that the first finals prospect was yet to be locked in but, even if it was, Geelong would play Hawthorn differently.
“So if this game really mattered I suspect we’d adjust a few things based on what we get or what we got the first time,” Scott said at this week’s media conference.
“Our game is there for everyone to see, we tend not to play too many tricks. I think the opposition know us pretty well and know what to expect. Probably the same is true in reverse.
“We may not roll out absolutely everything but, having said that, I don’t think we’ll surprise them if we play them in a final as well.
“It won’t be a priority to throw everything into the last game to go into the finals with momentum but it will be a consideration.”
Scott was still backing his younger players to take up the mantle.
“We’re not picking a team based on blooding young players and giving them an opportunity, setting up our team for 2016.
“We’re picking the players we think are best for the job right now. You can’t get a bigger vote of confidence than that; they’re the ones.
“We would if we could have Caddy, Christensen, Duncan and Guthrie to be the ones that are leading us and I think they’re stalking steps in that direction.
“That’s not to say that Johnson, Bartel, Kelly and Taylor might not force their will upon the game. We hope that happens, too.
“But I don’t think we’re relying on them the way we have in previous years, which is positive.”
