By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
EVERY game is unique but some are more unique that others.
At least Geelong coach Chris Scott believes so as his side faces last season’s bogey team, Brisbane.
Remember that last quarter fade out at the Gabba where the Lions posted their biggest comeback ever to overhaul a lacklustre Geelong?
Or the final home-and-away game when Brisbane threatened to repeat the dose?
Perhaps most Cats supporters have filed those matches away in the never-to-be-mentioned-again folder.
But Scott said both games involved unique circumstances unlikely to be replayed.
“We haven’t been involved in a game like we were last year where we had the game under control and were well on top for three quarters,” he said.
“We played as poorly and they played as well as they did in the last quarter but that’s ancient history, it’s so long ago.
“Our ladder position was locked in the last home-and-away game and we didn’t play well and still won,” Scott said.
“Given the circumstances of those two games, we’ll be treating this one in the appropriate way, which is based on (Brisbane’s) recent form over the pre-season and last week.
“We’ve got a lot of respect for the way they went about it last week against Hawthorn for most of the game.
“They have some really strong weapons that we need to counter.”
While conceding Geelong could “lapse again and fall into bad habits”, Scott said the round-one result offered encouragement.
“This early in the season we were encouraged by our performance against Adelaide but even still, we look at that game and think there are big areas of improvement and areas that if we don’t improve Brisbane have the capability of exploiting us,” he said.
“The game (against Adelaide) was too high-scoring for my liking in the first half.
“As the game wore on we probably defended a little bit better but they were able to get more chances than we would have liked.
“Adelaide is a pretty good attacking and rebounding team. They remind me of Brisbane in the way they move the ball off half back, so if we turn the ball over in dangerous spots they can really score heavily on the rebound,” Scott said.
“I thought for big parts of the game against Adelaide we dominated the play but gave up some easy goals which kept them in it.”
Scott said Andrew Mackie, who will play his 200th game this weekend, had become “one of the most respected players at our football club, which is saying something”.
“He’s a player his teammates love playing with. When things are tough Mack is typically the player that generates a bit of enthusiasm and brings the players with him.”
