You can spin Geelong’s plight both ways when referring to history but Chris Scott won’t get lost in the past after a third-straight defeat to begin the Cats’ AFL title defence.
Geelong was humbled by Gold Coast on Sunday, Fremantle’s win later that night leaving them as the only winless team after three rounds.
It’s been six years since the Cats lost three straight games and almost 50 years since a premiership side has started so poorly.
But in 1976 North Melbourne recovered from the same slow start to make the final, then won the flag again the next year.
Geelong won 16 games in a row to storm to the 2022 title and Scott is staying calm despite losses to Collingwood, Carlton and then the Suns, who were also 0-2.
Even making finals from this position has been tough in recent seasons, Sydney (2017) and GWS (2021) two outliers.
But Scott isn’t panicking.
“It depends, when you toss three heads, if you think a tails must be next,” he said of their predicament.
“We’d prefer to look at it in terms of making sure we get the next bit right.
“We could spend a whole lot of time thinking about what it means and referring back to last year, which I get why people do, but it would be a mistake for us to do it.
“I won’t be defensive if anyone says it’s not the ideal start to the season.”
Scott said “obvious” issues included Tom Hawkins’ slow start to the season after injury and the absence of some other A-listers, but admitted their work around the stoppages and form of others were head-scratchers.
And he said “the days are gone of having a bad day but scraping through”.
“At least when I watch footy on TV; I don’t watch anyone and think, ‘Geez, they’re not much good’.”
Despite an extra game making it a 23-round season, it leaves them with little room for error ahead of a date with Hawthorn next Monday.
“The competition being really close is daunting in a way because every week you think you’ve got to be on just to win,” he said.
“But if you’re good enough you should be in every game as well.
“I can never tell three or four rounds into any year who the best teams are. It takes time.
“I get it, if you fall too far behind it means you’ve got to win more games in less time, but it is also true if you win a lot of games in a row late, good things can happen.”
