AFL: Scott laments injuries that cruelled Geelong flag defence

Geelong coach Chris Scott says the disorganised performance against St Kilda which ended the Cats’ finals bid was reflective of a campaign which felt like playing “Whac-A-Mole”.

As battered stars Jeremy Cameron, Patrick Dangerfield and Tom Hawkins struggled once again and a hamstring injury to Esava Ratugolea “threw out” his ruck plans, Scott said the 33-point loss summed up the ongoing issues which had plagued Geelong’s premiership defence.

He was wary of making excuses for his underperforming senior players but said there were “various reasons” their influence had been down in recent weeks, pointing to Dangerfield’s collapsed lung and broken ribs suffered in June as chief among them.

“It has sort of felt like ‘Whac-A-Mole’ to an extent, and tonight was a bit the same, it just felt reflective of our season,” Scott said.

“There were patches throughout the year where we felt like we were getting going, but then two or three things would go wrong again and we’d be catching up.

“That’s one of the things with our season – it wasn’t just the guys who weren’t on the park, it was the ones who could get out there but were just way off their best for various reasons.

“We don’t want to advertise that … it doesn’t sound that good anyway, it sounds like an excuse and I’m not sure whether people believe you or not, but we’ve been aware that some guys have been really restricted, and a lot of those guys haven’t had a long off-season for 10 years.”

Scott said Ratugolea’s first quarter departure from the match had hurt the Cats, as Sam De Koning was forced into a key defensive post when he had been slated to act as the No. 1 ruck in the absence of Rhys Stanley and Mark Blicavs.

“We didn’t really prepare to have Shannon in the ruck as much, the plan was for De Koning to be in there, so (Ratugolea’s injury) really threw those plans,” he said.

He suggested veteran Mitch Duncan, who was one of Geelong’s best with 27 disposals and a goal, would be unlucky to receive a ban after his heavy tackle on Jack Higgins following a free kick call for the Saints.

Higgins was assessed for concussion before he returned to play out his 100th game, booting 2.3.

“It’s a really tough one when the player making the tackle, it’s hard to work out how much force he can apply because it depends on how much the ball carrier braces,” Scott said.

“St Kilda had the free kick, and so (Higgins) stopped, but Mitch didn’t know that he’d stopped, so he was taken to ground as if the ball carrier was going to ride the tackle … it’s hard to sum that up in a moment and apply the correct level of force.”

Scott said the Cats medical staff had ruled Brad Close out of the final round due to an ankle injury, but he would not be among players pencilled in for post-season surgery.

“(Close) won’t play next week. We’ll have a few guys that will have surgery pretty quickly, but I don’t have any indication that he’ll be one of those,” Scott said.

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