Geelong's clearance work was "horrible" in Saturday's 11-point loss to Port Adelaide but not a true reflection of the 2019 Cats, according to coach Chris Scott.
The ladder-leaders were smashed in contested possessions (168-132), clearances (52-36) and inside-50s (56-44) and the margin could have blown out by more had the Power kicked straighter.
The Cats were beaten by the better team on the night, but Chris Scott was not prepared to concede Port was the better team in general.Credit:AAP
"The clearance work in particular was, from our perspective, horrible to start with and it didn't get much better as the game went on," Scott said.
"It's hard to build momentum from defensive 50 because you're getting slaughtered around the ball.
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"The margin flattered us in the extreme.
"We were beaten by a better team tonight, [but] I'm not prepared to concede they're a better team in general.
"It's hard to take a step back and look at the big picture in the moment but our challenge is to make sure when we look back on the season that this was just one of the few games where a lot went wrong.
"The performance wasn't reflective of the way we've played through the season."
Geelong were nursing some sore bodies after the match but Scott doesn't believe his team will be impacted for Friday night's home blockbuster against Adelaide.
"Gary Rohan couldn't come back on with a bit of a head knock [after being bumped by Karl Amon in the third term] and Harry Taylor was felled behind the ball," Scott said.
"I didn't see it or look at it, but he was a bit sore.
"Tim Kelly looked like he was really sore [after a fourth-quarter collision with Tom Jonas] but it turned out he was just winded.
"I suspect we won't lose any out of tonight."
Meanwhile, victorious Port coach Ken Hinkley admitted he felt "sad" about some big calls he made at the selection table, in spite of the win.
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