‘Hard to watch’: Cats’ ‘damning vision’ revealed as ‘vulnerable’ premiers problem exposed

The Cats’ loss leaves them winless from the opening two games of the season for the first time in nearly a decade.

The Cats were outpaced on Thursday night.

Geelong’s motivation has been questioned after Thursday night’s loss to Carlton left the reigning premiers winless after the opening two matches of the season.

The Cats rallied late against the Blues but were outplayed for most of the night in the eight-point loss in front of just over 55,000 spectators.

It marks just the second time in 19 seasons Geelong has started the year 0-2, with the other being 2015 - the only year they’ve missed finals in their time under coach Chris Scott.

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Following the match, Fox Footy analyst David King was one of several co-hosts questioning the reasons behind the Cats’ sluggish start to the season.

“You have to question, is it effort or motivation or is it a lack of fitness and preparation?”, he said.

“Some have been impacted through the off-season, so we’re not going to be too critical in Round 2, but if it is to be a lack of effort and motivation, I always come back to Joel Selwood setting the standard for these guys and being able to eyeball a couple through the course of the game.”

Geelong are under the pump. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

King said, if it was to be a work rate and attitude issue, “the king is dead.”

Former St Kilda star Leigh Montagna said the Cats’ form slump may’ve been due to a myriad of issues.

“It might be a little bit of everything, just a tiny bit of the motivation that they’ve had in previous years not quite there. Certainly a little bit of a mini pre-season, not as big as other years,” he said.

“Maybe age is starting to catch up with a few of them. It might just be little things in a bit of everything, but we’ve seen enough in two games to say there are some slight concerns there.”

Montagna added the Cats still had “time to build” and would enjoy a decent fixture over the next six weeks, with only one team that played finals last season, Sydney.

Hawthorn great Jason Dunstall pointed to vision of a Carlton third-quarter goal, which showed far more Blues players inside their forward 50 compared to Cats defenders, as evidence of the side’s problems.

It meant Zac Fisher was able to get loose close to goal and nail a major from close range.

Brad Close of the Cats looks dejected after the loss. (Photo by Michael Willson/AFL Photos via Getty Images)

“At the other end, this is where the real problems are and this is what highlighted to me the depth of trouble the Cats are,” Dunstall said.

“You talk workrate … look at the numbers there. It’s frightening. There are nine Carlton players inside the attacking 50 to five Geelong players and two sitting outside with their hands on their hips.

“That to me is as un-Geelong like as anything we’ve seen in the last 10 years.”

King said it was “damning vision”.

“We saw Carlton break away with ease from traffic quite regularly, particularly that third quarter. It was hard to watch,” King said.

“If you didn’t have the ultimate faith in the Geelong footy club, you’d get off pretty quick. But they’ve been an organisation that’s been able to rally and fight. But they’ve got a challenge on their hands.”

King added that, while there were still reinforcements to come for the Cats, “I’ve never seen them look so vulnerable everywhere.”

Originally published as ‘Hard to watch’: Cats’ ‘damning vision’ revealed as ‘vulnerable’ premiers problem exposed