Geelong coach Chris Scott says the Cats simply couldn’t match it with amazing Sydney outfit

GEELONG coach Chris Scott says the Cats planned for Sydney’s ferocious start, but his side simply couldn’t match it with the Swans.

Jimmy Bartel may have played his last game for Geelong. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

GEELONG coach Chris Scott says the Cats planned for Sydney’s ferocious start, but his side simply couldn’t match it with the Swans.

In their first preliminary final since 2013, the Cats were jumped by the Swans scoring 7.2 to Cats five behinds in the first term.

“No matter what we tried early we couldn’t stop that,” Scott said.

“They were just extraordinarily efficient … Their work around the contest was first rate, they forced us to play poorly around the contest.

“Our guys kept plugging away. There’s no problem there with the will and the want, I don’t think anyone could say we threw in the towel.

Geelong players react after losing their AFL preliminary final against Sydney. Picture: AAP

“The planning we went in with was executed, but even that just didn’t work.”

Midfielder Patrick Dangerfield said he felt like the Cats could have given more after a humbling 37-point loss.

“It’s as tough as it gets,” Dangerfield said.

“You don’t put all that work in throughout the entire season and lose the way that we did.

“It just felt like we could have given more … You can’t win a game in the first quarter, but you can certainly lose one.”

Veteran defender Corey Enright was distraught on the ground, overcome by emotion.

The three-time premiership player and six-time All Australian is uncontracted for next season and former teammate Cameron Ling told Channel 7 he believed the 35-year-old wouldn’t play on next year.

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Jimmy Bartel, whose right-foot banana from 40m in the second term was impressive, has a triggered the clause in his contract to play on next season but there’s an expectation some of his football in 2017 will be played in the VFL.

“I’m not going to address any of that tonight,” Scott said.

Geelong had played one game in 26 days leading into the clash with the Swans because of the Round 23 bye and then their two-point qualifying final win against Hawthorn.

Dangerfield said the Cats wouldn’t use that as an excuse, but Scott said it would be analysed.

“I would rather it have been us, I still maintain that position,” Scott said.

“We clearly need to analyse how we approached it. We were confident going in, we thought we gave ourselves every chance and then just didn’t execute it on the night.”

Geelong’s attacking impotence was underlined by its return of eight goals from a whopping 72 forward 50m entries.

“We kicked long rather than looking for short hit ups and allowed their extra number to rebound the ball out quite easily,” Dangerfield explained.

Corey Enright couldn’t hold in his emotions after the game. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Scott was irked by an observation the Swans “ambushed” his side with their tackling in the opening minutes.

“We didn’t think, oh gee, they tackled hard … we didn’t stand up to it but ambushed suggests that you weren’t ready for it and we were,” he said.

The criticism of Geelong, that they’re a two-man team with Patrick Dangerfield and Joel Selwood, rang true statistically again, both with 39 touches.

Dangerfield conceded when the Cats had played their best footy this year it was “an even contribution”.

“While emotions are running pretty high, it’s something that we’ll reflect on over the coming week,” he said.

“It’s not just our midfield, we need to improve all areas of he ground if we’re going to be better next season.”

Originally published as Geelong coach Chris Scott says the Cats simply couldn’t match it with amazing Sydney outfit