Chris Scott has sounded an ominous warning before Geelong’s AFL finals campaign, with the coach confident they are not only primed for an assault on this year’s flag but that they’ll be even better in 2020.
The minor premiers face Collingwood in a qualifying final at the MCG on Friday night, with Scott spoilt for choice at the selection table.
Young gun Jordan Clark (elbow) most likely won’t be available but Jake Kolodjashnij (hip) and Tom Atkins (hand) will.
That pair will be fighting for what Scott admits are the last two or three undecided spots in a settled line-up that is widely expected to go deep into September.
“A couple of things I’m really confident in; I think we’ll be a better team next year than we are this year and I think we’re really well prepared to have a good crack at it this year,” Scott told reporters on Tuesday.
“Whether other people choose to define us by what happens over the next month is their choice.
“But I think we’ll look back and reflect on what we actually get as opposed to spending too much time trying to forecast what’s going to happen.
“We’re trying to live in the moment a little bit more than that.”
Clark made his VFL return at the weekend, after suffering a ligament injury in his left elbow at training before the round-21 game against North Melbourne.
The midfielder sustained a knock to the same elbow and did not finish the match but Scott stressed it wasn’t a recurrence of the ligament issue.
The Magpies are at the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to injuries and suspension with Darcy Moore, Jordan De Goey, Steele Sidebottom and Jaidyn Stephenson among those to have endured a less-than-ideal finals lead in.
While the Cats appear to have arrived on the doorstep of the finals in fine fettle, their patchy form after a bye remains a query.
“People see patterns in things that are random all the time; that’s their problem, not mine,” Scott said.
“What I am confident in is our preparation, the work that we’ve done to get ourselves to this point.
“We have to play really well to win and if we don’t we’ll lose but whatever the result I understand that people will try to draw conclusions and whether I agree with those conclusions or not isn’t really relevant.
“If I ever spent much time thinking about it I stopped a long time ago.”
