Geelong coach Chris Scott has been happy to acknowledge the fact that the Cats have struggled after AFL byes in recent years, but he’s done talking about it for now.
In a worrying run that goes back to 2014, Geelong have lost seven of eight games coming off a week’s break.
Scott hasn’t attempted to gloss over the disappointing record but with Saturday night’s clash against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval to prepare for, the coach drew a line under the topic on Wednesday.
“I did bring it up post-game in the Richmond week (round 12) and a third of the (players in the) room had no idea what I was talking about,” Scott said.
“(It) speaks to the fact we have some new people in the team and it is a new year and it just feels different to us.
“But I have said a few times publicly and certainly privately that one of the things we have endeavoured to do this year is when there is an issue, even if it is really minor, just confront it and don’t pretend it’s not happening
“So we spoke about it last week, but we’re done speaking about it now.
“We have got to focus on the really positive things we have got going into the game, the most important of which is to plan well and continue to build some good form.”
The ladder-leading Cats will extend their current winning streak to nine matches if they can break the hoodoo against the Power, who are ninth with a 6-6 record coming off a disappointing loss to Fremantle.
“Their best is good and the numbers reflect that as well,” Scott said of Port.
“They have had a little bit of a strange month with the trip to China and then over to Perth last week, so they haven’t had a lot of continuity, which I think they will get over the next month playing at Adelaide Oval.
“In that respect it has been a bit stop-start and hard to get a really clear reading on how they have been playing, but if you just look at the numbers, their contested numbers are really strong and when they use the ball the way we think they would like it is pretty hard to stop.”