The Cats managed just 12 goals against Hawthorn on a blustery Saturday afternoon but still edged their rivals in a thriller at the MCG.
Along with their round nine win over Collingwood, the total is the lowest Geelong has kicked in any of its win this season.
“I think generally we’ve been pretty good; we’re the number one attacking side in the competition,” Thompson said.
“But against good defensive teams, and everybody’s getting better defensively, we’ve failed to kick big scores, so we have to be better. We might be winning a lot of games of footy but we’re not going to be a team that accepts not playing to a certain standard.
“I think we’ve got a lot of work to do in a lot of areas, and one of them is kicking scores when opposition put good defensive pressure on.”
Geelong managed 55 inside-50s but the majority of goals came at ground level, with smalls Mathew Stokes (four) and Paul Chapman (two) among the most effective Cats up forward.
Thompson acknowledged that even with the impending returns of Cameron Mooney and Steve Johnson, things would get tougher as teams attempted to shut down the most attacking team in the league.
On a tough, grinding day however, the Geelong coach was happy to come away with another win.
“We were just lucky to be ahead at the time [of the siren], I think,” he said.
“In the end it was just contest after contest, we happened to have our nose in front [and] we take the points home.”
The coach was pleased by the return of ruckman Brad Ottens, while he thought Stokes’ second half was “outstanding”.
Joel Corey was a late withdrawal, although the Cats believe he should be fit to tackle Adelaide at AAMI Stadium next Friday night.
Meanwhile, the Cats coach endorsed suggestions linking Geelong assistant Brenton Sanderson to the Port Adelaide senior coaching role,
Last week Thompson anointed Sanderson as the man most likely to replace him at Skilled Stadium when his contract expires at the end of 2011 but on Saturday night he said his assistant - a South Australian - was ready to coach now.
“He’s going to be a candidate, [a] very worthy candidate,” Thompson said.
“He’s ready to go. The club probably hates me saying it, but we don’t mind people leaving for the right reasons and that would be a very good reason.”
