GEELONG coach Chris Scott says his side's form is well short of top-four standard despite heading into the bye with a 10-1 record and a comfortable place in the top two.
The Cats' 59-point win over Greater Western Sydney on Saturday afternoon ensured a six-point loss to Collingwood in round eight remains their only loss over the first half of the year.
But the Cats have been notoriously slow starters a number of times this year and they required big final quarters to get past expansion clubs Gold Coast and GWS in the past two weeks.
On Saturday, Scott reiterated his belief that his team is still a long way from producing its best football.
"The win-loss is certainly a positive, but I'd rather be playing better footy to be honest," he said.
"I'd even be happier if we'd dropped a couple of extra games, but were playing better footy.
"We are living in the real world I hope, everyone at our club, because the type of footy we're playing at the moment is not top-four standard.
"We're really confident we can fix that and turn it around quickly, but it's not a given."
Adding to Scott's confidence that the Cats can improve quickly is the number of players who should soon be returning from injury.
George Horlin-Smith, Josh Caddy, Taylor Hunt, Steven Motlop, Mark Blicavs, Harry Taylor and Jared Rivers are tipped to return to fitness on or around the bye weekend.
Travis Varcoe has three to four weeks of rehab remaining, with Hamish McIntosh tipped to return via the reserves in the coming weeks.
Scott will be doing a thorough review of the GWS game, however, stating the young Giants were harder at the football early on than his vastly more experienced outfit.
GWS kicked 5.3 to one Geelong behind halfway through the first quarter and the teams were still level 29 minutes into the third term.
"We have to keep banking the wins, but the way we play is really important as well," Scott said.
"When the heat was on and both teams were really fresh, they looked better than us, which is a concern.
"Beggars can't be choosers. We're 10-1, we're in pretty good shape, we have a long injury list at the moment and we have some personnel to come back post the bye.
"I hope you know it's not just lip service. We have not played very well for four quarters at any stage this year and we need to fix it because it won't cut it against the best."
James Dampney is a reporter for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_JD
