SYDNEY coach Dean Cox admits that he made a mistake by dropping the tag on Geelong star Bailey Smith in the second half of Saturday night's 27-point loss to the Cats.

James Jordon kept Smith to just eight disposals in the first half, but with the Cats taking control through the middle, the Swans decided to change tack at half-time.

CATS v SWANS Full match coverage and stats

Geelong dominated inside 50s (23-7) in the second quarter leading to a run of five unanswered goals.

The Sydney coach hoped to restore balance to his midfield, but dropping the tag had the opposite effect as Smith began to dominate.

He gathered 18 disposals and kicked a goal in the third quarter alone, before finishing with 24 touches.

"I think to be able to do it in the first half, James (Jordon) was really important for us, and to have a different look when a side's gaining ascendancy, that's the things that you try and discuss. 'Do we drop this or try and spin more numbers through the middle of the ground?'," Cox said.

"It didn't work. I'll be the first to put my hand up with that.

"I think he (Smith) had 18 in the third quarter. That's a collective as well. I think that's part of the way our defence and our mids were beaten tonight."

Smith's third-term dominance saw the Cats extend their lead to 38 points midway through the quarter, before eventually winning by 27 to inflict the Swans' second loss for the season.

"Whether you win games of footy or you lose games, there will always be things that you learn," Cox said.

"We'll learn from playing against one of the best teams in the competition. You get those tests and we've got to make sure that we work on areas that we need to get better at because we understand the nature behind the season is a long year but there's going to be multiple challenges and there's just a few more we have to look at."

To make matters worse, the Swans lost two players to injury, with recruit Malcolm Rosas jnr hurting his ankle in the second term and Tom Papley leaving the ground late with calf tightness.

"Malcolm's hurt his ankle and couldn't come back on after half-time and then Tom's calf got a bit tight. We'll find the extent of what they both look like," Cox said.

Geelong coach Chris Scott was particularly impressed with a number of his young players including Smith, defender Lawson Humphries and young ruck Mitchell Edwards.

"To be able to prevail in that battle within the battle was the thing that I was pleased about," Scott said.

"We had some good individual performances as well. Off the top of my head, Lawson Humphreys was outstanding. I think that's probably obvious to everyone, wasn't it? And then there were some interesting match-ups throughout the course of the game.

"It was one of those performances where it was nice that different guys took their moments at different stages of the game. Obviously, Bailey really came into the game in the third quarter."

Edwards, along with Mark Blicavs and Sam De Koning, were influential in the ruck contest against the in-form Brodie Grundy, winning hitouts 39-33.

"Yeah, we really like Mitch's development, and obviously have a lot of respect for Brodie and what he can do," Scott said.

"He's early in his development. We've got to keep reminding ourselves that he is ... Because he's not only young, but his first couple of years in our system were injury-riddled, and he never really had the opportunity even to develop physically because he just spent so much time injured. But I think I'm really optimistic around the sort of player he can become."