IT WAS a case of "mission accomplished" for Geelong coach Chris Scott, despite his side's defeat to Hawthorn on Saturday night.
The Cats gave up a 33-point lead in the third quarter to lose by 23 points in a sharp turnaround, but Scott was keeping positive post-match, believing his side had achieved plenty in the lead-up to the finals.
"It sounds funny to say, but it was a step forward in our preparation. We always went into the game wanting to play well, we certainly didn't put the cue in the rack – not consciously – at half-time after a good performance," he said.
"We'll learn some things from tonight. In that respect, it's kind of 'mission accomplished' a little bit, but the competitor in you and in our boys would clearly liked to have performed better after half-time."
The Hawks' win means it is extremely likely the sides will meet again in a qualifying final in two weeks, but Scott said there was no message to ease off in the second half, when the Cats conceded 11 goals to three to lose control of the game.
"The stakes are clearly different to where they'll be next time but I'm certainly not sitting here saying at half-time we said 'Boys, we've done the job, lets let them walk all over us in the second half'," he said.
"On balance I thought it was a pretty good game. I suspect the next one will be even better."
But the Cats do have a quandary, with their second tall forward Shane Kersten injuring his hamstring early in the first term and being substituted out.
Although key defender Harry Taylor pushed forward late in the game (and kicked a goal), Scott indicated it was unlikely the club would shift him forward more permanently to complement Tom Hawkins if Kersten missed significant time.
"It's one that we always talk about and rarely do. The thing that we keep going back to is ... he's an All Australian centre-half back, so why would you play him forward?" he said.
"The answer is he can give us something in the forward line. He gives us another really strong target that's different to the other players we've got.
"But we haven't got two of him. I guarantee we'll talk about it in the finals in the lead up to every game and through the game, and I reckon we won't do it that much."
With Geelong assured of a top-four spot, Scott forecast the possibility of some Cats being rested for next week's meeting with the Brisbane Lions at Simonds Stadium.
But injured star Steve Johnson is not set to feature until the first week of the finals as he overcomes his foot complaint.
"My gut feel at the moment is that he'll be right to go, but he's unlikely to play [against Brisbane]," Scott said.
"We're not playing ducks and drakes. He's not seriously injured as far as we know, and the expectation is he will play the first week of the finals.
"What happens between now and then will be based around getting him as good as possible for that game, and that means mitigating the injury risk completely."
