IT was only about seven weeks ago that Geelong handed out a fairly routine 52-point defeat to Adelaide in one of those games that will be remembered for not much.

But in a sign of how careers and fortunes can change so quickly, Neil Craig has since lost his job as Adelaide coach and the Crows have won the past two games.

In another sign of fluctuating fortunes since that Skilled Stadium encounter on June 26, Geelong lost its next two games, but has steadied to win it is past four.

Which all eventually leads to the realisation and acknowledgement from the Cats that they can take nothing for granted when they head to head to AAMI Stadium to play Adelaide this Sunday.

“It feels like we only played them seven or eight weeks ago and they are a different side now,” Geelong midfielder Joel Corey said. “They’ve got so many talented players on their list and it’s never a walk in the park. We just have to go over there and do things to the best of our ability to win.”

After Craig stepped down as Adelaide coach, two-time premiership captain Mark Bickley took over on an interim basis and has posted a perfect 2-0 record to spark something of a late-season revival.

Even though Adelaide has long been out of the finals reckoning, the Crows now have a fresh outlook on the rest of the season as the players try to impress knowing they will be under a new coach in 2012.

There is a theory a mid-season coaching change provides an instant boost - and that is the case in this instance with Adelaide - yet how much things have changed remains a query for the Cats.

“I suppose it’s more of a mindset from the players,” Corey said. “Maybe there’s a weight lifted off their shoulders with a new coach and they can go out and just play football a bit more. When you play on instinct things happen more. I can’t really say that’s what has happened, but the past two weeks shows they are up and about a bit more.”

Not that Geelong, sitting nicely in second place on the ladder, is any kind of slump after posting a combined 66 goals in massive back-to-back home wins over Melbourne and Gold Coast.

Certainly, the Demons and the Suns are not in the AFL’s upper echelon right now, but Geelong’s ruthless execution in those games indicates the Cats are honing their game ahead of the finals.

“The only thing we can do is beat the opposition we’re playing,” Corey said. “There’s definitely been glimpses of good play by us and I can’t sit here and say we’ve put it together for four quarters. So it’s something we’ll keep building on and try to keep improving to get to four quarters. When we play in the first week of finals we’d like to get things done like we’d want to.”