Saturday, 26 May 2012:
Geelong are contesting the prevailing wisdom that contested possession is king in the AFL.
The Cats have lost the contested possession count in every game so far this season, but Friday night's win over the Western Bulldogs mean the reigning premiers have a 5-4 record.
Scott said it was not
vital that the Cats dominate contested ball, so long as they are competitive.
He noted that they won the count by 10 in the frenetic last term, where they kicked five goals to three, after falling behind by about 30 during the third term as the Bulldogs pressed.
"It's there, we're not kidding ourselves ... it certainly has an impact and it's a very relevant indicator, but those numbers can be a little superficial," Scott told SEN on Saturday.
"You can win a ground ball and handball it straight to the opposition.
"It's certainly not what it used to be.
"If you put all your eggs into that basket, it is possible to win it, but it doesn't necessarily mean that you win the game."
Scott would not go into detail, but admitted the Cats were playing with a slightly different emphasis.
He has used the word "efficiency" several times when discussing their ball movement.
"We think we've been pretty efficient in most games - certainly getting the ball inside 50 enough, our work around the contest has been okay," he said.
"But I'm certainly not suggesting you can get killed in that area (contested ball) and still win the majority of games."
While the reigning premiers have not dominated this season, Scott said they are making progress.
"We think we have a pretty good handle on it," he said.
"We think we're playing okay, we're certainly not going to buy into any talk that we're playing really poorly.
"We still think we're well-and-truly in the season, we know we can play better footy."
A big highlight on Friday night was the best-afield performance from forward Steve Johnson, who played more as a midfielder and had 36 possessions.
Scott said he still thinks Johnson has most impact on a game inside 50m, but was delighted with the experiment.
"Something I didn't necessarily realise until I got to Geelong was how good his endurance is," Scott said.
"He's borderline-elite AFL endurance for a midfielder (and) we think we can use that a little bit more.
"With a few experienced guys going off our list last year and again next year, it's nice to have a slightly bigger spread of players."
