Saturday, 11 August 2012:

Geelong coach Chris Scott has labelled Perth supporters as the worst in the AFL, declaring he would never want to take his kids to a match at Patersons Stadium.

Scott was left aghast at some of the abuse directed at Tom Hawkins and the Cats' medical staff while the Geelong forward was being stretchered from the ground in Friday night's five-point loss to West Coast.

Hawkins fell heavily on his head after a marking contest and lay distressed on the ground for more than five minutes while Geelong's medical staff treated him.

Although most of the 37,812 crowd clapped Hawkins off in a show of support, there were pockets of unruly fans who unleashed a torrent of abuse.

Scott, who spent three seasons in Perth as an assistant coach at the Dockers, was disgusted by the behaviour and was more than happy to share his thoughts after the 16.6 (102) to 15.7 (97) defeat.

"One thing I will say is I would hate to take my kids to the footy here," Scott said.

"It is not an environment for young kids, which is a shame because we need young kids coming to the footy.

"It was disgraceful. It's everywhere, but here's the worst.

"I loved it when I was at Freo. It's fantastic. It's great. The energy here - it's the loudest ground in the competition. It's a great place to play footy. But if you're asking my opinion on whether it goes too far, absolutely it does.

"When a player's concussed, he's on the ground and hasn't moved, and he's being carted off the ground, you shouldn't be swearing and abusing him, and abusing the medical staff.

"Would you take a 10-year-old into that environment?

"I just think it's poor."

It wasn't just the Patersons Stadium crowd that bewildered Scott, with a series of confusing deliberate-out-of-bounds interpretations also catching his attention.

"We've got to be really clear that we shouldn't blame the umpires," Scott said.

"Someone's told them to do that and as a competition I think we should get to the bottom of who that is.

"You want to be really clear on what the rules are and you just can't change the rules mid-year.

"I'm not complaining because I think most of the free kicks went our way, but I think it was a little bit embarrassing for the competition tonight."

Hawkins is a doubtful starter for next Friday's clash with St Kilda at Etihad Stadium, but Scott said late withdrawal Paul Chapman (calf), James Kelly (groin), Joel Corey (hamstring), Trent West and Josh Hunt were all in line to return as the Cats (12-7) fight to shore up a top-six berth.

However, star Geelong midfielder Steve Johnson faces a nervous wait after collecting Adam Selwood with a high, front-on bump.

Eagles ruck duo Dean Cox and Nic Naitanui were the heroes in the nail-biting win, which has reignited West Coast's top-four hopes ahead of next week's clash with Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.

AAP