Geelong coach Chris Scott has blamed himself for a series of tactical moves that 'destabilised' the team early in an eventual four-point loss to GWS at GMHBA Stadium on Sunday.
The Cats started with gun midfielder Bailey Smith on the wing, while key forward Jeremy Cameron was in the engine room instead of starting in attack and drifting up the ground.
GWS shot out to a 20-point lead early in the first quarter as Geelong struggled to settle in their new formation - losing the clearances 5-10 in the first quarter.
Despite the Cats clawing the margin back to 10 points at the first break, Scott recognised the mistakes his coaching team made.
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"I was about to say we, it was me. We made some errors early with the way we structured up, took a few educated risks, and I thought that actually destabilised us a little bit," Scott said post-match.
"So, as always, when you don't get the outcomes you're after, it's little bit the players, and it's a lot the way you set up."
Once Smith and Max Holmes were injected into the centre bounce, along with versatile tall Mark Blicavs, the Cats were able to even up the contest in the midfield.
"We look at ourselves first, so when we got some stability in there with Bailey Smith and (Max) Holmes in the centre bounce a bit more, with (Mark) Blicavs, and I thought, again, to my eye, a lot of the time, not always but a lot of the time, they just beat their opponents," Scott said.
Ultimately, the Cats failed to take their chances in the narrow defeat, kicking 14 goals and 17 behinds in the match, including three key late misses to Tyson Stengle, Shaun Mannagh and Blicavs.
Geelong could welcome back Tom Stewart (concussion), Lawson Humphries (knee) for their next game against Port Adelaide, while Jack Henry (hamstring) will need to prove his fitness.