Chris Scott has called for calm after Geelong made a worrying start to their AFL season on Friday night. Missing superstars Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron, the Cats were blown away by Gold Coast in a 56-point loss.
Geelong trailed by 85 points late in the third quarter, before dragging it back to 19.11 (125) to 10.9 (69). Christian Petracca was the star of the show in his Suns debut, kicking three goals and collecting a game-high 34 disposals against last year’s grand finalists.
Chris Scott isn’t panicking despite a massive loss for Geelong. Image: Getty
On social media, reporter Andrew Wu described Geelong’s performance as “embarrassing”. He wrote: “Somehow, Geelong have turned in a more embarrassing display than Carlton. I’m struggling to recall a worse performance by the Cats under Chris Scott. It’s into training drill territory.”
But according to Scott, there won’t be panic stations despite the massive loss. “There were some positives,” he said in his press conference. “Always a hard thing to say in the immediate aftermath of a game like that but of all the positives, he (Tanner Bruhn) is likely the most positive.
“If anything, it’s galling we didn’t have him. He was the player we needed at times last year. Probably what I was surprised by is just how good he is physically.”
Bruhn had a team-high 31 touches, four inside-50s and two score assists for the Cats in his first game since the preliminary final in 2024. The 23-year-old missed all of last season while facing criminal charges, which were dropped in November.
Christian Petracca starred in his first AFL game for Gold Coast.
(AFL Photos via Getty Images)Chris Scott not panicking despite massive AFL loss
Scott said he was “pretty calm” despite the result and “won’t be overreacting”, admitting skill errors rather than attitude were Geelong’s undoing. He conceded the high-profile absences of Dangerfield and Cameron “snuck up on us a little bit”.
The coach said: “We thought they’d be right to play. They just didn’t feel ready and maybe in retrospect we might have had a few guys like that, as good as they’d like to be, going into a big game. We had to throw the magnets around a bit … clearly didn’t work.”
Oliver Dempsey had four goals and 20 disposals in a rare bright spot for Geelong, while Max Holmes had nine clearances and 29 touches. For the Suns, Bailey Humphrey had four goals after kicking three in the first quarter alone, as did Ben King. Petracca showed the Suns will be strong in 2026, with Gold Coast thrashing Geelong even without injured Brownlow medallist Matt Rowell.
with AAP