Geelong coach Chris Scott has given his verdict on the new last-disposal out-of-bounds rule and explained his “confusion” around an existing one after Thursday night’s win over Adelaide.

Meanwhile, Crows coach Matthew Nicks said a sluggish start was most costly for his side in its eight-point loss, refusing to bite on a question about a controversial fourth-quarter free kick.

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In a soapy and untidy clash, Geelong wore a gallant Adelaide down to extend its 23-year streak of beating the Crows at Kardinia Park.

The sides each kicked two goals in the last quarter as the hosts held off a late Adelaide charge, but one of the Cats’ goals came in a sequence that started with an incorrectly-awarded last-touch out-of-bounds free kick.

Adelaide’s Zac Taylor was penalised, with the umpire believing the ball came off his boot and not that of Geelong stalwart Tom Atkins, where replays clearly showed last contact was with the latter.

Asked about the controversial free kick, Scott claimed he couldn’t recall the exact moment but said post-match: “If people are saying it was wrong (the decision), it’s likely to be accurate.”

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On the introduction of the last-disposal rule itself, Scott said it’d been a “success” but added that he had some “confusion” around the still-in-place insufficient intent rule.

“I think the (last disposal out of bounds) rule, in general, my observation would be that it’s been a success,” he said.

“(But) I’m a little confused around … like, insufficient intent still applies. So, if you dive at a ball and knock it across the line, that’s probably a free kick as well.”

Scott suggested more help from the Review Centre would be “logical”, adding that he’d rather time be spent on getting a decision right than play resuming quickly but it be the wrong call.

“But there are always going to be teething problems with these rule changes. And again, I just think it’s a pragmatic, logical decision to say ‘well, if we can get some help from the ARC on those things, we should do it’. But not in a way that holds the game up for too long,” Scott said.

“I guess one of the criticisms of the score reviews, it just takes a little bit too long. But I guess if the question was ‘would you rather it take a little bit too long but they get it right?’ I’d rather they got it right.”

Speaking more broadly, Scott believed the rule changes had been “good”.

“I just think they’re consistent with the AFL’s stated aims around how they would like the game to be played,” he said.

“I’ve got a bit of a cue — whenever a rule makes it harder to coach, especially defensively, it’s likely to be a good one.”

Scott admitted it was “frustrating” that Geelong wasn’t able to take its chances.

“In the end, it was probably a game where the weight of numbers was enough, but it certainly wasn’t the spectacle that it could have been,” he said.

But while the Cats kicked 9.14 from 67 inside-50s, Scott was pleased with how his group ran out the game.

“We’re a little bit off in terms of our execution, there’s no doubt about that, we’ve got a lot that we can improve,” Scott admitted.

“But I don’t think our run and our fitness levels are one of those things.”

Nicks slams Crows’ slow start after loss | 08:02

Nicks, meantime, confirmed the Crows would closely review their poor start to the game.

“It’s probably the first 10 minutes of the game that’s the issue,” Nicks said post-game of where things went wrong.

“We were still on the bus. We were 0-10; we lost ground balls by 11 or 12. That’ll be the one we have to look at, go through the why.

“To come in at quarter-time and look each other in the eye, we were disappointed. But again, we showed what we can fight back from.”

A final-term last-disposal-out-of-bounds free kick contentiously awarded to Geelong instead of Adelaide led to a Cats goal when it was just a two-point contest.

But asked if he felt like that was a decisive moment, Nicks said: “No, no. There was nothing that stood out from the game from that point of view.”

Nicks was also asked about the process behind Jordon Butts being allowed to return to the field of play after he sustained a head knock in a marking contest.

“I’m led to believe it played out really well, as far as the AFL is concerned,” Nicks said.

“Our guys are pros in that space; we don’t put anyone at risk. I’ve only been told it was done really professionally … I’m saying that secondhand.

“We don’t ever want to leave a player out there if there’s any risk.”