Geelong coach Chris Scott will leave Brisbane with a degree of confidence after an 11-point loss to the Lions in which he admits his men were well below their best.
The Cats were goalless in the opening term for the first time since 2015 and didn’t kick their second until late in the third term.
But they found something to scare the hosts, kicking within 11 points before Callum Ah Chee steadied proceedings for the Lions with a crucial goal.
The Lions won the clearances 49-22 and applied great pressure to dominate everywhere except the scoreboard.
“Our sense … was that we got a lot wrong, didn’t play particularly well but hung in enough to give ourselves a chance to steal it,” Scott said.
“It’s such a nice feeling being the coach, knowing they won’t give up, that they were going to hang in and if there was a little opening they’d be there to jump through it.”
Geelong had found some of their best football in a win over Essendon last week but are now back in a fight to cement a spot in the bottom half of the top-four.
One of six teams either side of the top-eight currently on nine wins, the defending champions face Fremantle, Port Adelaide then Collingwood in the next three weeks.
“It’s so tight in the competition, if you look ahead and work out where you are you’ll get distracted,” the coach said.
“We were far from as good as we can be tonight.
“We’re conscious we don’t jump at shadows and overreact, don’t come away devastated from the game.
“Because we’re confident if we do get it right our best is very, very good.”
