Bruhn a bright spark in Geelong’s dark night according to Scott

On a night most Geelong fans would be ready to forget, a returning young gun gave a glimmer of light as the sun set on Chris Scott's men against Gold Coast on Friday.

Following a year away from the game for well-reported personal reasons, Geelong's Tanner Bruhn could have been forgiven for being a tick off the pace in his first game back.

However, the 21-year-old was arguably his side's best-on-ground during a tough 56-point thumping at People First Stadium.

Scott said he was surprised by one aspect of Bruhn's return.

"Not by his ball use and penetration, we have seen that enough to know that he can deliver that, probably if I was surprised by anything, it was just how good he looked physically," he said.

"Especially compared to some of our other guys, who will get better.

"Of all the positives, Tanner looked the most positive. He is definitely going to be an asset for us. If anything, it is sort of galling that we didn't have him; he is sort of the player we needed at times last year.

"We had a number of guys, and Tanner was leading them in running the game out."

Bruhn was clean and efficient in the slippery Gold Coast conditions, collecting 31 disposals and two goal assists.

Geelong was missing some key personnel, with captain Patrick Dangerfield and star key forward Jeremy Cameron late outs.

Scott said the club will remain calm as the Cats move their attention to Fremantle in Round 1 at GMHBA Stadium next Saturday.

"We won't be overreacting to one performance," he said.

"We have to be careful not to make it bigger than it is.

"We knew going in we weren't going to be able to play the same structure as we have in the past, and we had to throw the magnets around a bit... clearly they didn't work.

"We thought individually a lot of our defenders were good, but collectively it is very, very difficult to defend some of the turnovers that we made coming out of our back half."