Geelong coach Chris Scott has lamented his side's skill errors in their loss to Carlton on Sunday, deeming it the main factor in their defeat.
The Cats recorded a disposal efficiency of just 67.7 per cent, approximately three per cent worse than their season average, and gave up 73 turnovers, 10 more than their season average.
Scott conceded that Geelong's errant ball-use had shot themselves in the foot and limited any opportunity of getting back into the contest, and that the Cats were lucky to not have been on the end of a thrashing.
"The glass half full answer is we gave ourselves a chance to win but - I don't like to compare ourselves too much to the rest of the competition - but my observation watching virtually every game every week is that every team has had one of those days this year where they just couldn't execute or 'it didn't look like us'.
"That's as bad as I've seen us play for a long time.
"There was a combination of things that added up to a lot but again, sometimes you have those days, and you hope they're rare, and you lose by 70 points.
"I thought we hung in and we gave ourselves the chance to win, but every time we looked like drawing level, we'd make another error. I think their hustle in and around the ball was really good, that's their game, they support the contest and especially early in the game they were strong there.
"But gee, we gave them a chance with the way we used the ball, the way we just sort of failed to put them under pressure. They've got too many good players to let them play the way they want."
Scott admitted he was going against his own mantras by blaming the loss on Geelong's skill, but struggled to pick another major aspect that was detrimental to his side's performance.
"I'm breaking my own rule because there's nothing worse than when a coach says 'Oh look it was just our skill level', that maybe (means) you're asking them to play a style of game that is completely dependent on extremely high skill, and the modern game and the pressure that comes to bear generally means that that's unattainable," Scott said.
"So I'm not talking about where they were good enough to pressure, we dip our lid to them in that respect.
"I'm talking about the ones where there was no pressur and we didn't execute well. But again, sometimes you have those days and it's easy to turn up your toes so that's the pleasing part because, obviously we were behind on the scoreboard, but with 10 minutes to play I thought we were as good a chance to win."
The Cats will be praying for a better display against current flag favourites Collingwood, who undoubtedly will make Geelong pay for another error-filled performance in Round 8.
Collingwood are in top form, having won six straight games, and average the third-most points off turnover per game this season. However, a match against the perennially contending Cats will be a blockbuster fixture that could go either way.
