Dual premiership coach Chris Scott has echoed his own sentiments from his side's loss to Brisbane just over a fortnight ago, with regards to ladder-watching, and the inequities of the fixture.
With his side seemingly in free fall, having lost five of its last six matches, and the side's formline only compounded by injuries to stars like Jeremy Cameron, Scott was asked whether or not he's taken much notice of the ladder, with September rapidly approaching.
With his signature poise, Scott responded.
“I can speak honestly and say I don't really look at the ladder that much," Scott told Fox Footy's AFL360.
"The draw distorts the ladder, a lot. If you pay too much attention to the ladder, you're missing the deeper analysis. If you're a casual observer, that's fine. But we tend to not get too absorbed by it.
“If you really want to analyse it, you do have to look at the draw. There are lots of quirks in it. I've said it enough publicly, we play Gold Coast, Adelaide, Fremantle, Brisbane, Collingwood before we play Richmond or Essendon, once. And even within that, the draw isn't even (about) necessarily who you play; it's about when you play them.
“If you just get stuck in the short term too much, you're missing a trick.”
While the club's position on the ladder, that being ninth, represents almost uncharted waters for the coach with the highest home and away winning percentage in V/AFL history, Scott remains defiant the season is far from over, citing execution when his side have momentum behind them as its most glaring deficiency.
“Until you're definitely out of it, we think we're in it. We've got a few challenges at the moment, a few injuries, a few key players that won't play for a little bit of time, but… I'm optimistic we'll win the next game," he said.
“I'm learning this in life as much as I am in footy. If you look at something and think ‘this doesn't make any sense', it's more likely a deficit in your knowledge than it (is that something that) just doesn't make any sense. We're a little bit more clear internally with what we've got to fix. I don't know if it's good or bad, but it's not an obvious pattern.
“We think we are generating enough chances, and just missing the execution bit. I generally don't go to that - I think there's nothing worse than a team losing, and the coach going ‘oh well, we just didn't execute well enough'd, but (against) Brisbane - we had the run of the game for more than three quarters of that game. We should have probably been about 10 goals up against GWS (before losing), and then when you get a bit of bad luck and things go against you, there's enough of a buffer for you to manage that situation.
“We lost to the Crows by a point in Adelaide. We lost by a kick and a half to Fremantle in Fremantle, really had the run of the game, and should've beaten Brisbane, even though they were eight-goals-to-zip up. It's not as if we're playing horrendously.
Struggling star Jeremy Cameron will have surgery on a compound collarbone fracture tomorrow, but Scott is "optimistic" his spearhead will return in time for a tilt at a second flag this decade.
“He's had one of those years in some respects," Scott said.
“He'll have surgery tomorrow, and I'm led to believe that's a four-to-six week return to play period, which leaves us optimistic. He certainly is. He has an issue with his arm as well, that will be looked at, at some point, but it's been pretty clear that that can wait until the end of the year.
Scott could be forgiven for succumbing to fatigue after years of high-level contention, and despite a fall from what was, at least externally, unshakeable contention, he remains up for the fight.
“We thought we were in fantastic shape a couple of months ago, and since then, it's been a bit more of a challenge, but not one we think is insurmountable," he said.
“Are we ready to give up? Not yet.”
