Fresh off a 64-point drubbing at the hands of Gold Coast, which handed them their third consecutive loss, Geelong is refusing to bite into the panic narrative.
Playing in unfamiliar territory at the TIO Stadium in Darwin, which is susceptible to high heat and humid surroundings, the Cats simply didn't adjust to the Suns' second home ground.
Despite starting the game off strong, Geelong was outplayed by a fiercer and slicker side, which saw them post a measly 100 points in comparison to 164, which incidentally hasn't been reached since 1994, a year they made the Grand Final.
Coach Chris Scott said post-game that he was "aware" his side was slipping, which has resulted in losses to Melbourne, Port Adelaide in Geelong and the Suns in as many weeks.
"We've been aware for three weeks now, probably the last 15 minutes of the game before (against Carlton), we've been a little bit off, and tonight was the culmination of that," Scott said.
"We got beaten by some good players around the ball. It is a very unusual scoreline to give up that many scores is unusual for us. All the stats, as you work down the list, didn't get any better.
"It's not as if we have a history of playing this poorly consistently."
The "unusual" stat line wasn't helped by the absence of key veterans Tom Hawkins, Mitch Duncan and Rhys Stanley, Jeremy Cameron and Patrick Dangerfield as well as Sam De Koning, who they lost before the first bounce.
The Suns had 82 more disposals (436-354), 17 more inside 50s (73-56), +11 free kicks (25-14), +43 marks (92-49) and +14 in tackles (71-57).
Geelong's start to the year has been papered over by the victories against some of the lowly teams of the competition, yielding only one win against a top-eight side.
But Scott believes this form slump can be "arrested", even with a looming clash against the Giants, Swans and Blues coming up in the next month.
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"We're not playing well. We've got to try and galvanise the group. We can arrest things, I've got no doubt about that," the 2022 premiership coach said.
"It's a balance between not glossing over it, and we're clearly not going to do that, but we're also not going to overreact.
"That's the challenge, trying to find that reality and hopefully that's in the middle somewhere.
"It's clear we're off and we've got some problems we need to fix."
The Cats currently sit second on the ladder but can fall as low as seventh by the end of Round 10.
