Updated April 18, 2012 17:57:02
Geelong coach Chris Scott insists Paul Chapman and a dozen of his struggling senior team-mates can quickly regain their all-conquering form of 2011.
Chapman is a triple-premiership player and 2009 Norm Smith Medallist but was held to just 12 possessions in last week's upset loss to North Melbourne at Docklands.
Without a goal in his past four games including last year's grand final, the 30-year-old forward/midfielder is experiencing the longest dry spell in his 225-game career that has yielded 288 majors.
The stocky Chapman isn't past his best, Scott says, having gathered 24 disposals in round one against Fremantle.
But the two-time All-Australian and his veteran teammates need to start crashing in for the hard-ball gets in a hurry before the 11th-placed Cats (1-2) slide further down the ladder.
"We thought he was pretty good in the first game," Scott told reporters on Wednesday.
"He's not up to his usual lofty standards but that's a pretty hard level to maintain.
"He played some good footy through the preseason competition.
"We're expecting him to get back to his best really quickly.
"You could probably make the same observation about another 10 or 12 (players).
"We really value contested players and, at the moment, we don't have too many of them.
"But it's not as if that ability has left the building."
Chapman's average of 19.3 disposals per game compares poorly with his tallies of 27.8 and 23.5 in the past two seasons.
"We hope that our experienced players lead the way but we want our inexperienced players to be not too far behind," Scott added.
An in-house review of last week's 17-point loss has led to senior players making some suggestions, but not what Scott would call wholesale changes, for Sunday's round-four clash with 10th-placed Richmond in Geelong.
"We're very low in terms of getting our hands on the ball, both in hard situations and also out in space," Scott said.
"We think those things are relatively easy to correct, but it's a lot easier to say.
"We don't think that our young players have let us down at all.
"We have a critical mass of players who aren't going as well as they can."
Quizzed on reports North Melbourne had adopted parts of Geelong's game plan, Scott said: "I'm sure they don't want to be last for hard-ball gets and second-last for uncontested possessions."
Meanwhile, Scott assured Cats' fans their 59-point loss to Richmond last month during the pre-season cup was 99 per cent irrelevant.
Geelong have won seven in a row against the Tigers. The home side will unveil their 2011 flag before the game.
The Cats are likely to regain small forward Mathew Stokes (teeth), while Billie Smedts (chest) is in doubt and defender Andrew Mackie (cut lip and concussion) faces a test.
AAP
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richmond-3121 First posted April 18, 2012 13:58:38
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