Geelong coach Chris Scott spoke to the media following the Cats’ win at Adelaide Oval last Thursday night.

On the 2019 contenders...

I think there’s a long way to go. I think there’ll be a lot of contenders and a lot of momentum shifts throughout the year. It feels as if we have a bit of momentum building at the moment but we feel there’s a lot of improvement left as well. It’s hard to work out where the teams are within the competition; the draw obviously plays a bit of an impact. Some teams have harder draws on paper but it can not work out that way. It can be a little bit of when you play teams rather than who you play.

On Geelong standing up in big moments...

At three-quarter time there were alibis there for us if we wanted to use them; five-day break, Mark O’Connor was done, we had another player or two that was a little bit sore. Four goals up at half-time, three points up at three-quarter time, big home crowd, the home team with all the momentum. We could’ve rolled over and with a bit of inexperience in the side too that’s always a possibility, it can just get a little bit too hard for those sort of guys, but across the board I really think we stood up in the big moments.

On the new 6-6-6 rule and AFL stars...

I think he’s (Gary Ablett) a handful in that part of the ground (forward-50). Our observation is, with the new rules in particular, is that there’s a few more one-on-one battles in the forward half. A few of the really good players in the competition must be thinking, ‘why didn’t we bring this rule in a while ago?’ Some of the really good players are just getting clamped by plus two or three behind the ball at centre bounces. Players that can win contests now ahead of the ball are more valuable than they used to be. His (Ablett’s) experience did show through, just his composure with the ball.

I mean it was forecast, wasn’t it, with Dustin Martin, Pat (Patrick Dangerfield) and players like that with power. But having said that, it looked like it helped us at times tonight. You can get really burnt by it as well so I think it’s more a conversation around what’s good for the game as opposed to is it better for certain players and certain teams.