Captain Patrick Dangerfield admits three consecutive losses to start the season have affected Geelong’s confidence, but he remains optimistic they can turn their form around if they focus on the process rather than the outcome.
The Cats have been below-par in all parts of the ground, and the new captain attributed the disappointing start to the loss of experience across half-back, teething problems associated with recruits adapting to the system and opponents drilling down on ways to beat Geelong.
Geelong leave the field after their loss to the Suns left them on the bottom after three rounds.Credit:AFL Photos
Dangerfield said there was room for improvement in his own form and defended the decision to play Tom Hawkins after the key forward had an interrupted pre-season recovering from a foot injury. But he said he did not think being captain was affecting his form.
He said complacency after winning the flag last season was not an issue.
“There is a huge amount of hunger. The challenge we have got at the moment is the confidence,” Dangerfield said.
“The key is not to search for the outcome and spend too much time on the outcome, which is the wins and losses. It’s the process that underpins the reason that you win and lose.”
Having replaced Joel Selwood as captain, Dangerfield said his approach as skipper would be to remain positive.
“It’s still remained and to remain positive. It isn’t all doomsday, absolutely there are things we need to improve, and we can improve quickly, but it’s still to reinforce the positive parts of our game,” Dangerfield said.
However, he indicated there was a hard edge to the conversations that were occurring internally ahead of the Easter Monday clash with Hawthorn.
“It’s not a matter of simply saying it will turn. It’s being in a hurry to make sure that happens sooner rather than later,” Dangerfield said.
Dangerfield said the injury to Hawkins should not be underestimated, but he still considered playing Hawkins as he restores his fitness a better plan than not playing him at all. Dangerfield was also hopeful Mitch Duncan would return.
He also backed in the club’s young recruits Tanner Bruhn, Jack Bowes and Ollie Henry to perform well once they have gone through a settling in process.
“You have to put in the groundwork to get the benefits from it. We are in a bit of that teething process at the moment where we have new players coming in that are finding out how they fit into the way we play and we have to make sure that they can flourish and bring their own individual game style and pizazz and help to improve us,” Dangerfield said.
Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter.
