Geelong has started the 2023 season as the only winless side in the AFL.
After losing to Gold Coast on Sunday, the Cats now sit 18th on the ladder with a 0-3 record.
It has prompted questions from all and sundry as to why they’ve started so poorly.
Are the Cats satisfied with their 2022 premiership?
That is what Kane Cornes believes after captain Patrick Dangerfield and coach Chris Scott’s side failed against the Suns at Heritage Bank Stadium in Round 3.
He feels that perhaps there is some complacency within the ranks after the Cats dominated the competition to claim last year’s flag.
“He (Scott) says they’re not going to overreact, but they need to react,” Cornes said on SEN Breakfast.
“After Round 1 I had some comments which caught a few people off guard on the Sunday Footy Show at least. I thought are they just, with the way that they played, a little bit comfortable.
“Is that why winning back-to-back premierships is so hard?
“There were some edits we looked at defensively that were really poor, they were really jovial and the way they were carrying themselves, some of the comments that they’d made throughout the pre-season.
“I thought, ‘Hang on, is this a team that is just a little bit satisfied?’
“Then I was listening to Jeremy Cameron speak about their post-premiership celebrations.”
Star forward Jeremy Cameron joined Tom Sheridan’s Tommy Talks podcast to speak about the post-Grand final celebrations and how he prepared for his next pre-season.
“The first steps on the road to 2023 were horrible,” said Cameron.
“The knee blew up, limping down the road 300 metres in, skin folds were over 120. All you think about is beer fumes and just food, that many Macca’s burgers and hash browns, egg and bacons.
“It’s a proper month of just (going for it), then it comes a time and it’s like overnight, the fingers just click and you’re like, ‘We have to do it again here’. It’s just a horrible feeling when that comes.
“I still haven’t looked the dietician in the eye.”
Cornes and Nathan Buckley discussed what such a preparation would do to players with lesser natural ability and fitness than someone like Cameron.
Cornes said: “Jeremy Cameron can probably get away with that.”
Buckley added: “He’s one of a few that can look his coach in the eye.
“If it wasn’t for him, their last two losses in particular would be a lot worse.”
From what he has seen so far, Cornes feels this Cats group is satisfied with what they’ve achieved.
“So he (Cameron) has got the talent to do that and flick the switch,” he continued.
“If his teammates have also celebrated like that, I’ll ask you the question - Can Zach Tuohy get away with living off beer fumes and hash browns for breakfast? Can Tom Atkins do the same, because he’s not the same player that was jumping on landmines for his teammates last year. Can Zach Guthrie do it? Can Gryan Miers do it? Can Brad Close do it?
“Tyson Stengle is a shadow of the All-Australian player that he was last year. Can he do it?
“This is a group that is satisfied.”
Buckley concurs, further highlighting some of the reasons why the Cats have struggled in the opening three rounds of the season.
“There’s little doubt about that,” he said.
“Chris Scott knows that reactions, and he would see it as an overreaction, will come.
“I don’t think it will be an overreaction, it’ll just be an analysis and a breakdown of what is actually taking place for them.
“They’re just not defending. Only one team has given up more scores on turnover than Geelong and that’s Hawthorn. Until the weekend when they beat North, we thought that they were very poor in their first two games.
“Geelong are last at clearances, they’ve won the least number of clearances in the competition, and we know that’s always been the starting point of any contest.
“They’re third last for disposal efficiency, their short kicks are last, effective kicks are last.
“They’re missing that synergy that Chris Scott spoke about that is marginal to whether you win or you lose. It’s a come-to-Jesus moment for them.
“They’ve go to work out exactly where they’re going to go from here.”
Geelong will look to secure a first win of the 2023 season when they meet Hawthorn at the MCG on Easter Monday.