Geelong AFL coach Chris Scott says his side need to adjust to life without injured ruckman Dawson Simpson after their big men struggled in their upset 10-point loss to North Melbourne.
The Cats trailed by eight points at the final change in Friday's round-19 clash at Etihad Stadium and were unable to repeat their late comeback heroics against North in round two.
North held on with three goals to Geelong's two in the final term to win 15.6 (96) to 13.8 (86) in front of a crowd of 33,584.
It was just Geelong's fourth loss of the season but it was also their third defeat in their past seven games, leaving them in danger of losing second spot later this weekend.
Steve Johnson, Jimmy Bartel and defender Corey Enright were among Geelong's leading ball-winners while small forward Steven Motlop was ever-dangerous with three goals and 21 telling disposals.
"This was an important game for us and we're disappointed we blew it," Scott said.
"We'll need to make some changes and look at what we will do differently next time."
Key forward James Podsiadly returns from a one-game suspension for Geelong's game against Port Adelaide next Saturday at Simonds Stadium.
North's ruckman Todd Goldstein overpowered Trent West after Geelong went into Friday's game without Simpson who suffered a season-ending knee injury last week.
"There's no doubt the big 206-centimetre ruckman would have been handy," Scott said.
"Against a really high-quality ruckman tonight, we were probably pretty soundly beaten there and it makes it hard in the clearances as well."
West was subbed off in the third quarter while first-year player Mark Blicavs also failed to stop Goldstein's momentum.
Ruck/forward Nathan Vardy (two goals) played Podsiadly's role alongside Tom Hawkins who kicked one goal, claimed two marks and didn't lay a single tackle.
"We haven't gone with that (forward-zone) set-up all year. We changed up a few things particularly late in the game but none of them worked," Scott said.
The Cats' mentor says Hawkins' back problem is improving.
"That's the advice we're getting. We think he's moving better during the week," Scott said.
"The back issue's less of an issue now than it was earlier in the season."
