Geelong blew a chance to ramp up their AFL percentage in Saturday's easy 66-point win over Melbourne.
Coach Chris Scott noted it would be a little harsh to criticise the Cats too heavily, given they dominated the match.
But Geelong's poor percentage compared to the current top-four teams could prove costly as they chase a second chance in the finals.
They started round 17 in fifth place, level on points with second-placed Hawthorn.
While Saturday's winning margin meant they improved their percentage by five points, it is still more than 20 below all the top-four sides.
Geelong and Melbourne kicked three goals apiece in a mundane second half.
Scott was unimpressed with the Cats' third term and let his senior players know about it during the last break.
"That's the really tangible part - we're a long way behind them in terms of percentage," Scott said.
Scott then started talking about how hard Melbourne could be to score against, then checked himself.
"I'm going to take that back, because that's a cop-out," he said.
"We had plenty of chances, we missed in front of goal.
"We had some really nice opportunities to score that we blew and they (Melbourne) found it really hard to score.
"(But) for a few bits of lazy play, they wouldn't have scored much at all.
"I'm not going to talk about the opposition - we should have been better."
Scott remains unsure what Geelong can do this season.
Their run to the finals includes massive games against current top-four teams Fremantle and Hawthorn.
"If we play like we did in the first half, we're pretty hard to beat," Scott said.
"If we roll out what we rolled out in the second half, we're probably a bit behind those top teams."
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