People keep telling Chris Scott his AFL side is no good, but the Geelong coach feels there's plenty of reason to be excited about the race to the finals.
The Cats held on for a dogged 13-point win against Western Bulldogs on Sunday, joining a logjam of four premiership contenders sitting one game behind Sydney with an 11-4 record.
The result leaves the Cats firmly in the running for a double chance in the finals, two weeks after a shock loss to Gold Coast triggered countless epitaphs of the club's golden era.
"People keep telling me we're no good. They've been telling me for four years," Scott said after his side rolled the Bulldogs 10.9 (69) to 7.14 (56) at a cold, wet and windy Simonds Stadium.
"We're concentrating on what we're doing, but I think everyone around the Geelong region is excited about what's coming.
"Maybe six or seven years ago people were more confident about what's coming.
"But what we are now is genuinely excited."
The Cats' four losses this season have all come on the road - against Port Adelaide, Fremantle, Sydney and Gold Coast.
"Most teams have been beaten by those teams on their home deck," Scott said.
"We haven't lost a game in Melbourne, and our best footy is well and truly in front of us."
The Cats continued their recent trend of underwhelming second halves, but were more clinical and creative with a very slippery Sherrin when it mattered.
The inaccurate Bulldogs kicked six of the game's last nine goals, but had left themselves with too much work to do after giving up a 34-point lead in the second quarter.
Magicians Steve Johnson and Steven Motlop sparked the Cats in the opening half, while wet-weather specialist Jimmy Bartel laid 15 tackles.
The Cats finished with 129 tackles in total, 13 short of the AFL record set by Richmond against Port Adelaide in 2010.
"It was almost a case of the wetter and more difficult it became, the worse we played," Scott said.
Johnson returned to form, while 150-gamer Harry Taylor excelled in conditions that shouldn't have suited him.
Taylor had the job on debutant Jack Redpath and finished with 11 marks, while the Dogs' entire team managed 25.
The crowd of 24,766 voiced their frustration at the freekick count finishing 25-13 in favour of the visitors.
"I hope I've said a number of times, we all have bad days," Scott said.
"And if they had a bad day, so be it.
"If there's parts we don't understand, then we'll have a mature conversation during the week with the powers that be."
Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney had mixed feelings after the loss.
"They were smarter than us at crucial times and set the ground up really well," McCartney said.
"Down here in the wet, there's no better team at it."
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