North Melbourne coach Brad Scott believes his team is getting a rough reception from fans and media over its performance this year.
Preparing to take on top-four side Geelong at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night, Scott said: “I think if you said at the start of the year we’d beaten four of the top five sides, we’d be in sixth position in round 19, most people would say that’s pretty good. But that’s not the feedback I get.
“Unfortunately, we live in a world where negativity creates more headlines than positivity.”
Scott was addressing questions about the club’s problems with consistency. The Kangaroos have been the giant-killers of 2014, taking down top-eight sides Hawthorn, Fremantle, Port Adelaide and Sydney. But they have also been beaten by teams in the bottom half such as Brisbane and Carlton.
“The disappointing part of it were the reasons we got beaten, other than the opposition being very good, which they were … were similar to our previous losses. We’ve gone back and addressed that again and really implored our leaders to get the job done,” Scott said.
Scott acknowledged that he wonders before every game day which team will perform on the field.
“We’re getting very much closer to the AFL’s goal of any team can win on any day against any opposition, so I think most teams have that problem, but ours has been highlighted more than most,'' he said.
“People at North Melbourne get frustrated because they’re used to success. That’s what we’re striving for.”
When the teams last met in round 10, the Cats won by 20 points at Simonds Stadium. Geelong has won three of its past five matches with the Roos, but if history repeats, the final score is likely to be close.
If he could be guaranteed that his squad would “be at our best”, Scott said he was confident of victory. But he added: “We’ve got an enormous amount of respect for Geelong, both as a club and as a team of individual players of great capability. We know anything else than our best won’t be good enough and we’re confident of producing it.”
