GEELONG'S below par defensive effort and its inability to win crucial one-on-one contests cost the Cats any chance of beating Sydney said coach Chris Scott.

The Cats matched the Swans in most statistical categories but the Swans kicked twice as many goals as their opposition to win easily.

It is the first time Geelong has conceded 100 points since it lost to Essendon in round eight.

"To give up over 100 points, when they had 47 inside 50s was a poor defensive effort," Scott said. 

Without Patrick Dangerfield, Dan Menzel, Nakia Cockatoo, Lincoln McCarthy, Mark Blicavs and Steve Motlop, the Cats depth was tested against the Swans.

The Cats had a young team with six players having played fewer than 20 games after introducing Sam Simpson and Zac Guthrie to replace Patrick Dangerfield and Nakia Cockatoo.

The Swans, by contrast, brought back Kurt Tippett, Gary Rohan, Jake Lloyd and Sam Reid after losing skipper Josh Kennedy and ruckman Sam Naismith to injury.

"They won one-on-one contests and we didn't win anywhere near enough and even when we did we missed the shots," Scott said.

Scott said conceding easy goals at stoppages and via free kicks in the first quarter made it hard and any chance of a fightback was eliminated when the Cats weren't as composed as they needed to be in front of goal.

"It wasn't our young inexperienced guys that let us down. Some of our more experienced players had a bad night," Scott said.

"There is room for optimism and we feel like we have got some players coming back."

Scott was critical of midfielder Mitch Duncan for getting sucked into a physical exchange with Sydney small man Tom Papley after the Swans kicked the first goal of the last quarter.

The umpire paid a free kick when Papley went to ground as Duncan pushed him in the chest with Scott saying he thought the umpire made a mistake.

He also implied that Papley had sucked the umpire in to the decision by going to ground so easily when struck.

"They didn't go to ground the same way in the contest, did they? They were a bit stronger around the ball," Scott said.

The Cats expect to have Dangerfield back to play Richmond next Saturday at Simonds Stadium with Scott saying he imagined he would be better for the week's break.

He also said he expected Joel Selwood to play against the Tigers.