Chris Scott on… Patrick Dangerfield

When I reflect over the last couple of years, we just haven’t had him firing towards the end of the season and so, if we’re going to over-index on taking a bit of short-term pain to have him in the best shape possible at the end of the year – and that may well cost us along the way - in my opinion, that’s a better approach for us to take with him.

Given there are two games before the bye, we can use that extra week, which is probably more than he needs, in reality.

We think that’s going to have him in the best shape to have a really good run at the last couple of months of the season.

Chris Scott on… Quinton Narkle & Rhys Stanley availability

They're not certainties yet but I would assume that they're likely, but that is an assumption. 

And then we've had some really good performances at VFL level. We are a bit thin in terms of our overall numbers, we had a few weeks at VFL level where we haven't had many listed players play but those that have played, have played well.

Chris Scott on… Toby Conway’s development 

He's our first pick for a good reason.

He earnt his spot as a first round selection and did everything through the pre-season that we could have hoped of him. Unfortunately, we just had some injury issues at the start of the season which prevented him from playing.

If we actually said we're going to hold Toby back for a year or two to make sure that when he plays AFL footy in maybe year three, that he just plays uninterrupted for the next 10 years, I'd take that.  

But we're looking for that combination of selective AFL exposure. I'm confident that Toby will get his chance to play AFL footy relatively quickly but we're not just going to throw him in and leave him there for years on end and have him less resilient than he could have been otherwise. 

Chris Scott on… Sam Menegola’s return

He's a chance next week.

It's been really frustrating for Sam because if you saw the way he's training, he's in supreme condition and he's doing 95% of the work, but there's just five percent of what he needs to do in a game that's still giving him some pain.

The medical staff are confident this will turn around pretty quickly. 

This is more like what we expected after the surgery back in November but he just made such rapid progress that we thought that he might be way ahead and maybe that was a false dawn, we should have been a little more tempered in terms of our expectations. 

The good news is he's running as well as he ever has, which is pretty well. So we think he'll hit the ground running when he does come in and play some footy. 

GEELONG has boosted its top-four hopes after winning back-to-back games for the first time since round four with a 42-point victory over a wasteful Adelaide at GMHBA Stadium on Saturday.

Jeremy Cameron starred with four goals including several brilliant snaps while Tom Stewart patrolled the backline expertly with a career-best 40 disposals and 16 marks, including 17 intercepts.

The Crows, who slumped to their fifth straight loss, won the clearances (51-44) and contested possessions (163-150) but couldn’t make it count, with their inaccuracy not helping as they went down 15.7 (97) to 7.13 (55).

CATS v CROWS - Statistics & Latest News

Adelaide got within eight points in the third quarter after four consecutive goals, with two from Darcy Fogarty, but the Cats responded with the next six majors to put the game to bed.

The win improves Geelong's record to 7-4 and moves them marginally ahead of Fremantle – who play Melbourne later on Saturday – into fourth spot on percentage, even without sidelined superstar Patrick Dangerfield.

Cameron's four-goal haul took his career tally to 498, highlighted by a sensational 40m left-foot snap in the third term, arguably bettered by a fourth-quarter major from the boundary.

Gryan Miers contributed three goals as he capitalised on his promotion to the 22 after being the medi-sub last week, while Tyson Stengle also got three majors against this former club.

Cam Guthrie (34 disposals with 20 contested possessions), Brandan Parfitt (30 disposals with 11 contested possessions) and Joel Selwood (24 disposals with 13 tackles) all won plenty of footy, while Tom Atkins had a game-high 17 tackles.

Rory Laird compiled 38 possessions, including 15 in the second quarter, with 14 clearances for the game, while Ben Keays (28 disposals) and Jordan Dawson (27 disposals) were both busy, with ruckman Reilly O'Brien outstanding on his return to the side, having been dropped to the SANFL for the past fortnight.

Fogarty, charged with Adelaide's key forward responsibility in Taylor Walker's absence, impressed with three goals, leading the Crows' third-quarter rally which they couldn’t sustain.

Miers and Cameron arrested the momentum with brilliant back-to-back snaps, before Zach Tuohy's checkside goal opened up a 24-point three-quarter time lead. The Cats added four goals to one in the final term to run away comfortable winners.

Crows' accuracy woes continue

Coming into the game, Adelaide was ranked 18th across the past four rounds for accuracy in front of goal, fluffing their chance at victory last weekend against St Kilda by kicking 9.15 (69). The Crows' woes in front of goal continued from the start against Geelong, with their first six shots on goal all being behinds, including two routine Shane McAdam set shots. They had to wait until the 11th minute of the second quarter for their first major. In the end, Geelong only had two more scoring shots, yet won by 42 points.

SDK set for overdue nomination

Cats youngster Sam De Koning is yet to be nominated for the NAB AFL Rising Star award but surely that's coming this round after an outstanding display in defence. The rangy 21-year-old key defender, who has played 10 of 11 games this season, hauled in nine marks for 11 intercepts with 19 disposals. De Koning reads the play naturally, with his reach enabling him to bring down unlikely marks, with his ability to intercept a feature too.

Mixed bag for Crows returnees

It was a mixed afternoon for Adelaide's returning trio Matt Crouch, Reilly O'Brien and Wayne Milera. Crouch, who was dropped in round eight, gathered 26 disposals with nine contested possessions, while O'Brien, demoted in round nine, was arguably their best with 28 disposals, nine clearances and 46 hitouts, both justifying their recalls. Milera hadn’t played at AFL level since round one after two injury cursed years but battled, managing only 10 touches and being caught holding the ball from a mark in a horror moment in the third quarter.

Round 11

GEELONG            2.4       8.5       11.5       15.7 (97)
ADELAIDE           0.6       3.7       6.11        7.13 (55)

GOALS  
Geelong: Cameron 4, Miers 3, Stengle 3 Hawkins 2, Selwood, Tuohy, Close
Adelaide: Fogarty 3, McAdam, Soligo, Keays, McHenry

BEST  
Geelong: Stewart, Cameron, Guthrie, Selwood, Miers, Parfitt, De Koning
Adelaide: O'Brien, Laird, Keays, Fogarty, Dawson

INJURIES  
Geelong: Nil
Adelaide: Butts (concussion)

SUBSTITUTES  
Geelong: Quinton Narkle (unused)
Adelaide: Chayce Jones (replaced Butts at three-quarter time)