Travis Varcoe believes the Cats made it more difficult for themselves during the muddy battle with the Bulldogs on Sunday.  

“We made it pretty tough for ourselves,” Varcoe told Cats TV.

“I thought when we did play well we moved it well. When we got it over the back and got the speed on the end of it we were able to snag a few.

“But on the flip side when the Dogs got a bit of speed they really opened us up, so I think we’ve got a fair bit of work to do over the course of the week to fix that up.”

In his own game, Varcoe has been focused on strengthening his defensive pressure in and around the ball.

“I’ve been working closely with (assistant coach) Dale Amos and (Andrew) Mackie and concentrating on the little things like locking down and beating my man, that’s what the boys expect from me and that’s what I’m going to try and work on,” Varcoe said.

Another Cat who has added to Geelong’s defence force is former Melbourne player Jared Rivers. According to Varcoe, Rivers defence work has been a vital component in the Cats backline.

“It’s good to have a key back that can help out (Tom) Lonergan, (Harry) Taylor and (Andrew) Mackie… I think he’s been our biggest key down there,” Varcoe said.

Going forward, Varcoe says the Cats need to iron out a few creases in their game if they are to move deep into the finals.

“I think we’ve just got to keep building and really nutting out those lapses in games. Hopefully just keep pressing forward and improving because if we stay like this we’ll get left behind pretty quick,” Varcoe said.