Coach Chris Scott was in an optimistic mood following Geelong’s first defeat of the season against Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday night.

Despite not being at their best the Cats were able to hang in the contest eventually falling to the Demons by eight-points.

"I thought we were off, early on. The real positive we take from the game is we were off, and we gave ourselves a chance to win," Scott said.

"It was obviously a slippery game, the dew was in really early, and that sort of changed the way the game was played from a normal, dry weather game. I thought our guys adapted as the game went on.

"Clearly, we handballed the ball too much, but bottom line, we had our chances to win the game. With a lot of guys off, I don't think there would be many guys who thought they had a really good day. We were pleased with the way they hung in there."

The game was a tight contest all night with less than a goal separating the two sides through the first three quarters.

Geelong kicked the final three goals in the third term to take a two-point lead into the final term, but Melbourne regained the momentum with back-to-back goals at the start of the final term.

The Cats had some chances late to close the Dees advantage but fell just short.

“It felt like it was a bit of a game of inches night. We were just off a hand or the ball got knocked forward and fell in their hands.”

“AFL footy these days especially when it is really hot between two really good teams, it is a game of momentum and when you’re not quite in the mode where you’ve got it, it makes it very hard to stop it when they’ve got it.”

“We are feeling optimistic around where we are and again, I need to think about it and watch it a bit more closely over the next 48 hours.

“My initial instinct is to come away from the game thinking I’m not too flat with it, I don’t like losing but I think we will come away from it and go a few finishing touches and the game is very different.”

Scott said it was unlikely Tanner Bruhn had done any structural damage to his shoulder, his issue was a contact injury, and the sub was triggered early to get Gary Rohan into the game.

“He has just got a knock to his shoulder. We were keen to get Rohan into the game a bit earlier than we normally would given the conditions.

“It is more a contact injury as opposed to a dislocation or a ligament issue. They tell us there is no issue there with a crack or anything like that, it was more the idea of I don’t like guys playing sore and limiting his chances of playing next week when we had a fresh guy sitting there.”

Geelong will look to return to the winner’s list at GMHBA Stadium on Friday when they host Port Adelaide.