GEELONG coach Chris Scott has admitted he was concerned his side's wastefulness could come back to bite the Cats at the SCG on Thursday night.

The Cats finished the match with eight goals and 23 behinds on the board, and while six were rushed by Sydney defenders, it was a rough night for the Geelong forwards in a hard-fought 12-point win.

"It's a bit unusual when you're looking at the scoreboard and seeing that number of behinds," Scott said.

"It wasn't just the misses, it was the number of entries (59 inside 50s to Sydney's 46) we were having as well. We were pretty dominant for big parts of the game, we just weren't getting the reward.

"So, it's always a worry, because the ball can go down the other end and they can covert, and then all of a sudden we lose control of the game."

Both teams were deadlocked on 46 points coming into the final change, and it took some sheer determination from seasoned campaigners Joel Selwood (28 disposals, eight inside 50s), Mitch Duncan (32 touches) and Tom Hawkins (16 disposals, six marks and 2.5) to get the Cats over the line.

But it was a younger Cat, 23-year-old Tim Kelly, who caught the eye. His sharp finishing skills were often the difference in a match played on an SCG surface slick with dew after a warm winter's day.

"I thought he was fantastic. He's been really good for us all year, even last week when the game was on the line in the last quarter, he was really dominant," Scott said of Kelly.

"On a night where it was quite difficult to be clean because of slippery conditions, he looked as strong and stable with ball in hand as any."

Geelong is slowly regaining senior players to the line-up after an injury-decimated start to the season.

Cam Guthrie (syndesmosis), Harry Taylor and Brandan Parfitt (both foot injuries) have returned in recent weeks, while Scott Selwood came back into the side against the Swans for just his fourth game of the year after battling a back complaint.

Dangerous forward Daniel Menzel (groin) and key back Lachie Henderson (knee) are building match fitness in the VFL.

Scott can see the outline of his ideal team slowly taking shape.

"We've had some challenges there, but we are backing our system. If we get all the pieces of the puzzle into shape, we can play good enough footy to beat anyone, and I suspect we'll finish pretty high on the ladder," he said.

"Adelaide in Adelaide next week is a big challenge as well, so it's a tough part of the draw, we can't avoid that."