GEELONG ruckman Zac Smith says he’s searching for consistency in order to win back his spot in the AFL side.

Smith told the Geelong Advertiser that he’s confident he can return to the level that saw him play 44 games across his first two seasons at the Cats.

“It’s just building that consistency ... that’s not only week to week but quarter to quarter,” he said.

“I’ve just lacked that over the last few weeks, even in the JLT I lacked that bit of consistency of effort I suppose. It just comes down to that.

 “Sometimes I’ll just go in and out of games a little bit. They [the coaching staff] believe in me and I believe in myself that I can get to that consistent level throughout a game, and I showed that throughout the back end of last year. I just need to get back to that level, basically.”

The third-year Cat with 110 AFL games under his belt for Gold Coast and Geelong says it’s up to him to work his way back into the side.

“Maybe I’m just not playing well enough at the moment,” he said.

“That’s the challenge of AFL footy I suppose. There are so many challenges week in week out and here’s another one that’s popped up.”

Smith will likely seek clarification with Chris Scott on whether both him and Rhys Stanley can play in the same side.

“I’m sure they’ve spoken about it, they go through all different scenarios week in week out,” he said.

 “They just haven’t tried it (this year), even in the JLT they didn’t try it. 

“I’ll probably seek out a little bit more this week on where that’s at, because I actually haven’t asked the question if they’ve thought about playing Rhys and I (together).”

Despite the challenge, Smith remains confident he's got what it takes.

“There’s always going to be a number one ruckman at any club and I know I’m good enough to do that,” he said.

“It looks like they’re not going to play the both of us in the side and that’s the way it is, so we’ve just both got to fight for it.

Scott told the media after Sunday’s game against St Kilda that he believed the structure the club took into the game worked well.

“We think Ratugolea could be a genuine ruckman in time. I thought he did his part there as well, Blicavs a little less today because he was back,” he said.

 “But our set up there, and maybe the conditions helped a little bit, but I thought Stanley was competitive in there, did some good things getting behind the ball.

 “We thought the balance was OK against a team that played two ruckmen.”