Refusing to be disheartened by a 30-point loss to Sydney, coach Chris Scott is adamant Geelong are not a lost cause.
Desperate to string back-to-back victories, the Cats instead slumped to their fifth loss in six games after fumbling a 35-point lead at the SCG on Sunday.
Scott's charges could not fend off a surging Sydney midfield led by stars Errol Gulden, Isaac Heeney and Chad Warner, falling away to a 16.16 (112) to 12.10 (82) defeat.
Geelong will enter their bye round with an 8-5 record, dropping from third to fifth on the ladder.
But Scott is confident there will be no need to sound alarms, labelling their downfalls as "overnight fixes".
"We're clearly disappointed with the result but going into our bye with 10 games to go, we feel pretty positive and optimistic about where we are in the season and the capacity for improvement that we have," Scott said.
"It wasn't as if we didn't have our chances late in the game.
"Some of the parts where we let ourselves down are overnight fixes," he said, adding the Cats' players "can all be better in the second half of the year".
Scott admitted a lack of experience across the midfield was a key factor in his side's defeat.
Geelong have been without premiership stars Patrick Dangerfield (hamstring) and Cam Guthrie (achilles), leaving engine room duties to young stars Tanner Bruhn and Jhye Clark.
"We've got some guys that weren't even on our list two seasons ago or a season and a half ago, and we've really given them some responsibility," Scott said.
"They showed early on that they can more than match with the best guys in the comp.
"It was just a few little minor execution things that we think are easy to fix, that if they were better, would have given us a chance to win the game late."
Dangerfield and Guthrie are expected to be available for the round 15 match against Carlton at the MCG.
