Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge says his midfield lacked "the edge" to compete with Geelong's dominant ball winners on Saturday.
The Dogs' young midfield suffered a hit pre-match with Koby Stevens a late withdrawal after scans revealed a stress fracture in his heel that is expected to keep him out for some time.
They still rated their chances of toppling the depleted Cats at their home ground, with suspended captain Joel Selwood a key out.
MATCH REPORT: View the full match report from the Dogs' loss to Geelong.
But with Josh Caddy stepping up to play arguably the best game of his career – a 37-possession performance Beveridge said was Selwood-like – the Dogs' midfield was overwhelmed on the inside and out.
"I don't think any player comes off not having worked hard but we just didn't have the edge, we didn't have that temperature extreme in the engine room you need to beat any side," Beveridge said.
"It didn't help losing Koby – he's been terrific for us [and] it meant someone else had to shoulder the load and that wasn't ideal because we brought more of a winger/forward type [Lachie Hunter] into the mix.
"In a depleted Geelong side, we thought we were a really good chance to get them today and we didn't, so we're really disappointed."
Beveridge was pleased with his defenders but critical of the missed opportunities that blighted the Dogs' third quarter – and late in the game.
They had 11 more inside 50s than the Cats and held possession inside their attacking arc for more than half the third term yet lost the quarter by two points.
"When we got it, we just didn't capitalise," he said.
"Again, all our systems and the core of what we do were there, but you need everyone on board and [there were] not enough today to get us over the line.
"Usually when we get beaten I like to give the opposition a little bit of credit and the Cats were OK but I'm sure they're sitting there thinking they were just OK, and they beat us
"We just had too many players down and it's disappointing."
Beveridge refused to blame last week's Cairns trip as the reason why his players were unable to match the Cats, who were led by Caddy, Mitch Duncan, Cam Guthrie, Jordan Murdoch and James Kelly.
With finals edging nearer, he said they had to put why the loss happened behind them as quickly as possible, with Collingwood looming as next Sunday's challenge.
"It was just a combination of so many things but it was just weight of numbers, they had a few too many players who were doing a bit more than some of ours who just didn't have their best games," he said.
"We set ourselves up to press home at the back end of the season and today we didn't.
"We've got to be strong in the mind and keep working hard and keep fronting up and really believe like we have all year that we can beat most sides.
"We need to find our feet again and keep moving forward, if we can."
