GEELONG knows it has a free kick problem, but is yet to do anything to rectify it.
In last Sunday's loss to Carlton at Etihad Stadium, the Cats once again lost the free kick count by more than 10, conceding 22 free kicks to the Blues' 10 and, for the 10th time this season, conceding more than 20 free kicks in a game.
Geelong's free kick differential is -48 after 10 games, the worst in the competition.
No team has completed a season since 2001 conceding an average of 24.5 free kicks a game, the figure the Cats have averaged in the first 10 rounds this season.
Four Geelong players sit in the top 10 for free kicks against in 2016. Eighteen of their players have negative free kick counts, and of the 13 AFL players who have conceded 10 or more free kicks than they've earned, four are Cats' players.
Conceding five free kicks without getting one himself last Sunday made Steven Motlop the worst offender (4 frees for/19 frees against) so far, but he has some mates.
Cam Guthrie (6/16), Rhys Stanley (9/19) and Andrew Mackie (2/12) are the other Cats in the -10 category, while Mitch Duncan (11/19) and Tom Hawkins (8/15) are hardly saints when it comes to free kick counts. Even Geelong's mild-mannered runner Nigel Lappin has given a free kick away this year.
Even taking into account the odd tough deliberate out of bounds call (the Cats have racked up 10 for the season), and the blocking free kick paid to Carlton big man Levi Casboult on Sunday when the game was decided, the Cats have very few people but themselves to blame for being on the wrong side of the ledger.
Brownlow medallist Jimmy Bartel joked to AFL.com.au that it might be time to send Christmas cards to the umpires, but he knows it's a serious matter.
"You just have to play the way the umpires umpire the game," Bartel said.
"It's not their fault. It's clearly our fault. Poor tackling technique or we're not in the best position or they have beaten us to the ball are all things we can control, so we just worry about those."
The Cats have given away the second-most holding the man free kicks for the season.
It's clear when free kicks against are examined that when certain Cats tackle, they don't release their opponents quickly enough, going on with the job to sling their captured prey to the ground, or they try to block even if out of position in a marking contest, hoping to get away with it.
One assistant coach told AFL.com.au it's well known that the Cats are susceptible to giving away free kicks near contests, because they tackle bodies with a frenzy that can be milked.
Mark Blicavs, Cory Gregson, Joel Selwood and Duncan have all been guilty in recent weeks of tackle-bag type tackling where the ball's presence doesn't seem to matter.
Geelong is also pinged for holding the ball more times than any team but one, with its players' desire to break tackles sometimes stronger than their willingness to take the first option.
To his credit, Cats' coach Chris Scott has never blamed the umpires, although he would be entitled to wonder if the Cats were stiff at times.
Nor does Selwood, who has earned more free kicks (33) than anyone in the competition.
"Our techniques with the free kicks can get better and we have to make sure we do that because it is our problem and we will fix it," Selwood said.
Selwood has earned 13 of the 45 head-high free kicks the Cats have received, and the champion Cat has also received 16 per cent of the Cats' free kicks this season with Zac Smith, the next best with 13 free kicks, getting six per cent of Geelong's free kicks.
The captain knows that while there might be a howler here or there, when the whistle regularly goes against you, something needs fixing.
The good news for the Cats is they know where to give them away.
Although guilty of conceding more free kicks inside their forward 50 and midfield than any other team, they have been disciplined enough not to concede many in their back 50.
With 29 free kicks conceded in that part of the ground, they sit 12th in the competition.
So they do know when not to do what they seem to be doing more regularly than other clubs.
Another battle looms this week against Greater Western Sydney who has, miraculously, received as many free kicks as they have conceded after 10 rounds.
