STEVEN Motlop wouldn't want to watch a replay of his opening to the final term against St Kilda any time soon.

At the one-minute mark he hit the outside of the goalpost with a snap from the top of the goalsquare.

Minutes later, he was streaming towards an almost certain Geelong goal when he showboated with a look-away handball that missed Tom Hawkins and rolled out of bounds.

Motlop had some alibis for his first blunder – Daniel Menzel inexplicably chose to handball over the top to him rather than taking a simple set shot from 25m and St Kilda captain Nick Riewoldt put just enough pressure on to force his shot wide. 

However, the speedster's haphazard handball was his own brain fade from start to finish.

In a game the Saints hung on to win by three points, Motlop's two botched goal opportunities ultimately proved the difference. 

Geelong coach Chris Scott refuted suggestions his team's mindset was to blame for the shock loss and we should acknowledge the Cats were playing against a well-rested Saints team coming off a round 13 bye.

But Motlop's all-too-casual wastefulness seemed symbolic of a team not fully switched on.

And Geelong has shown an ability to get up for the big challenges this season (it has an imposing 6-1 record against fellow top-eight sides, its only loss coming against Greater Western Sydney in round two) only to let its guard down against teams it's expected to comfortably beat (three of its four losses have come to teams out of finals contention – Carlton, Collingwood and now St Kilda).

If you're looking for an antonym for flat-track bully, Geelong will do just fine.

Again, Motlop has been a microcosm of the Cats' struggles on seemingly placid pitches in 2016.

In Geelong's wins over West Coast, Adelaide and Western Bulldogs, he was at his breathtaking best, averaging more than 25 possessions and booting a combined 10 goals. 

But against Carlton (12 possessions and one goal), Collingwood (15 and two) and St Kilda (15 and one) he was unable to stand up when his team needed a spark.

And as devastatingly reliable as the new Joel Selwood-Patrick Dangerfield partnership has proved this year, the Cats can't rely upon football's best one-two punch to get them the points each week.

Scott tried to look for positives after Saturday night's loss. 

It was better to beat teams you'll face in the finals than ones you won't, he reasoned.

And the Saints' win was not so much a sign his players' mindset was amiss, he added, as it was a pointer to the tightness of the competition.

Whatever the case, the Cats can't afford to drop many more games like Saturday night's in the run-in to the finals.

• Six things we learned from round 14

After missing the chance to consolidate top spot on the ladder, they have slipped to third behind the Sydney Swans and Hawthorn, and are back jostling with the likes of GWS, North Melbourne, Adelaide and Western Bulldogs for a top-four spot.

Geelong's next four rounds will be no picnic either. After its round 15 bye, it squares off against the Swans (Simonds Stadium), Fremantle (Domain Stadium), Adelaide (Simonds) and the Bulldogs (Simonds).

But perhaps it will be the Cats' ability to get up for what looms – on the fixture, at least – as a relatively easy final month of the season that will determine their top-four hopes.

The Cats will start unbackable favourites against Essendon (round 20) and the Brisbane Lions (round 22) and will be heavily favoured to account for Richmond (round 21) and Melbourne (round 23). 

But, as Scott said on Saturday night: "It's dangerous to look at the ladder and assume things should be OK." 

North's future, thy name is Mason

On Thursday night, we saw the future of North Melbourne's forward line and its name was Mason Wood.

And just as music critic Jon Landau saw "rock 'n' roll's past flash before [his] eyes" as he watched Bruce Springsteen light up the stage at Harvard Square Theatre in 1974, Wood's infectious youthful energy and athleticism contrasted starkly with Drew Petrie's laboured performance against Adelaide. 

Petrie has been the main man inside the Roos' forward 50 since he returned from a succession of serious foot injuries that ruined his 2010 season.

North's leading goalkicker in all but one of the five completed seasons since, Petrie, despite routinely drawing the opposition's best defender, has nearly always delivered for coach Brad Scott.

If he was not hitting the scoreboard, he was creating opportunities for his fellow forwards, either as a decoy who bought space for the talls or as an aerial battering ram who created crumbs for the smalls.

And, at 197cm, Petrie applied defensive pressure that would have made your average small forward proud.

But, at 33, the 2011 All Australian has noticeably slipped this season.

In the first 14 rounds, he has kicked just 19 goals, despite being significantly more accurate (19.6) in front of the big sticks than in recent years.

• Around the state leagues: Who starred for your club in the twos?

Against the Crows, Petrie worked as tirelessly as ever but got almost no reward for his toil.

He was pitted against one of the AFL's stingiest defenders, Daniel Talia, but Petrie's growing inability to get separation on his opponent has been apparent for some time. 

The veteran's lack of explosiveness stood out even more alongside the 22-year-old Wood's efforts.

The youngster's most exciting piece of play came late in the second term when he took a low Lindsay Thomas pass cleanly on the half volley – 1987 Wimbledon champ Pat Cash couldn't have done better – then slipped past Adelaide defender Jake Lever with an 180-degree turn before hitting Brent Harvey with a long handball that set up an easy goal.

Most encouragingly, after his career-best game against Hawthorn six days earlier, Wood was again a solid contributor all night for North, finishing with 19 possessions, two contested marks, 1.1 and two goal assists.

After playing 15 games in four seasons, Wood looks to have established himself in the Roos' forward line for the rest of the year.

Petrie will be right there alongside him.

Any time the veteran's form has been questioned in the past, coach Brad Scott has fiercely defended him, stressing how invaluable he is to the Roos' structure.

But North faces a difficult decision at the end of the season.

Petrie, like Wood, fellow veteran Jarrad Waite and ruckman/forward Majak Daw, comes out of contract at the end of 2016. 

While Wood is finally getting the regular senior opportunities he has craved, Daw, 25, remains largely stranded in the VFL.

If North wants to keep him, it might have to move on one of Petrie or Waite. 

And Waite seems to have more spring left in his 33-year-old legs.

Suns shine on dismal Launceston day

As expected, Hawthorn got the four points against Gold Coast at Aurora Stadium on Sunday afternoon, but the Suns could take plenty of positives out of their 26-point loss.

Winless since saluting in their opening three games of the season, the Suns produced their best effort since that stretch, building on the improved form they showed in their narrow loss to Richmond before the round 13 bye.

Rodney Eade's men jumped the Hawks in the first quarter in gloomy conditions that should have been more suited to the 'home' team, taking a 15-minute lead into the first break.

They still led at half-time by one point, and despite going goalless in the third quarter, were still in the game when Jarrod Harbrow goaled at the 10-minute mark of the final term to cut the Hawks' lead to nine points.

That Hawthorn kicked the final three goals to ice the game was disappointing, but shouldn't detract too much from what was an encouraging outing on a number of fronts. 

Skipper Gary Ablett had more than 35 possessions – racking up 40, in fact – for the first time since he suffered a major shoulder injury in 2014, when he appeared on track for his third Brownlow Medal.

Tom Lynch again enhanced his reputation as one of the competition's best young spearheads. The 23-year-old kicked 3.2 against the Hawks despite being let down on several occasions by poor delivery.

And the Suns' No.1 ruckman Tom Nicholls (17 disposals and 27 hit-outs) continued his return to form after a difficult opening to the season.

Eade would also have been buoyed his team won the following key statistics: clearances 39-34, contested possessions 136-120 and tackles 64-57.

The Suns could also be strengthened by the return of Adam Saad (hamstring tightness), Kade Kolodjashnij (concussion), Callum Ah Chee (calf) and Jack Martin (back) against St Kilda at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.

And the club is confident A-grade midfielders David Swallow and Jaeger O'Meara are edging ever closer to returns from long-term knee injuries. 

If we see that star duo before the end of the season, we'll finally know what a full-strength Suns are capable of.

We, for one, would like to see that.

Other observations

1. Geelong coach Chris Scott described the round 14 fixture as a strange one and it's hard to disagree. All six games featured teams coming off the round 13 bye against teams yet to have their byes. Of the 'bye-less' teams, North Melbourne drew the shortest straw, facing a well-rested Adelaide at Adelaide Oval after a six-day break. Although teams can sometimes be rusty after a bye, the rested sides had the better of it this weekend, winning four of the six contests. The two games they lost were hardly surprises – Carlton was beaten by Greater Western Sydney at Spotless Stadium and Gold Coast lost to Hawthorn at Launceston's Aurora Stadium – but, as Scott said after the Cats' shock three-point loss to St Kilda, it would be surprising if the AFL allowed such a fixturing quirk to happen again.

2. Loved the composure of first-year Saint Jade Gresham when he kicked the first of two late goals that carried St Kilda past Geelong. With the Saints having conceded the first three goals of the final term to fall nine points behind, Gresham, the Saints' first pick in last year's NAB AFL Draft at No.18 overall, collected a Jack Steven kick on the bounce near the boundary line. As Geelong defender Tom Lonergan went to tackle him from front-on, Gresham swivelled past him, spun on to his right foot and snapped truly from 30m. St Kilda Alan Richardson later described Gresham's effort as "pretty special". We second that and looked forward to more of the same from the former Northern Knight.

3. After a relatively quiet start to the season, Dustin Martin's move from part-time to full-time midfielder continues to bear fruit for Richmond. Over the Tigers' past eight games, Martin has averaged more than 31 possessions a game. Against the Brisbane Lions on Saturday, he was a clear best on ground with 35 possessions, six clearances (five at centre bounces) and 10 inside 50s. If he continues to produce on a consistent basis, Martin will join the AFL's elite.

• Fantasy form watch: round 14

4. If Adelaide is to seriously challenge the likes of the Sydney Swans, Hawthorn, Geelong and, perhaps, Greater Western Sydney for this year's flag, its second-tier on-ballers have to stand up. Could the Crouch brothers be the ones to give Rory Sloane and Scott Thompson the contested support they need? Third-year midfielder Matt has been a consistent ball-winner for the Crows this year and played one of his best games against North Melbourne, finishing with 32 possessions (16 contested) and eight clearances. Elder brother Brad's career has got off to a spluttering start because of injury. Finally healthy this year, he had played just four senior games before earning a recall against the Roos. After his 20-possession game, Crows coach Don Pyke said Brad had shown "some really positive signs", with his contested work at the level expected by the Crows coaching staff. If the former elite junior continues to improve, look out for Adelaide come September.

5. Doubt Greater Western Sydney thought Steve Johnson would be leading their goalkicking after 2016's first 14 rounds when they gave him an AFL lifeline at the end of last season. But the former Cat's four goals against Carlton lifted him to 28 goals for the year, equal with spearhead Jeremy Cameron and reinvented forward Toby Greene. Johnson turns 33 on Monday week but his experience will be invaluable for the Giants when they embark on their first finals campaign later this year.