The Cats rediscovered their mojo after the main break against North Melbourne on Sunday, slogging out a four-point win at Etihad Stadium.
With both sides going toe-to-toe in an intense final quarter, Bartel had the last word, winning a free kick inside 50 for a push in the back.
Making the set shot a certain goal, he was then awarded a 50-metre penalty, when North Melbourne defender Michael Firrito kicked the ball away from the area.
"I heard I got the free but didn’t know I got the 50 metres, until a couple of guys told me, so yeah I was more than happy to accept it," Bartel told AFL.com.au.
"We knew there was only 20 seconds left on the clock, so there was no time to celebrate it.
"We had to just get everyone back behind the ball, because the Kangaroos still had a chance to win it."
But the Cats escaped for the second week in succession, following a great comeback victory against the Hawks in round one.
It was an impressive fightback for a side that was smashed in the clearances during the first half, trailing 18-26 at the main change.
"It was difficult to watch in the first half," Scott said on Sunday.
"I thought the things we went in planning to do weren't implemented."
And it was a problem the players were very aware of.
"We were pretty ordinary in the first half, but they were fantastic," Bartel said.
"They chopped us up with how good their ball use was, they defended really well, and they were smashing us in most areas of the ground, so to be able to come back from that was positive."
"We got absolutely cleaned up at the clearances. We wanted to tidy that up."
The game mirrored Geelong's effort against Hawthorn, and Bartel admits things could have been very different.
"We’ve been very slow to get going. We've been outplayed by two very good sides, and we know we could have been zero and two at the start of the year."
