GEELONG full-back Matthew Scarlett says the Cats won't dwell on the shock loss to Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night that ended their 13-match unbeaten run to start the season.

In Chris Scott's first home and away loss as a senior coach, Geelong was dominated for much of the evening by a Bombers line-up that was given little hope of winning before the game.

"They came out pretty hard and were wound up to play pretty well," Scarlett told Cats TV.

"Full credit to them, I thought they played pretty good, but we didn't play very well at all."

Geelong kicked the first three goals of the game, but the Cats then conceded 11 of the next 13 as they slipped 33 points behind during the third quarter.

Scarlett put it down to Essendon's ability to win the ball in contests.

"If a side is on top in that area they usually go on to win the game, which they proved to do," he said.

"I think (Essendon) were on top in the midfield. They were getting their hands on the ball and getting it going their way.

"But full credit you our boys, we fought on as we always do and losing now is not the end of the world."

The Cats twice closed to within a kick of snatching the lead during the final quarter, only for the Bombers to hold on and record one of the biggest upsets of the season to date.

"I think every week's a danger game," Scarlett admitted. "If you're 10 or 15 per cent off you can lose, so that's what happened tonight.

"We got enormous confidence in our group. We think we're going to win no matter what the score is, so even up until the final siren I still thought we were going to win.

"But unfortunately we couldn't get the points."

Geelong failed to score between the 10-minute mark of the first quarter and the nine-minute mark of the second term.

By the end of the game, however, the Cats had registered 31 scoring shots to 25 and 59 inside-50s to 44, but they still managed to lose.