AFTER the landslide victories over Melbourne and Gold Coast in the past fortnight, Geelong coach Chris Scott is concerned about his team's ability to handle pressure and wonders if those easy wins played a role in an unconvincing performance at AAMI Stadium against Adelaide.

The Cats, who had won their past two games by a combined total of 336 points prior to Sunday, started slowly against the Crows, conceding the first two goals of the game and losing the clearances 9-3 for the term.

The visitors steadied, piling on five unanswered goals late in the second quarter to take a 19-point lead at the main change, but were unable to kick away in the second half, as they had done in other matches this season.

Geelong was never headed, but never looked completely comfortable either.

Scott was pleased with the intensity of the game, compared to the previous two weeks, but said his team had failed to live up to its expectations of playing "sustainable finals footy".

"Adelaide's pressure was fantastic and we didn't react well to that, particularly early," Scott said.

"We've got to give them [the Crows] credit, but we'd like to think we can perform better under that sort of pressure, and that pressure is only going to get greater from here on in.

"The easy answer is to say we didn't get a lot of pressure [in our games] in the last two weeks, but I think we've got to be better than that.

"We'll make sure when we come up against the Sydney Swans in a fortnight we bring finals-like pressure and we'll be ready for it."

Scott was forced to re-shuffle his defence to cover the absence of injured players Matthew Scarlett, Darren Milburn and Andrew Mackie, who withdrew from the game against Adelaide with an ankle complaint.

Forwards Travis Varcoe and Daniel Menzel both played roles down back, but Scott saved most of his praise for big men Tom Lonergan and Harry Taylor, who combined to take 15 marks and repel numerous Crows attacks.

"For most of the night we were outplayed around the ball and were smashed in the clearances, which meant we were defending a lot," he said.

"Fortunately, we've got a couple of good, tall defenders, who were able to hold them [the Crows] up.

"I think every time Scarlett misses a game we realise how good he is and Milburn makes a difference as well, but I thought they [the defenders] teamed together very well.

"It's as good a game as I've seen Tom Lonergan play. I thought he was fantastic and he and Harry Taylor combined really well."

The Cats will have a bye next week before starting the preparations for their round 23 clash with the Swans.

Scarlett, Milburn, Mackie and Tom Hawkins are all likely to be fit for the match at Skilled Stadium, but Geelong will be sweating on the availability of forward Cam Mooney, who was reported for front-on conduct against Adelaide defender Graham Johncock in the first quarter on Sunday.

Scott said the second bye had come at an "ideal time" for his club.

"We've spent a lot of time on what our preparation is going to be leading into finals," he said.

"We think we did it well [handled the bye] last time and we think our conditioning and medical staff have got our players in really good shape [even though] they didn't look great tonight.

"When the finals roll around we'll be in good shape."