GEELONG coach Chris Scott nodded when it was suggested to him in the press conference after Geelong's 28-point win over St Kilda at the MCG on Saturday that the victory was workmanlike.

"That’s probably about right," he said. "We got the job done. As I've said a few times this year, we didn't play exactly the way we'd like to play.

"Hopefully the players are getting a bit better understanding of what our best footy looks like, but we're just not piecing it together for the whole four quarters."

It was a lacklustre night all round. The crowd of almost 40,000 was about 10,000 fewer than expected. And those who did turn up were rarely moved to excitement.

The match started brightly enough but the second half appeared as if Geelong was doing just enough to keep the Saints at bay.

That's a view Scott didn't share.

"We didn't think it was that comfortable," he said. "We were unhappy most of the night in the coach's box and I think the players were a bit that way as well.

"We were good in parts but we let them score a little but too easily, which kept them in the game."

The round-one match between Geelong and St Kilda reflected the epic encounter between the two teams in recent seasons, most notably the 2009 Grand Final. St Kilda looked the better team for much of the night but Geelong got up on the last kick of the night.

The Saints were thought to be hard done by.

If nothing else, this round-13 match proved just how much can change in half a season. Despite statistics that suggest the teams were about even, the Cats did it on the bit.

It's clear that they've improved since round one and the Saints have regressed.

Scott admitted that the status of the victory over the Saints was improved by the fact that the Cats lost Jimmy Bartel to concussion late in the first quarter and James Kelly and Darren Milburn played out the game with bad ankle injuries.

"With the personnel we had down, it was a good effort," he said.

The highlights included the games of two of Geelong's young players, Daniel Menzel and Nathan Vardy. Menzel played as a foil to James Podsiadly deep in attack and kicked four goals in an unfussy performance, while Nathan Vardy showed plenty of promise in the air.

A passage of play in the last quarter when Vardy led out and took a strong mark in front of the experienced Zac Dawson was the highlight of the night. It certainly suggested a healthy career for Vardy in the role of tall forward changing in the ruck.

"We'd like to think Vardy can play a similar role to the one Brad Ottens is playing, but that's a big ask," Scott said.

"We've just got to make sure that on a daily basis we're putting the work into those players, doing our best to make sure they're doing their best to play the way we want to play, thinking about three or four years' time but not neglecting the here and now."

Scott had no problem with the attention that St Kilda's Sean Dempster gave Geelong forward Steve Johnson. With Johnson pinned down on the ground by Dempster late in the first quarter, the pair appeared to exchange glancing blows.

"My philosophy is the opposition can do anything within the rules they like," Scott said. "I didn't see anything that was out of the rules tonight.

"I wasn't watching the match-up the whole night but Stevie certainly has no problem with that (close attention from opponents). I know that first-hand from playing on him."

When Scott was asked towards the end of the press conference what he and the club thought about Joel Selwood's four-match suspension after the incident with Hawthorn's Scott Guerra last week, Scott was keen to state the club's view.

Selwood was offered a three-match suspension for striking but the club challenged the finding. When Selwood was found guilty he was given another match,

"I think it's important that we explain our rationale for challenging the decision," Scott said. "We felt as a club that the penalty handed down to Joel initially reflected a player who punched an opposition player intentionally behind the play.

"Joel swears to us that that didn't happen, and we believed him, so we felt it was our obligation to defend his character.

"We risked an extra week. We were obviously very disappointed with the decision, but we feel in some way vindicated that we've gone in some way to restoring his character."