DESPITE the utterances of coaches and players insisting that no one game is more important than another during a long season, it is not 100 per cent true.

Certainly, it is not true in Geelong’s case this Sunday as the Cats look to end their two-game losing skid when they face Brisbane at the Gabba.

While the game against the Lions does fall into the category of the next game being the most important game, there is a sense this contest might prove to be the most crucial of Geelong’s season.

Not only are the Cats coming off back-to-back losses - their only defeats of the season after 13 straight wins - but they are determined to rediscover the mojo that has had them clearly in premiership contention.

“Sunday is going to be a pretty big game,” Geelong forward Mathew Stokes said. “Brisbane is not having the best of seasons, but as a group we’ll probably talk about the importance of the game style and the way we want to play football.

“There’s probably not too many people outside of our group who will think it’s much of a game, but for us it is. It’s about getting back to playing pretty good footy so it is important to us. Hopefully we can do that.”

In reality, it is about must rather than about hope against the 3-12 Lions for Geelong, which will regain star midfielder Joel Selwood after a four-game ban, but lose ruckman Brad Ottens to a one-game suspension.

Over the course of this season, Geelong has been able to cover the absences of key players and still post wins with young players gaining valuable game time and experience at the top level.

The key now for the Cats as they look towards the run-in to the finals is to actually rediscover their ability to play a consistent four quarters and reduce the chances of opposition teams taking advantage of their lapses.

Those lapses have been obvious and magnified during the losses to Essendon and West Coast, but are not considered impossible to eradicate and overcome.

“We used to be able to play four consistent quarters over the years pretty well, but probably this year we’ve won a few games on having a few spurts,” Stokes said.

“I don’t think we want to be playing our best footy right now because it’s still the middle of the season, but if we can keep addressing it and keep improving, come finals we’re on top of it and heading in the right direction.”

If anything, the Cats are looking at the back-to-back losses as a bump in the road that is not unexpected during a long season, but they are also willing to learn from the defeats.

In the old-fashioned sense, the losses have been a good kick up the bum and a reminder to stay focused and return to the values and processes that hoisted the Cats to the top of the ladder.

“We’re not panicking at all,” Stokes said. “We’re a pretty mature group, but games like Friday night are good for the young boys. They were on a big high after the Adelaide game, when it was easy and everyone played well, and now they’ve had two losses and it was good to experience. It’s not as easy as it seems sometimes and it’s good for them to play in big games like that and learn from the experience they get.

“You just need sometimes to realise it’s not that simple and easy. In saying that the last thing you want to do is take away from West Coast because they’re a great team and have improved out of sight and are a finals team. I still think we should have won the game. We played pretty bad in areas of the game and also played pretty well and there were some positives to take out of it.”