However if early-season form is anything to go by they might have been too quick to write off a champion team.
Geelong has won two premierships and lost a grand final and a preliminary in the last four years, but many expected that the ravages of time, and the losses of critical personnel on- and off-field, would begin to tell.
But wins over St Kilda last Friday night by a point and Saturday night over Fremantle by 11 points, have shown the Cats still have the heart and soul of winners.
Perhaps the Cats see 2011 as the year to make a stand and show that their group was always bigger than one or two individuals.
It was illustrated on Saturday night at Patersons Stadium against a Fremantle team that made the finals last year.
The Cats arrived in Perth without one of the all-time great full-backs in Matthew Scarlett, and his defensive partner Tom Lonergan, as well as veteran forward Cameron Mooney, the dynamic Shannon Byrnes and star midfielder Joel Selwood.
All five are clearly in their best 22, yet Geelong was able to hold off Fremantle to record an impressive win with solid contributions from the veterans many saw as being under the pump.
Paul Chapman, Cameron Ling, Brad Ottens, David Wojcinski, Darren Milburn, Joel Corey and Jimmy Bartel were all outstanding.
New coach Chris Scott is happy with the determination to win shown by his players, and expects to see some troops returning next week against Port Adelaide.
"It's a bit hard to tell with Lonergan. His calf is a really strange one because he pulled up from the game okay, didn’t do much work during the week and didn’t come up for the game. We would think he will be okay, but we just don’t know," Scott said.
"Cam Mooney was pretty good; we just didn’t feel that he came through the game in good enough health. He's got a few minor things and I would say he would be a very good chance to play.
"Joel we think so too, but with a concussion unfortunately we are guessing a bit. Our position with Joel was not so much could we rule him out because of the symptoms, but we had to ask if we were positive he was okay to play. In the end we couldn’t be sure, even though we were very close."
Then there are the exciting young players that the Cats have been able to blood. Daniel Menzel kicked three goals and Allen Christensen, Cameron Guthrie, Mitch Duncan and Taylor Hunt all showed enough to impress.
"(Menzel) was terrific and looks like he can become a genuine AFL player," Scott said.
"We have a lot of guys just feeling their way in AFL footy and we talk about the things that we are trying to work on as a team, but some of those young players are just trying to work on being an AFL player. We'll keep bringing them in if they do a good enough effort at training and at VFL level."
