The Cats enjoy their mid-season bye on the weekend, having escaped from a testing first half of the season with 10 wins from 11 matches.
They sit atop the ladder, despite struggling in the early stages of most games this year.
That trend continued last Saturday, when Greater Western Sydney kicked the opening five goals to lead by 32 points early in the first quarter.
"To come out like that was pretty ordinary from us, and that's something that we haven't got quite right this season - our starts," Guthrie said.
"That was similar last week against Gold Coast. It shouldn't take us that long to start and click into gear.
"We'll walk away and hopefully against Brisbane, after the bye, we'll get that right."
Guthrie admitted his side's stellar run, which includes the scalps of premiership favourites Hawthorn and the Sydney Swans, had been somewhat of a surprise.
"It's a great position to be in, having dropped the one game heading into the bye," he said.
"It's probably something we didn't really expect to do, because we did have a tough run at the start of the year.
"But we're happy to be here and hopefully we don't lose too many more heading into finals."
Guthrie, one of many inexperienced Cats to impress in their 2013 campaign, said consistency would be his side's biggest challenge as they bid for a fourth premiership in seven years.
"We've only dropped the one game, so that's all good. But it's not the form we'd like to have, heading into the bye," the 20-year-old said.
"Definitely (there is room for improvement). I think we've played some good footy at times this year .. but we've got to be doing it consistently."
