GEELONG'S home ground is no longer a fortress.
The Cats dropped their third game of the season at the venue - once considered the hardest road trip in footy - as they were overpowered by Melbourne by 24 points on Sunday.
It was also Geelong's second successive loss at Simonds Stadium, following the 16-point loss to North Melbourne in round four, which is the first time it has dropped two games in a row on its home turf since 2006.
Asked whether facing the Cats at Kardinia Park had lost its lustre, Geelong coach Chris Scott agreed the landscape was changing.
"Are they (opposition teams) more confident coming down here than they used to be? Probably," Scott said in his post-game press conference.
"It's hard to argue with that one."
The Cats were also beaten by Fremantle by 44 points at the venue in round two.
Putting Geelong's dominance into context, before this season the Cats had won 56 of their 60 games at Simonds Stadium between 2007 and 2014 for an overall success rate of 93 per cent.
The stinging loss was made more disappointing by the fact the game against the Demons was supposed to be a celebration of the 300-game career of Cats champion Corey Enright.
The three-time premiership Cat received the ovation he deserved when he was chaired from the field after the final siren in front of an adoring 28,007-strong crowd.
Scott said it made the loss more difficult to stomach.
"To be frank, a little bit," Scott said.
"But 'Boris' (Enright) was always keen not to make it about him and the loss won't be about him."
Scott said it was the inability of his team to put up a fight around the ball that was the decisive factor in his team's loss.
The Cats were smashed in the hit-outs (69-45), contested possessions (160-131) and clearances (53-40) as Max Gawn, Bernie Vince and Nathan Jones ran amok.
"There were a lot of parts of the game, but if you wanted to summarise it really quickly they dominated around the ball at the contest and were much better than us," Scott said.
"They took their opportunities but we did let in some easy goals that, given the way we've played most of the time this year, were a bit uncharacteristic."
The Demons' midfield dominance made life difficult for Enright and Geelong's experienced defence, which also contained youngsters Jed Bews and debutant Jake Kolodjashnij.
Scott said his defensive group lowered its colours to a team that was missing its most potent weapon in attack – Jesse Hogan.
"We were beaten far too often when the ball went forward and our defenders to be fair have been really good all year just didn't win or halve enough of their contests," Scott said.
"The fact that we lost it around the midfield meant the ball was going forward more often for them."
However, Scott refused to believe his side, which sits in 10th position with a win-loss record of 6-6 heading into its bye, was in dangerous territory.
"You've got to be careful of the big statements when you're very disappointed post-game," Scott said.
"I've always said that it's difficult in the middle of the season to assess where things stand.
"If it was hard (to assess where Geelong stood) pre-game, it's a little harder now."
