Geelong's Tom Hawkins received rare public criticism from coach Chris Scott as the AFL's only unbeaten side experiments with tall players.

One of the features of Scott's first year as a senior coach is that he usually has talked up the Cats.

Given they are 9-0, there has been little for him to criticise.

But Scott raised eyebrows with his comments about Hawkins following Saturday night's win over Gold Coast.

The 22-year-old ruck-forward clearly has massive potential, but he was quiet again with only eight possessions, a goal and three marks.

"Tom Hawkins plays a specific role for us and has done quite well at times this year when other people have said he's struggled," Scott told Channel 10 post-match.

"But there's no doubt he's not the player we need him to be right at the moment.

"He's got to improve on a few things - he's actually a very good mark when he's playing well, but we're actually not seeing that at the moment."

The Cats rested in-form ruckman Brad Ottens for the Suns game.

They played second-gamer Nathan Vardy, Hawkins and Cameron Mooney as their ruck options.

Vardy had 20 hitouts, while Hawkins had six and Mooney five.

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