The Cats, who sit 0-2 after the opening rounds, have struggled with their conversion in front of goal, kicking 26 behinds and only 12 goals in their matches against Old Collegians (seven goals and 15 behinds) and South Rovers (five goals and 11 behinds).

“We have had so many opportunities to win our games in round one and two through conversion,” Price told The Standard.

“Some of the goals and set shots that we know we should have kicked would have seen us winning both those games of footy, by small margins, but as the saying goes ‘bad kicking is bad footy’.

“Most of the times we have missed those shots it has been late in the game and it comes back to fatigue, especially in the last quarter when we need to be accurate.

“I didn't really beat around the bush this week when I was explaining that we weren’t winning games of footy at the moment because we aren't kicking goals.”

The first-year coach said he had made goal kicking a key priority in his training plan during the week.

“We have focused a lot with our forwards on goal kicking, structures and set ups and the way we have trained this week we have finished most of our drills with shots on goal,” he said. “We have worked really strongly on our conversion this week.

“On Tuesday night, while I also ran a few different drills for accountability and running, we split into three groups with one of those groups tasked with doing set shots, where I had 10 cones set up in various spots in the 50-metre arc and the players just kicked for 15 minutes in pairs.

“It was really just old school have shots at goal, having 10 shots at goal and then swapping with your partner.”

Goal kicking techniques and routines were also a key focus for Price during the pre-season and has continued at training this week.

“The biggest thing I said to the boys throughout the pre-season was that if you have good technique once your body starts to fatigue your brain starts to tell you different things, but if you have got a good technique when kicking you won't lose it,” he said.

“I've told my players to find something that works and repeat it and repeat it until you get that muscle memory and it becomes natural.”

The Cats are back home at Ubergang Oval to host East Warrnambool, which also has also lost both its opening games. Both sides will be eager to bounce back strongly after slow starts and register their first victory this season.