Chris Scott described himself as feeling "naked and impotent" in the dying stages of Geelong's seven-point win over Collingwood on Friday night.
After being down by a goal with around 10 minutes remaining, Brandan Parfitt and Tom Hawkins kicked goals for the Cats to seal the win at the MCG.
As with Thursday night's season opener, viewers were keenly observing the effect that the newly introduced rules would have on the contest.
MORE: Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley laments crucial turnovers for homecoming defeat
While they didn't open up the scoring as many thought, the difference was noted in the coaches box.
Speaking on SEN on Saturday morning, Geelong coach Scott said the new 6-6-6 structure for centre bounces had a big impact.
"(The 6-6-6) was a huge factor. It’s unlike anything I’ve experienced as a coach and certainly at Geelong," Scott said.
"(AFL football operations boss) Steve Hocking made some comments that coaches are feeling a bit nude at the moment, we felt nude and impotent, which is a bad combination.
"It's almost as vulnerable a picture as I can conjure right at the minute.
"I got home late last night and couldn’t sleep so I watched a replay of the broadcast vision and I think it was James Brayshaw who said you can put (Parfitt’s goal) down to Steve Hocking, and it’s not a bad call.
"Previously with that amount of time left on the clock, Collingwood a goal up, we certainly wouldn’t have been able to generate even numbers in our forward half so I think that’s a pretty good case study as the reason for the rule coming in.”
Scott also noted that under the old rules Geelong could have flooded players back after the took lead, potentially stopping any Collingwood attacks.
"We got to a goal up and there’s not much time to go, previously it would’ve been easy to shut down the game and even after the centre bounce there was an opportunity to put numbers back," he said.
"The risk with that is you don’t get quite organised, you’re not able to use the runner too and our view is we don’t want to lose a game through disorganisation."
Fortunately for the Cats, they were able to repel last season's grand finalists, getting their 2019 campaign off to a winning start.
