Geelong’s hold over Hawthorn since the 2008 grand final continues to fascinate AFL fans, although Cats coach Chris Scott flatly refuses to buy into the debate.

Asked if his side had a mental edge over the Hawks following Geelong’s 10-point win in their round-15 clash on Saturday night, Scott said: “Nope.”

But the 2011 premiership mentor added: “But ask them (Hawthorn). They’re the ones that have to answer the question.

“I’ll leave it to others to read into it what it means. For us, we’ll move on to next week.”

The fact that the Geelong-Hawthorn game attracted over 85,000 fans 24 hours after the Carlton-Collingwood derby drew a crowd of 78,224 fans added to the hype around what has become known as the “Kennett Curse”.

Geelong’s triple-premiership hero Jimmy Bartel, a veteran of all 11 winning sides for the Cats against Hawthorn since the 2008 grand final, accused the media of exaggerating the rivalry between the two sides.

“But it is good thing for football,” Bartel told Seven’s AFL Game Day on Sunday.

“Probably that’s the reason why we had 85,000 people there for the game.

“We don’t worry about curses or pacts or things like that.

“We just really enjoy the challenge of playing a quality side.

“They’re on top of the ladder, they’ve won 12 in a row. That’s what excited us the most.”

Geelong’s winning run over the Hawks is known as the “Kennett Curse” after then-Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett said in early 2009 that the Cats lacked Hawthorn’s mental drive.

The second-placed Cats won 11.16 (82) to 10.12 (72) after the Hawks had staged a thrilling comeback during the final term with five consecutive goals to cut the deficit from 33 points to three points.

“Really it just gets us back on level pegging with Hawthorn (on 12-2 win-loss),” Scott said.

Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson said his side had been up for a fair while, winning 12 consecutive games.

“A loss won’t do us any harm. But we need to work out a way how we can win these games of footy rather than come up the bridesmaids,” Clarkson said.

“Anything can happen in these games (with an average margin of less than nine points in the past 11 Geelong-Hawthorn matches).”

Port Adelaide host Hawthorn at AAMI Stadium on July 13 while the Cats host Melbourne in Geelong on the same day.