Captain Patrick Dangerfield admits three consecutive losses to start the season have affected Geelong’s confidence, but he remains optimistic they can turn their form around if they focus on the process rather than the outcome.

The Cats have been below-par in all parts of the ground, and the new captain attributed the disappointing start to the loss of experience across half-back, teething problems associated with recruits adapting to the system and opponents drilling down on ways to beat Geelong.

Dangerfield said there was room for improvement in his own form and defended the decision to play Tom Hawkins after the key forward had an interrupted pre-season recovering from a foot injury. But he said he did not think being captain was affecting his form.

He said complacency after winning the flag last season was not an issue.

“There is a huge amount of hunger. The challenge we have got at the moment is the confidence,” Dangerfield said.

“The key is not to search for the outcome and spend too much time on the outcome, which is the wins and losses. It’s the process that underpins the reason that you win and lose.”

Having replaced Joel Selwood as captain, Dangerfield said his approach as skipper would be to remain positive.

“It’s still remained and to remain positive. It isn’t all doomsday, absolutely there are things we need to improve, and we can improve quickly, but it’s still to reinforce the positive parts of our game,” Dangerfield said.