The mind games started well before the Easter Monday showdown with Scott saying his side still needed to improve significantly to match it with the Hawks following the Cats' Round 3 win over Hawthorn.
They saved their best performance of the season for their biggest match of the season as they earned some redemption for last year's preliminary loss with a stirring 19-point victory over their arch-rivals.
Geelong remain the only undefeated team in the competition and appear well on track for a tilt at another flag as their remarkable era shows no sign of stopping.
But Scott was quick to put the win in perspective.
"It's the start of a marathon … We're Round 5, and I know you guys (media) need to talk about what it means in the context of the season, but for us we play the long game," he said.
"We're more aware than you probably are, it's only early days and it means a bit but it doesn't mean anywhere near as much as the stuff later in the year.
"On our night we're better than the five clubs we've played this year … I reckon that's all it tells you to be honest."
While Scott refused to talk up his side, Clarkson couldn't have praised the Cats more in his post-match media conference.
"(Geelong) play it beautifully, 'Hawthorn are the standouts, everyone's got to be chasing them'. There might be a few chasing the Cats now," Clarkson said.
"There are three or four sides that are really, really talented sides and, as we always say at our club, just get to the top four and see how it all settles in the last part of the season.
"But the Cats are going to be right up there, they're a good football side.
"Everyone keeps writing them off. I don't know why because certainly we (don't) at our club. We've lost 12 out of 13 against them, so we know what their talent is like."
"It's got nothing to do with the blokes that are playing, it's all got to do with their system.
"And their system has been very, very powerful, the same as Sydney, blokes will come and go ... but it's their system. It's an outstanding system.
"It's why they keep competing at the top end of the ladder."
Clarkson had no regrets in leaving undersized defender Kyle Cheney on Tom Hawkins despite the key forward booting a match-winning five goals, including three in the final term.
The Hawks coach said that Brian Lake was still not match fit and was never really considered to play, but the Norm Smith Medalist might be in the frame to take on Richmond on Sunday.