Review Cats defeat the Blues at MCG by 30 points.

[Scottland2007]

Love it! Great find

 

[cats_09]

That was the first time McKay finished goalless since round 9 in 2020.

SDK did a magnificent job on him.

Technically not quite true - he was goalless against the Eagles in round 12 last year, where he kicked 1 behind from his solitary disposal and was subbed out early

 

[cats_09]

Today Nick Stevens had 32 disposals and 9 marks playing off half back in the Magoos. He's 193cm and solid and he's quick. Looking forward to him getting a chance in the 22 soon.

Doubt he'll debut this year - this late in the season & sitting top of the ladder, we're going to start trying to consolidate the team

And while there'll be players who are managed or miss due to injury (Menegola this week with concussion), those coming in would be the next cabs off the line who may get called upon during finals

 

[you pick one]

Feels a bit like xmas morning,Richmond ****ed over by Norf,Cats wallop the blue baggers in front of a massive crowd and the Cats with a little breathing space at the top of the ladder.Thanks Santa.

 

[Tackle_happy]

As expected, Geelong are currently a very good football side and Carlton are not (yet).

The only thing holding us back currently is some wasteful set shot goal kicking. The odd defensive lapse, but nothing unforgivable.

The boys have the bit between the teeth, the dare to take it on and then apply relentless pressure when they don't have it. There is great team unity and a solid system currently.

Long may it continue.

Goal kicking is a bit of an issue, but last night would have been a tad difficult and ultimately I think some set shots were missed due to second guessing and trying to adjust for the gusty conditions.

What needs to be taken into consideration is the huge number of shots we are generating. It's something that we have not really had in previous years against good opposition (and did happen earlier this season).

This can be attributed to many things, but the midfield as it is now is harder and more able to "see ball get ball" than what we've had previously, this then brings Close, Stengle etc into play and those guy are, I would think, elite in what they do next (set up goals or kick them).

It also takes some of the pressure of the backs who then are able to reset and adjust better when the pressure from opposition is exerted.

It's amazing to see just how relentless the team now is in regards to pressure acts and how that is perceived (causing turn overs etc).

I'm enjoying it immensely.

 

[Scottland2007]

No active bans here at the moment - why would you think that?

but its ironic on a supporter page and forum that they've just up and vanished on 7 straight weeks of wins.

Thus the hope they are ok. But im sure a loss will magically see them back adding content.

GO Catters

I’d like to think they are enjoying the win and only come here to vent. 90% of my posts are negative but I really enjoyed the win last night. I think there’s still room for improvement. (For one, Maybe Kolo could not take a bounce as he’s about to get tackled, that could have easily been dropping the ball).

 

[Romeoh1]

Always pleasant to wake up after a good win over Carlton. Long may it continue.

I genuinely think that bigger ground suit us better. Our forward line is wasted on a narrow f50

Yes-exactly- everyone carries on about our home ground advantage but we actually play better on the G. The sooks should be grateful we don’t play more games there!

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

I can't stop loving this....

 

[catempire]

 

[catempire]

Always pleasant to wake up after a good win over Carlton. Long may it continue.

Yes-exactly- everyone carries on about our home ground advantage but we actually play better on the G. The sooks should be grateful we don’t play more games there!

9-2 in 2021-22 at the G.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

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Looks so unassuming on the field, oozes composure and like pressure never gets to him, but moments like this show just how much it means to him.
He's a unicorn, and we have a few of them.

 

[Live in hope]

Another fantastic performance by the team. The spread of contribution is the ‘wow’ factor for me with ‘bottom 6’ going as hard as the rest and all having important moments. Scott deserves huge kudos.

Some thoughts-

Miers - getting much more involved in the heat of contests, where his quickness of thinking, hands and ability to spread are a stand out. Better role for him than a outside only player. (Was my whipping boy early this year- happy to munch on humble pie if Gryan keeps that form)

- Danger. For one, I was okay with his contribution as he’s clearly playing under physical duress. He fluffed a couple of moves but he still brought physical presence at key moments. It is testament to the development of the team that we don’t rely on Paddy now and that he can focus on his role.

 

[catswhiskers]

Today Nick Stevens had 32 disposals and 9 marks playing off half back


the Magoos. He's 193cm and solid and he's quick. Looking forward to him getting a chance in the 22 soon.

Wasn't Steven's best VFL game yesterday. OK first half but second half his ability to pick out targets was poor.
His kicking for distance is fine, he still needs time to work on his passing.
I like him. But he will have to be another "3 yr in the making one day wonder".

Hopefully.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Only real issue I had with tonight's game was seeing Jezza and Rohan high-fiving the general public after the game...the club really needs to stress that stuff ain't on for the next month at least.

I think we actually might benefit with a few covid cases right now. The guys catching it now won't have it in finals

 

[00VicWard001]

That was the only downer on tonights performance - and he has carried Geel for years

Honestly Danger is going about as well as Alistar Lord ( who also won a Brownlow Medal playing in the centre for the Cats ) did in his last year for Geelong

I wonder which one of the new assistant coaches - probably James Kelly - who changed the Geel style - Geel thank goodness are good to watch again

And to Art Vandelay - well asMark Williams ( when Port won the flag ) he said - to their major sponsor - who wanted to sack him - " Allan Scott you are wrong "

Well Art Vandelay - you are 1000% wrong - because youve said for the last 5 years - that Geel couldnt play fast football - well the proof is in the pudding mate - and Geel should have played like this years ago - rather than that absolute garbage - eg the Rich game on the Gold Coast - and thank goodness for Pops Kelly and Egan for changing that rubbish game plan

Pretty disrespectful to the head coach. Kelly himself has said Scotty is the sheriff who confirms all decisions.

 

[00VicWard001]

They don't have line coaches anymore, ie a defense coach, midfield coach, forward coach, ruck coach etc. Instead, all the assistants work across every line and Chris Scott oversees it all. That's my understanding. It allows the coaches to teach all players attack and defense in their roles and positions. Also, apparently, Scotty said to the coaching staff at the start of the year if they were starting to coach this team from scratch, what would they do. They came up with what we are seeing now.

I will add - Hawk pointed out last night that Lappin works with the forwards and Kelly has been identified as working with the backs. I think scrapping the line coaches idea is more about avoiding silos and fiefdoms and more about working as a coaching team that always asks - “does this decision benefit the team as a whole?”

 

[Mad_Hatter]

I think we actually might benefit with a few covid cases right now. The guys catching it now won't have it in finals

100% unless guys can't get out of bed, they just won't be testing.
Did the same thing in the NBA for play offs.

 

[00VicWard001]

Miers is a funny one, Blicavs too for that matter but I'll quickly focus on Miers if you don't mind - you are %100 right in crediting him with addressing the physical side of his game. Miers is an elite endurance runner, perfectly paced for today's modern AFL environment.
But the lack of physicality in his game was ripe for exploitation there for a while.
Happily he has addressed this to a large degree; he'll never be a physically imposing player but you can depend on an honest contest from him 95 times out of 100 these days.

It's his kicking anywhere backward of centre that concerns me.

I can't recall any Geelong player who I would less like to have the ball in a dead-ball (i.e. mark or free kick) situation up on a wing - the guy struggles to kick over the man on the mark.

His best assets and worst flaws make him probably our current most polarising player.
I've kind of learned to accept his flaws and accept that Scott and co like the fact that he can run and run and run.
Scott likes his elite endurance players who can grind it out and out-work their opponents - and Miers is not without a creative side to his game; but the trajectory and depth of his kicking is really holding him back at this stage of his career.
He seems to me a harder worker than the goofy, culturally inappropriate hair might suggest (jk) and he cares about his standing in the game. But I can't see him overcoming or mitigating his kicking flaws.

Miers is/was ranked as second best in our team for short kicks (behind Duncan). So he’s not too shabby.

 

[00VicWard001]

Playing as a team. Playing for each other. Great to see

And the more they win, the more they play for each other. Becomes a positive feedback loop.

 

[00VicWard001]

View attachment 1448803

Jesus. Hidden monster let out for just a moment. I don’t think these brothers will play together ever.

 

[PzBlinky]

So many of us are talking about the fast, aggressive footy being played this year, and it's freaking great to see. But for me, the real difference has come down to PRESSURE.

Not just in serving it up - we've been OK at that, though it's improved again this year - but the way we handle it.

The chippy-chip-chip lends itself to making it so much easier to apply pressure on Cats players and when it ends up in the hands of Kolo or Blicavs when everything's locked down, it's a disaster waiting to happen. Now, the opposition players are getting a serve of their own medicine AND aren't being given the time to recover and set up when they turn the ball over.

We're punishing turn overs more than ever, which is in part thanks to our improved forward line (the only tweak we need is better goal kicking).

It's funny that I saw a comment in the Blues forum that we won't win finals since we rely on turn overs to score. A couple of points on that:

1. In the pressure of finals, turn overs can be one of the BEST ways to score. Take it from a Cats fan who's watched countless teams win games by doing that to us.

2. They clearly haven't watched us beyond last night, since we've had multiple avenues to goal throughout the season. Sure, Tom and Jerry can kick big bags if oppo pressure drops off, but we can play the high-pressure game and still get on the board.

3. LOL Blues get back to us when you actually make a final again.

Anyway, fantastic win and to do that off the back of no Stewart, Parf, or Menegola (out within 5 mins), things are shaping up very nicely.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

View attachment 1448713

To be fair on sdk he got a fist to it

 

[Lana]

No active bans here at the moment - why would you think that?

but its ironic on a supporter page and forum that they've just up and vanished on 7 straight weeks of wins.

Thus the hope they are ok. But im sure a loss will magically see them back adding content.

GO Catters

Nothing ironic about it, they're obvious trolls, would have been a better place they were banned years ago

 

[year of the cat]

Isn’t it great that footy equilibrium has been restored. Beating up on a potential challenger in Carlton and possibly even more satisfying, Richmond just being Richmond again.

 

[year of the cat]

Changes re Port -

Ins - Parfitt

Outs - Menegola

Simples.

Edit - unless someone needs a rest. Smith?