Review Cats back in business after smashing Hawks by 82 points at the G

[AM]

How big a back flip did David King have to make after calling us gone at 1/2 time.

GO Catters

King is the most overrated commentator in the bizo and that's saying something.

Relies heavily on Daniel Hoyne from Champion Data for his stats on which he is fully reliant. And loves the big statement for which he's rarely challenged when shown to be wrong. I see Hoyne now appears on SEN to explain his stats.

We should also remember he was Wallace's senior assistant at Richmond. They dragged the club to the pits. Yet now he knows more than CS, Fly, Clarko, et al. Go figure.

 

[cats_09]

 

[AM]

Phew!

Patchy 1st half but the effort (even though CS doesn't rate the term) and connection in the 2nd were reminiscent of last year.

That said, the Hawks aren't much chop, so I'll hold my optimism until we beat a genuine contender.

 

[Mr Meow]

The comic relief of the day for me was pre-game reading someone say they couldn't see how we could beat the Hawks today. It was as simple what would have been true for the Gold Coast or Carlton games, a slight mean reversion of form to 2022 for a good chunk of the game and this side can get the job done. We just didn't click into gear for those games but bad form doesn't last forever. This is what I meant by Geelong getting back close to their best making us a completely different proposition. Bring the second half stuff and even against good sides we will be right in matches.

 

[MisterMarcus]

Collingwood lost, Richmond lost, Hawthorn lost.......Cats won!

Pretty much a perfect round

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Things i learnt
There are very few players worthy of multiple r1 picks in a trade jezza is one of those. Just about the best field kick of any key forward going around.

Some of our older players with respect are good replaceable role players at this point but duncan isnt. He along with hawkins are the 2 structurally irreplaceable ones and he helps our ball movement so much.

The best way to protect our undermanned defence is to stop the ball getting there at speed. The midfield finally did this in the 2nd half.

Good to see stanley and the mids finally lift in the 2nd half..its amazing to see what happens when we prioritise getting first hands at clearances and then tackle pressure to win it back.

Bowes is showing some very good signs. I know it was only against hawthorn in an avalanche but henry really impressed me. Yes its structurally hard to play him and rohan but he needs games.

I thought our small forwards finally woke up and applied pressure. It helps so much.

All in all about the result we should expect against a bottom 3 side but hopefully we can beat an undermanned west coast next week and get our season rolling.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

King is the most overrated commentator in the bizo and that's saying something.

Relies heavily on Daniel Hoyne from Champion Data for his stats on which he is fully reliant. And loves the big statement for which he's rarely challenged when shown to be wrong. I see Hoyne now appears on SEN to explain his stats.

We should also remember he was Wallace's senior assistant at Richmond. They dragged the club to the pits. Yet now he knows more than CS, Fly, Clarko, et al. Go figure.

It's a shame because he's genuinely a pretty good discector of stats, just unfortunately like most of his collegues he likes the whole click baity "big dumb call" type of commentary.

 

[AM]

It's a shame because he's genuinely a pretty good discentor of stats, just unfortunately like most of his collegues he likes the whole click baity "big dumb call" type of commentary.

For mine Montagna is all over him. And if you listen to Daniel Hoyne on SEN, on whom King heavily relies, you'll see a much better take on the stats.

 

[Catsace]

Just happy to see that the club still has belief in their system and pride in their jumper. Like last year, hawks had three goals before we realised the siren blew, but managed to peg that back by 1/4 time, but again beaten in the clinches and contested possies in the 2nd Q, and went in at half time a couple of goals behind.

But that third quarter, glorious to see. Much harder in the centre, hands on the ball first, strength in coming through and ferocious tackling of the Hawks too. The team just gained their mojo and belief in that term, and i do feel that at least is a reminder that they are still a good side when they work hard and all get on the same page. Turning a 2-goal deficit into a 14-goal win is a great effort, brings our percentage to 110% now and does kick the season off.

Will lose Bews next week but hopefully SDK returns. Holmes, Stengle and Close regaining their touch, Esava looked pretty good in the backline today, and hopefully we have a ruckman that doesn't get smashed in the guts by deliberate knees for a change. Blitz, how tough must he be, it takes a hell of a lot to stop him, but after a bit of time on the bench he was back into it and competing as hard as ever. Despite what Buckley was saying after the game, it's really not a legitimate thing to be lifting your knee into your opposition player. I liked CS's emphatic defence of Geelong's ruckmen after the game, it really isn't a good look for the game at all.

 

[kittypurry]

How big a back flip did David King have to make after calling us gone at 1/2 time.

GO Catters

King did the exact same thing in a Richmond game the year before (I think it was the year before.) Hilarious.

If only King can write us off each week; we will not lose another game. Easily the worst commentator. Thinks everything is about "effort." Fixates on meaningless stats because he can't read the game for sh*t. Unwatchable television presence. Joey makes a mockery of him each time they present together. No idea how King still has a job. Dire.

 

[The_Todd07]

Yes, it was only the Hawks
Yes, they are shit
Yes, we were shitter in the first half

But....it's not often you beat a team by 90 points in a half.
A long way to go but premiers fired a shot across the bow of the competition today.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

They are proof that even God makes mistakes

They should all be neutered to avoid future mistakes.

 

[Burtyl78]

Opponent aside, it’s clear that they boys have been getting flogged at training and they are now tapering off, Scott must have identified that we were nowhere fit enough

 

[Stokey]

Thank god for that.
Wasn't looking great at half-time. Not terrible. But decidedly not great.
And the suddenly, everything started going right, for the first time this year.

Hawkins influential again.
Close looking sharp.
Stengle looming ominously.
These players had yet to assert themselves in 2023.
Tom Atkins, who also hasn't reached his 2022 heights this season, suddenly showed his grit and value.

Special mention to a few players for their conduct up to and including a 0-3 start a half-time deficit against the 17th best team in the comp:

Gryan Miers - might well be up there in the B+F at this early stage. He's played smart, he's played hard, he's minimized his flaws and made the most of his strengths. I really have to respect and acknowledge the mental side of his game; runs hard week in, week out, and has turned himself into a better than 50/50 bet in a 50/50 contest.

Esava Ratugolea - he's had his ups and downs in 2023 to date, but he hasn't dropped his head or his bundle.
I've been really impressed with his conditioning as much as anything else; he has been called into action big time and despite skill and experience errors he has looked physically up to the challenge.
Today he was excellent, his best game as a KD; no silly mistakes, played within himself and yet chimed in with some big marks early in the game.

Mark O'Connor - he's been really composed and mature during this testing first 4 weeks; nothing silly, but he has taken on every bit of responsibility a player of his experience should take on. Great leadership.

Isaac Smith - his start to the 2023 season is really underlining his greatness. Like a few Hawthorn greats over the past 15 years, my passion as a Geelong supporter had blinded me to Smith's ability over the years. It took that Norm Smith for me to finally accept his impact at Geelong. He has not put a foot wrong this season, despite the rest of the team's erratic form. Respect.

Today, specifically:

Jake Kolodjashnij was rock solid, very good early when we were under pressure and struggling to generate run. Excellent return. Mitch Duncan similarly good.

Jeremy Cameron sublime as usual; while the team has been off the pace up until the 3rd quarter of round 4, Cameron has looked like a player completely in tune with his game. Should have had at least 5 goals last week, 7 a fair return for his class today.

Max Holmes had played 3 reasonable games to date; today he had a really strong 1st half against the tide, and then things got easier for the team and Max as the game progressed. I want this guy locked away on contract for a decade.

I have had 231 opinions of Mark Blicavs over the years, but I have never doubted his effort. The way he fought back after that weak-gutted dog knee from Meek or whoever it was (Reeves?) was epic; really committed stuff.
The aforementioned Tom Atkins was a real catalyst in the 3rd quarter too.

2023 hasn't been much fun to date, but today was hugely cathartic. Cracking 100 points is always a nice box to tick in modern footy, too.

Dangerfield's first win as the club's official captain; liked his game today.

Was impressed with Kolo. Seems to have lost no confidence from last year.
Loved when Worpel tried to drag him down over the boundary He just threw him off and flexed.

 

[Strange Cat]

They are proof that even God makes mistakes

Multiple mistakes

Looking at you Carlton, Collingwood and Tigers supporters

 

[And_ROOS]

Looking at the Rohan tackle - all he really did was hang on while the momentum swung him around. I'd be surprised to see a player get rubbed out for that. Just unlucky with the angles of momentum and he was only 50% responsible for that.

I am glad I am not the only one who sees it this way. Rohans feet never touch the ground, and he gets swung around with momentum. King and the commentary muppets kept shrieking "two actions" but he just keeps swinging with that initial tackle. Its no where near as bad as Day who tackles Close then dumps him head first with a second action.

Buckley on Fox with a classic: "Without Jeremy Cameron

5

Jeremy Cameron

Age

31

Ht

196cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.5

3star

K

9.0

3star

HB

3.4

3star

M

5.4

5star

T

1.6

4star

G

2.6

5star

D

10.0

3star

K

7.1

3star

HB

2.9

2star

M

4.6

4star

T

2.0

3star

G

1.9

5star

D

8.2

2star

K

5.0

2star

HB

3.2

3star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.4

4star

G

2.0

5star

, where would Geelong be?"

You're right. We would've won by 7 goals instead of 14.

And where would Carlton be without Curnow? Or Pies without De Goey? Or Demons without Petracca? What a stupid comment but then from figjam who is surprised?

Was that Sav's best game for the club today? 13 possessions @ 85% efficiency, 8 marks, 7 one percenters and 7 intercept possessions.

Early on he was really rough, was led under the ball a bit but his decision making is bad. He got better as it went on and hopefully with Stewart and Duncan around him they encourage him to dish the ball short to our better ball users. Esava just gets the ball and blindly bombs it. Its the right call like when he was deep and Hawks were attacking in the 2nd and he just throws it on the boot to clear it. But a few times he marked it and burnt options in better, short positions because he gets a rush of blood to the head the goes the 50m kick.
Wonder how many spoils he had today.

 

[calder_daddy]

Buckley on Fox with a classic: "Without Jeremy Cameron, where would Geelong be?"

You're right. We would've won by 7 goals instead of 14.

He was talking about that’s what his thoughts were at half time.
Not after the game

 

[cats_09]

From the halftime discussion regarding Rohan

 

[kickazz]

I am glad I am not the only one who sees it this way. Rohans feet never touch the ground, and he gets swung around with momentum. King and the commentary muppets kept shrieking "two actions" but he just keeps swinging with that initial tackle. Its no where near as bad as Day who tackles Close then dumps him head first with a second action.


And where would Carlton be without Curnow? Or Pies without De Goey? Or Demons without Petracca? What a stupid comment but then from figjam who is surprised?


Early on he was really rough, was led under the ball a bit but his decision making is bad. He got better as it went on and hopefully with Stewart and Duncan around him they encourage him to dish the ball short to our better ball users. Esava just gets the ball and blindly bombs it. Its the right call like when he was deep and Hawks were attacking in the 2nd and he just throws it on the boot to clear it. But a few times he marked it and burnt options in better, short positions because he gets a rush of blood to the head the goes the 50m kick.
Wonder how many spoils he had today.

Yes.

This team needs to provide Sav with the early easy option by hand when he marks.

Either that, or we need a tall to lead up to the wing to contest a long ball. I do not want him attempting pin point passes. Not his strength.

 

[Flogwater]

Well done to the Cats today.

It was pleasing to see them grind it out when things looked grim early. The hard work paid off in the second half.

A good first step to turning the win-loss record around.

 

[Cursed Cat]

Was impressed with Kolo. Seems to have lost no confidence from last year.
Loved when Worpel tried to drag him down over the boundary He just threw him off and flexed.

Yeah his core strength in that situation was impressive.

Just looked like an experienced, confident (as you said) player at the top of his game. Very solid early.

 

[Nankervis brothers]

Bowes is showing some very good signs. I know it was only against hawthorn in an avalanche but henry really impressed me. Yes its structurally hard to play him and rohan but he needs games.

His first half, when Hawthorn brought the pressure, was ordinary. His second half was very good once the game opened up. He's a nice kick and user of the ball, and he has decent pace though he is not explosive. Good mark overhead. He doesn't bring a lot of 'inside' presence. I can see why the Suns were playing him as an attacking half-back flanker.

Henry seemed to play closer to the goals today, whereas he played higher half-forward in the previous weeks. I could be wrong there, as it's hard to tell exactly from the broadcast. Whatever the case, he was sharp today.

Duncan's return brought players like Miers, Close, and Holmes into the game.

 

[calder_daddy]

Was impressed with Kolo. Seems to have lost no confidence from last year.
Loved when Worpel tried to drag him down over the boundary He just threw him off and flexed.

Was even better when Amon did it to Stewart and Stewart threw the ball into his head

 

[kickazz]

From the halftime discussion regarding Rohan

Pfft.

Was more a 360 spin than anything. No Judo style pivot at the hip. Didn't dump him head or shoulder first, had arm and body cushion the landing.

But I'll let it go through to the keeper poor old JR is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Was impressed with Kolo. Seems to have lost no confidence from last year.
Loved when Worpel tried to drag him down over the boundary He just threw him off and flexed.

I thought Kolos decision making was awful to be honest