Review Cats demolish North by 75 points.

[Art Vandelay_]

And frankly, the dividends are showing - although we have the worst clearance differential in the league until today, our clearances (particularly our centre work) have yielded a large number of scores. Quality vs quantity, I guess.

Remains to be seen.
We've played some of the worst midfields in the competition thus far. The next month is some of the best.

Far too many people accepting of this flawed "tactic".

Standards are low on here. Bruhn and Holmes should be striving to become AA calibre players, ain't doing that with 20-22 per game. Atkins and Blicavs have hit their ceiling. Dangerfield at his age will do well to sustain form, only gets worse from here. Bowes, Clark, Bruhn and Holmes getting low 20s is not taking us forward.

 

[witsend]

The five disposal obsessed posters on here just can't get their head around that with our 2022-onwards midfield rotation. They just want to see the two top midfielders getting 30 touches so they can sleep easy.

Bruhn's 18 disposals did more damage than the likes of Green and Serong's 24 and 29 disposals this weekend.

Even Parfitt has become a high efficiency player with a high proportion of his disposals ending in scores.

Parfitt’s one-percenters and tackle pressure was elite today!


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[Art Vandelay_]

I'm not too worried about our midfield despite the relatively weak numbers and facing relatively weak midfield.

Firstly while we are bad in terms of contested possessions and clearance differential, we are league best in terms of scoring differential from clearances and scoring differential from turnovers.

Secondly, it's about who is, and who isn't performing well in the middle. Bowes, Bruhn, and Parfitt are all running at a very healthy 5 clearances, and 20 possessions a game (or thereabouts). Clark and Atkins on the other hand are statistically really poor this year. Clark I think is just learning the craft at AFL and while surely will improve, probably won't get there this year. But Atkins I believe is hampered by a groin injury and there's every reason to believe he can perform closer to his 2022 (when in midfield) and 2023 performances. Add Danger and Guthrie, along with a fit/firing Atkins and we should be in a very strong position.

Thirdly, we've seen vastly improved ruck work from 2023 between a healthy Stanley, Conway, and even in the support from Blicavs, De Koning, and Neale. It was a real problem last season and it just doesn't appear to be one this season. For sure, we don't have Max Gawn or ruck dominance, but we are holding our own at least.

Fair enough.

It worries me.
Think as we get more games into Conway we could improve.

 

[witsend]

Very even performance today, which is pleasing. I’d rather have a large group of mids getting low 20s than 2-3 getting 30+

Current performances are gonna make selection a nightmare over the next month, if the injury gods are kind to us.
Still gotta fit:

Danger
Guthrie
Kolo
Hawkins
Rohan

We have an incredibly tough run coming up over the next 5 rounds but if we can get to halfway at 9-2 or even 8-3, we will be in very, very good shape!
It would mean we could head into September without our aging stars being too beat-up, and having significant games into our depth list eg:

Conway
Neale
Knevitt
Clark
O’Sullivan
Mullins


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[dazbroncos]

For dazbroncos

yeah buddy....!!!!

GO Catters

 

[catswhiskers]

Remains to be seen.
We've played some of the worst midfields in the competition thus far. The next month is some of the best.

Far too many people accepting of this flawed "tactic".

Standards are low on here. Bruhn and Holmes should be striving to become AA calibre players, ain't doing that with 20-22 per game. Atkins and Blicavs have hit their ceiling. Dangerfield at his age will do well to sustain form, only gets worse from here. Bowes, Clark, Bruhn and Holmes getting low 20s is not taking us forward.

Let's just wait and see.

We can't in all fairness mark down our midfielders unless they flounder.

I like a new approach, youth, only a few injuries, and scores generated by mids.

If we are 5-3 in a few weeks it will be time for me to be more critical. Being critical now doesn't feel right.

Being positive and enjoying the changes unfolding at our club (again) sits better.



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[catsfootyfan89]

Remains to be seen.
We've played some of the worst midfields in the competition thus far. The next month is some of the best.

Far too many people accepting of this flawed "tactic".

Standards are low on here. Bruhn and Holmes should be striving to become AA calibre players, ain't doing that with 20-22 per game. Atkins and Blicavs have hit their ceiling. Dangerfield at his age will do well to sustain form, only gets worse from here. Bowes, Clark, Bruhn and Holmes getting low 20s is not taking us forward.

Bloody hell... Holmes and Bruhn are 21 years old. 20-22 per game is perfectly acceptable given their age profiles. At their age, players like Sam Mitchell and Patrick Dangerfield were averaging 17 disposals per game. Cam Guthrie was getting 18.

As these guys build their engines and gain more high-intensity endurance, their loads will increase. They're tracking along fine, and it's perfectly reasonable to expect their disposals will increase in the coming years.

 

[dazbroncos]

the interesting part is 2 weeks in a row oppo MF have racked up 30 plus touches per player



and their team lost

to the team with a MF with lower TOG and high teen to low 20's touches.

GO Catters

 

[Generalissimo]

In terms of COS that was a great taster for him today. He does need more time in VFL as expected to build body and dominate back line before coming back in as a permanent afl backman. SDK was year 3 before he was ready

It's also going to be hard for O'Sullivan to get a gig in Geelong's backline for the same reasons Ratugolea couldn't get a permanent spot there. Too many talls throws off the balance.

I think Mark O'Connor realises now that he's gotta add a bit of class and offence to his game with so many players at the Cattery vying for games. We're in a great spot at present but the next 4 to 5 extra tough games should give us a better indication of who's capable or not of playing finals type pressure footy.

It was a very different game from him compared to how he usually plays, and not just because he snuck up into the forward line for a bit. Meters gained was much higher than his usual output, and he still managed 80% DE. Chris Scott usually has him doing a lot of positional zone-guarding that's a bit abstract and frankly hard to understand for average fans like us. So it was also good to see MO'C get an opportunity to use his size and speed- that passage of play leading up to Holmes's second goal where he zoomed out of a pack of three Kangaroos like they weren't even there --- chef kiss.

 

[catswhiskers]

It's also going to be hard for O'Sullivan to get a gig in Geelong's backline for the same reasons Ratugolea couldn't get a permanent spot there. Too many talls throws off the balance.

Just on O'Sullivan. He is much quicker more agile and a better kick than Esava. He is much more versatile and can be plugged in, in a number of slots.

That's not a knock on Esava either. His game this weekend was very good in the one role he can play.

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[Footy_Fan2007]

Hi SJ Waves

I think Mackie said that.

 

[dont stop me meow]

Another addition to the pool room
View attachment 1959779

Dropped the mark but least Tuohy is no longer in any doubt about what Ollie's quad smells like

 

[TheWoodenSlug]

Dropped the mark but least Tuohy is no longer in any doubt about what Ollie's quad smells like

He really took his chance there, didn't he.

 

[K rock Football]

Might have just been the K Rock audio but that was the most subdued singing of the club song I've ever heard!

Very subdued.

 

[Pollywaffle]

Remains to be seen.
We've played some of the worst midfields in the competition thus far. The next month is some of the best.
Far too many people accepting of this flawed "tactic".
Standards are low on here. Bruhn and Holmes should be striving to become AA calibre players, ain't doing that with 20-22 per game. Atkins and Blicavs have hit their ceiling. Dangerfield at his age will do well to sustain form, only gets worse from here. Bowes, Clark, Bruhn and Holmes getting low 20s is not taking us forward.

Could the even 20ish numbers amongst midfield operators just indicate good management and rotations?
I’m not a stats wonk, so just a theory.
If that is the case then it would bode well that we do not rely too heavily on one or two players. Would also make it harder for oppositions to counter.

 

[iameviljez]

In: Hawkins, Dangerfield, Kolo
Out: O'Sullivan, Clark, 2E

Shannon Neale deserves to retain his spot, but I'd expect him to ruck more with Hawkins lurking about up forward. O'Sullivan showed promise but now it's time to take that taste of senior footy back to the VFL and let it simmer. Tuohy is going to ground too easily these days and struggles to hit a target.

Even with Cameron going up the ground and back, I don't think you can play Hawkins, Cameron and Neale in the same team.

1) It's too many forwards. We already have Cameron, Dempsey, Miers, Stengle, Henry, Close and Hawkins. Eight is too many.
2) We'll get killed on the way back out. Shagga is a good mark, but not the greatest when the footy hits the ground.
3) The thing that is really getting us over the line week after week at the moment is the forward line. Cameron is having an absolute purple patch; throwing in an extra tall disrupts that.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Also, can we please never ever again see Sam De Koning in the ruck?

Agree.

 

[Geelong_Sicko]

Even with Cameron going up the ground and back, I don't think you can play Hawkins, Cameron and Neale in the same team.

1) It's too many forwards. We already have Cameron, Dempsey, Miers, Stengle, Henry, Close and Hawkins. Eight is too many.
2) We'll get killed on the way back out. Shagga is a good mark, but not the greatest when the footy hits the ground.
3) The thing that is really getting us over the line week after week at the moment is the forward line. Cameron is having an absolute purple patch; throwing in an extra tall disrupts that.

Yeah. Too many cooks ruin the dinner!

 

[iameviljez]

Far too many people accepting of this flawed "tactic".

Standards are low on here. Bruhn and Holmes should be striving to become AA calibre players, ain't doing that with 20-22 per game. Atkins and Blicavs have hit their ceiling. Dangerfield at his age will do well to sustain form, only gets worse from here. Bowes, Clark, Bruhn and Holmes getting low 20s is not taking us forward.

You can't on one hand rely on individual aggregate numbers to judge players, and then on the other hand tell us that an individual's Time on Ground is immaterial. What next - substitutes need to get 25 touches each? Because time on ground doesn't matter?

I think we have ridden our luck a little to get to 5-0, and we haven't played any of the big boys yet (GWS, Collingwood, Brisbane, Carlton, Melbourne). However, given that I expected us to finish somewhere between 6 and 12 this year, I'm pretty happy with the consistency thus far.

Just going by eye alone, it's absolutely clear that Bruhn and Parfitt have improved out of sight from their previous output - particularly the former. Disposal counts aren't everything - they are something, but they aren't everything.

 

[dazbroncos]

Even with Cameron going up the ground and back, I don't think you can play Hawkins, Cameron and Neale in the same team.

1) It's too many forwards. We already have Cameron, Dempsey, Miers, Stengle, Henry, Close and Hawkins. Eight is too many.
2) We'll get killed on the way back out. Shagga is a good mark, but not the greatest when the footy hits the ground.
3) The thing that is really getting us over the line week after week at the moment is the forward line. Cameron is having an absolute purple patch; throwing in an extra tall disrupts that.

You did see his second where he ran for 25m nxt to Scott, pushed him off the ball and kicked it on the run - fair work with 200+ and ball on ground.

He aint Rohan on the defensive side of the ball for sure, but still
GO Catters

 

[iameviljez]

Yeah. Too many cooks ruin the dinner!

It's a common BigFooty tactic - throw as many talls at the forward line as possible, and convince yourself that they'll outmark the opposition in one-on-one mismatches.

That used to work up until the 2000s, when zonal defence became a thing, and suddenly forwards weren't just confronted with their direct opponent any more. Brisbane (Brown, Brayshaw and Lynch) and Port (Thurstans, Lade, Tredrea) were the last teams that I remember doing it successfully.

The Dogs are trying a three-prong tall attack now, without success.

 

[iameviljez]

You did see his second where he ran for 25m nxt to Scott, pushed him off the ball and kicked it on the run - fair work with 200+ and ball on ground.

He aint Rohan on the defensive side of the ball for sure, but still

Sure, but he's still not quick below his knees, nor agile, compared to our mediums or smalls.

 

[Gunf]

We need to try a 3 tall setup at some point this year.

If it doesn't work so be it but we have to try it.

 

[iameviljez]

We need to try a 3 tall setup at some point this year.

If it doesn't work so be it but we have to try it.

Why?

It hasn't worked for anyone in the last 20 years, and our forward line is working the best that I have seen it since 2008. Frankly, the mix of bigs, mediums and smalls, runners and stay-at-homes, defence and attack, is absolutely Goldilocks.

 

[Gunf]

Even with Cameron going up the ground and back, I don't think you can play Hawkins, Cameron and Neale in the same team.

1) It's too many forwards. We already have Cameron, Dempsey, Miers, Stengle, Henry, Close and Hawkins. Eight is too many.
2) We'll get killed on the way back out. Shagga is a good mark, but not the greatest when the footy hits the ground.
3) The thing that is really getting us over the line week after week at the moment is the forward line. Cameron is having an absolute purple patch; throwing in an extra tall disrupts that.

Your first point means you don't see Rohan playing for Geelong AFL side again with injuries?
As it stands none of the current forwards are getting dropped.