Review Cats keep season alive with 12 point win

[Footy_Fan2007]

Nice win - but Port were down with injury/illness on our home turf and we still only just got over the line.
I intend to enjoy what's left of the season, but do not have any high expectations

Pretty much this. Even though we beat 2nd, we are a rung below. Maybe even further.
The first quarter was exciting but we don’t have the fitness to run out the game playing like that. We looked gassed at half time, and it showed when port kicked 3 in the first 2 minutes of the 3rd.
Non the less, it was a solid hard fought win.
We may beat Collingwood next week as well but I doubt we do much damage even if we make it.

Not unless we improve the midfield. I thought Parfitt was good when he came on. Hopefully he plays a full game next week.

 

[cats_09]

If Henry is injured, I would assume its Bews in for JHenry.

Could that depend on Hawkins availability?

Considering Jack was attempting to play forward tonight, why not actually take this opportunity play Neale instead

If Bews can put together a solid week on the training track he maybe comes in for a Tuohy or O’Connor, though I’d like to see us try to add to our midfield options - Parfitt was solid when he came on tonight, probably his best impact from the sub role this year and happy to see him get a chance from the opening bounce next weekend

 

[00VicWard001]

FFS, Port kicked 13 behinds. Nearly all
of them were one of Stewart’s 23 possessions.

Yup, a couple of poor decisions led to back to back goals for them.

Midfield definitely did not set up their zone or run hard enough or stick tackles to support the backs. We could clearly see space opening up in the centre of the ground when port switched inwards from the wings and our players were out positioned, which led to them taking some easy marks near directly in front of the goals.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

If we had 2 extra good midfielders, we would be comfortable top 4 and probably pushing top 2. Our defense isn't that bad, and get smashed most weeks due to the midfield. Our forward half is still elite and capable enough to win a premiership.

And one of them has been injured all year.

It's not as dire as it seems. A Parish and/or Smith could genuinely be the difference between another premiership or not.

The competition is that weak that had we had Parish & Guthrie all year this year we'd probably be premiership favorites.

 

[00VicWard001]

Correct. Can’t stand people judging his game by possessions though. His positive contributions in the second half were defensive efforts that didn’t appear on the stats sheet.

Yup, positioning himself in the right spot, spoiling, just making the right decisions to stymie their forward forays - and just being more desperate and more aggressive Than the next fella.

 

[00VicWard001]

Indeed.
And likewise his poor efforts in the first quarter weren't stats either.
Hence why I genuinely HATE people who look entirely at stats to form opinion on players (Rohan is a great example).

When you watch Rohan live - he literally ends up being the heart and soul of the team is easily in the top 6 in terms of importance.

 

[Finknottle]

Holmes is a real concern, he looks to have gone backwards same with SDK, both are offering nothing at the moment. Sav should play for the rest of the year and i never thought i would say that, he was probably our best in the first half.

I thought Holmes was ok. SDK has been below average.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

People here need to relax lol. Scott says not serious and it’s a different foot. I’ve seen about 15 People here saying “well that’s Henrys season done that’s a massive loss”

I agree, but you can hardly blame anyone. It's been the story of our year.

Cam Guthrie was being 'managed' remember?

 

[cats_09]

 

[Baudolino]

Not that it was a big secret before this, but Jezza saying in his Channel 7 post-match interview that he's not playing golf at the moment due to his shoulder would seem to confirm how much injury is impacting his performance.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Danger's comments are a little worrying, albeit expected.

It makes sense. He's finally climbed the mountain and completed his CV, it's understandable that he'd struggle to get up mentally for games nowadays. He's human.

The worry is that you only have to have a handful of players with that belief, and you've got season 2023 in a nutshell.

Hopefully he can find it in himself mentally to be up and about for 4 weeks. Could be the difference.

 

[And_ROOS]

And one of them has been injured all year.

It's not as dire as it seems. A Parish and/or Smith could genuinely be the difference between another premiership or not.

The competition is that weak that had we had Parish & Guthrie all year this year we'd probably be premiership favorites.

Thing is, we have guys getting a year older. I agree that if we had Parish and Guthrie all this year we likely are top 4 and flying. Hell even a fit Guthrie likely has us in the top 4. Not to mention Clark has one game, how many other teams are getting amazing output from their midfielders under 21 that were top 10 draft picks.

But assuming no one retires our midfield and wings by the end of next season will be:
Smith 35, Danger 34, Blicavs 33, CGuthrie 32, Atkins 29, O'Connor 27, Parfitt 26, Bruhn 22, Holmes 22. Thats of the regulars, then you can add Knevitt who will be 21, Whyte who will be 21 and Clark who will be 20 who have 9 games, 1 game and 1 game respectfully.
And of the players with no games, Hardie will be 27, Willis will be 21 and Kroeger will be 21.

Parish end of next season is 27, so we really need to try and target someone who by the end of next season has only just hit 24/25. Be nice if we could find a couple of Tim Kellys. Even one who is 25 end of next season to bridge the gap between the late 20s/30s and the kittens would be super.
Because based on my list above, we have O'Connor and Parfitt in that 24-28 midfielder sweet spot and thats a big worry.

 

[And_ROOS]

Danger's comments are a little worrying, albeit expected.

It makes sense. He's finally climbed the mountain and completed his CV, it's understandable that he'd struggle to get up mentally for games nowadays. He's human.

The worry is that you only have to have a handful of players with that belief, and you've got season 2023 in a nutshell.

Hopefully he can find it in himself mentally to be up and about for 4 weeks. Could be the difference.

I remember reading about teams like the Lions in the early 2000s who just did what they had to do to make top 4 because they only gave a shit about big games against contenders and finals.
Wonder, should we hit finals, we see beast mode come out of a few players who do look unmotivated at times.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

I remember reading about teams like the Lions in the early 2000s who just did what they had to do to make top 4 because they only gave a s**t about big games against contenders and finals.
Wonder, should we hit finals, we see beast mode come out of a few players who do look unmotivated at times.

That's my hope too, and looking positively that's what I took out of it.

I forget exactly who said it, but somebody on here theorised a couple weeks ago that we're treating this whole season as a glorified pre-season comp.

Honestly, if we were fitter and less injury prone I'd almost subscribe to that belief...but we've just had so much go wrong that it couldn't be intentional.

 

[Cursed Cat]

.. and our dicey Premiership defense lives on for another week.

a decent game of football; well-umpired and a quality travelling team.

we deserved the 4 points but there is little else to recommend Geelong in the 2023 season apart from the small matter of the top teams to date seemingly hitting a wall. If we can squeak into the 8 .... well; there's always a team or two, every year, who thinks they might be able to string together 4 perfect Finals. The Bulldogs of 2016 are the only team I've seen pull it off, and they were younger and hungrier than the 2023 Cats.

With no Tom Hawkins

26

Tom Hawkins

Age

36

Ht

197cm

Wt

105kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

12.2

3star

K

7.9

3star

HB

4.4

3star

M

5.5

5star

T

1.9

4star

G

2.1

5star

D

12.7

3star

K

8.6

3star

HB

4.1

3star

M

5.1

5star

T

2.1

3star

G

1.6

5star

D

7.8

2star

K

5.6

3star

HB

2.2

2star

M

4.2

4star

T

1.0

3star

G

2.2

5star

for the rest of our forward line to orbit around it was left to shooting star Ollie Henry to provide the 1st half spark.

Ollie Henry really is Mr Blue Sky.
He plays like he's a member of the 1963 Premiership team.
He plays like we're always 10 goals up.
He channels a little of Stevie Johnson, Bruce Lindner and Dan Menzel's spirit.

With no Mark Blicavs

46

Mark Blicavs

Age

33

Ht

198cm

Wt

101kg

Pos.

M/R

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.5

4star

K

6.6

3star

HB

7.9

5star

M

4.1

4star

T

4.2

5star

CL

1.7

4star

D

11.1

3star

K

7.1

3star

HB

4.0

3star

M

3.9

4star

T

1.9

3star

CL

0.1

2star

D

8.6

3star

K

2.0

1star

HB

6.6

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

1.6

4star

CL

2.0

4star

for the rest of our midfield to spark off from it was left to the unlikely duo of Jack Henry

38

Jack Henry

Age

26

Ht

192cm

Wt

96kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.3

3star

K

7.3

3star

HB

2.9

3star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

MG

142.6

2star

D

8.6

2star

K

6.7

3star

HB

1.9

1star

M

3.9

4star

T

2.1

3star

MG

142.6

3star

D

9.6

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

2.6

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

2.0

4star

and Gary Rohan

23

Gary Rohan

Age

33

Ht

189cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.6

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.5

4star

G

1.0

4star

D

8.8

2star

K

6.0

2star

HB

2.8

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

2.3

3star

G

1.0

4star

D

9.8

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

4.2

5star

G

1.2

4star

to step into the breach.

Henry ended the game subbed out with a foot issue but I thought he mixed it in the actual ruck duels reasonably well. Gary Rohan

23

Gary Rohan

Age

33

Ht

189cm

Wt

92kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

9.6

2star

K

6.6

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.5

4star

G

1.0

4star

D

8.8

2star

K

6.0

2star

HB

2.8

2star

M

3.4

3star

T

2.3

3star

G

1.0

4star

D

9.8

3star

K

6.8

3star

HB

3.0

3star

M

2.2

3star

T

4.2

5star

G

1.2

4star

appeared to relish the extra responsibility, without having a huge impact. His defensive intensity was top notch.

I was polishing up Mitch Duncan's eulogy a few weeks ago, he looked banged-up and I thought the game may have gone past him. But he was solid last week despite the nauseating loss and even better this week. Two defensive efforts in the middle period of the game were indicative that he is very much still up for the fight. He showed some of his old attention-to-detail best tonight.

Esava Ratugolea

27

Esava Ratugolea

Age

26

Ht

197cm

Wt

108kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.6

2star

K

4.8

2star

HB

3.8

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

2.2

4star

MG

131.6

2star

D

8.1

2star

K

4.3

2star

HB

3.9

3star

M

2.1

2star

T

2.5

3star

MG

109.0

2star

D

9.2

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

4.2

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

MG

133.8

3star

's 2023 season has been fascinating imo; he may well be gone at the end of the season and go on to have a 200 game career. I've been an advocate of his in the past but acknowledge it has been a roller-coaster ride. This year has been his most compelling. He almost needs to go a club that will let him run his own race as a defender, a la someone like Brian Lake

Brian Lake

Age

42

Ht

195cm

Wt

98kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.7

4star

K

9.4

4star

HB

5.3

4star

M

6.5

5star

T

1.6

4star

MG

163.0

3star

No current season stats available

D

4.6

1star

K

2.6

1star

HB

2.0

2star

M

1.0

1star

T

0.6

3star

in his pomp. He can play. His aerial work is some of the most entertaining in the comp.

Nice to see Brandan Parfitt

3

Brandan Parfitt

Age

26

Ht

180cm

Wt

82kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

16.6

4star

K

8.4

3star

HB

8.2

5star

M

2.1

2star

T

4.8

5star

CL

1.9

4star

D

15.3

4star

K

8.5

3star

HB

6.8

4star

M

1.5

2star

T

7.8

5star

CL

3.2

4star

D

14.8

4star

K

6.4

3star

HB

8.4

5star

M

2.8

3star

T

4.0

5star

CL

0.6

3star

sub on with a fair chunk of game left and have a strong impact.

5 - Gryan Miers

32

Gryan Miers

Age

25

Ht

179cm

Wt

81kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

15.4

4star

K

9.1

4star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.8

4star

G

1.1

4star

D

15.3

4star

K

9.0

4star

HB

6.3

4star

M

4.6

4star

T

1.6

3star

G

0.9

4star

D

14.4

4star

K

8.4

4star

HB

6.0

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

2.2

4star

G

1.2

4star

- Has to be one of the best value players in the comp. Does his job incredibly well. Will be interesting to see this game come Brownlow night.
4 - Tom Stewart - Holds himself to the highest standards. Bounced back from a poor game with some clutch plays tonight.
3 - Patrick Dangerfield
2 - Mitch Duncan
1 - Esava Ratugolea

27

Esava Ratugolea

Age

26

Ht

197cm

Wt

108kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

8.6

2star

K

4.8

2star

HB

3.8

3star

M

2.7

3star

T

2.2

4star

MG

131.6

2star

D

8.1

2star

K

4.3

2star

HB

3.9

3star

M

2.1

2star

T

2.5

3star

MG

109.0

2star

D

9.2

3star

K

5.0

2star

HB

4.2

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

MG

133.8

3star

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I'll bet they were planning to have a second bite out of the pear if we beat them twice

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Thing is, we have guys getting a year older. I agree that if we had Parish and Guthrie all this year we likely are top 4 and flying. Hell even a fit Guthrie likely has us in the top 4. Not to mention Clark has one game, how many other teams are getting amazing output from their midfielders under 21 that were top 10 draft picks.

But assuming no one retires our midfield and wings by the end of next season will be:
Smith 35, Danger 34, Blicavs 33, CGuthrie 32, Atkins 29, O'Connor 27, Parfitt 26, Bruhn 22, Holmes 22. Thats of the regulars, then you can add Knevitt who will be 21, Whyte who will be 21 and Clark who will be 20 who have 9 games, 1 game and 1 game respectfully.
And of the players with no games, Hardie will be 27, Willis will be 21 and Kroeger will be 21.

Parish end of next season is 27, so we really need to try and target someone who by the end of next season has only just hit 24/25. Be nice if we could find a couple of Tim Kellys. Even one who is 25 end of next season to bridge the gap between the late 20s/30s and the kittens would be super.
Because based on my list above, we have O'Connor and Parfitt in that 24-28 midfielder sweet spot and thats a big worry.

Smith would be perfect, and if he was to become the player he looked like being a couple years ago we'd be set for another decade through the guts.

Conway
Smith
Bruhn
Holmes
Knevitt
Clark

I still like the idea of Parish, as 27 nowadays is not the 27 of 15 years ago. Players are playing longer, the game is more professional, and primes are extended.

You're spot on though, we need someone, or multiple players to bridge the gap between the kids and the old brigade.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I remember reading about teams like the Lions in the early 2000s who just did what they had to do to make top 4 because they only gave a s**t about big games against contenders and finals.
Wonder, should we hit finals, we see beast mode come out of a few players who do look unmotivated at times.

If we were doing what we had to do we'd have won last week

 

[geelong_crazy26]

I thought Holmes was ok. SDK has been below average.

It’s more what we are asking of them at this stage of their careers. They are not ready to be the main show against other sides A grade mature mids at only 21yrs old.

 

[kickazz]

Weird game. Lot of risky kicks. Defence wasn't great. Jezza still not 100%. Liked Parfitt when.he came on

 

[Finknottle]

Nice win - but Port were down with injury/illness on our home turf and we still only just got over the line.
I intend to enjoy what's left of the season, but do not have any high expectations

I agree. My expectations were seriously lowered after last week's loss to Freo. Good to get a win against Port but hardly convincing. We are a shadow of the team we were last year. Dangerfield looks cooked, beaten up, tired. Cameron has not yet recovered from his concussion earlier in the year. We don't have any A-grade midfielders, maybe a B and a couple of Cs. Atkins and Bruhn work hard, Danger goes in spurts and his disposal badly lets him down. Holmes is ok but more of a winger. None of them are accumulators. Our midfield just doesn't stack up against the better teams. Look at Port Adelaide's midfield - Rozee, Butters and Horne-Francis are A-graders and Wines and Boak are still very good. Pies have some injury concerns, Geelong are not without a chance next Friday night if they bring some intent.

 

[ShaunWDT]

We'll take the win but honestly if Port had their full side out there we would have got belted, got lucky that they really had no forward line to punish us with their stoppage dominance.

 

[Finknottle]

Not that I disagree, but saying this after Sicily had 37 touches, 19 marks, 3 goal assists and went at 89% DE% is a big call.

Sicily is a weapon. Stewart does a lot of great work because he is given licence to leave his opponent. However, Port got a couple of easy goals due to Stewart's wandering nature. He gets let off too easily for this. It's hard to tell who Stewart is playing on so no suprise he escapes scrutiny.

 

[Cursed Cat]

We'll take the win but honestly if Port had their full side out there we would have got belted, got lucky that they really had no forward line to punish us with their stoppage dominance.

Hawkins, Blicavs, Cam Guthrie and one or two others might have been handy for us, too.

We undervalue these KP wins sometimes; crap teams don't win anywhere, even at home - we dropped one last week but this was one of those bank-it KP wins where we leverage a bit of home town advantage. Port would and have done exactly the same on their patch.

 

[Finknottle]

Danger's comments are a little worrying, albeit expected.

It makes sense. He's finally climbed the mountain and completed his CV, it's understandable that he'd struggle to get up mentally for games nowadays. He's human.

The worry is that you only have to have a handful of players with that belief, and you've got season 2023 in a nutshell.

Hopefully he can find it in himself mentally to be up and about for 4 weeks. Could be the difference.

It wouldn't be easy to stay motivated but for a captain to say that is poor. Could you ever imagine Joel Selwood saying that?