Review Cats keep season alive with 12 point win

[catsfootyfan89]

This game is a prime demonstration of why it's garbage we don't get more home finals. Shakey form - against a top 2 side - down at the cattery we can still scrape a win.

Crazy result, really. Many of us alluded to the fact that we wouldn't be surprised with a 30-point result either way. Not sure how much we can take away from the result, but it's good the boys still have a chance of making finals.

 

[Interdimensional Bigfoot]

We won but damn watching that ball come flying out the middle over and over again sucks.

 

[ShaunWDT]

We won but damn watching that ball come flying out the middle over and over again sucks.

Imagine if they had Finlayson and Dixon to clunk a mark, honestly think we'd have lost by 10 goals with how easily they were bursting out of the guts.

We won but the core issue hasn't changed the midfield is getting smashed every week and making it very hard to compete.

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

This team is frustrating because at times we do look good enough to roll the top teams.. we just go quiet too often especially in the midfield. Would have loved gryan to slot a few of those misses for his confidence. Same story with Cameron and Stengle

 

[Interdimensional Bigfoot]

Imagine if they had Finlayson and Dixon to clunk a mark, honestly think we'd have lost by 10 goals with how easily they were bursting out of the guts.

We won but the core issue hasn't changed the midfield is getting smashed every week and making it very hard to compete.

I don't think there's anything we can do about it. Danger has a back injury but is still better then anyone we'd replace him with. Tanner and Atkins do their best but just not good enough.

 

[Turbocat]

.. 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 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 for the rest of our midfield to spark off from it was left to the unlikely duo of Jack Henry and Gary Rohan 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 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'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 in his pomp. He can play. His aerial work is some of the most entertaining in the comp.

Nice to see Brandan Parfitt sub on with a fair chunk of game left and have a strong impact.

5 - Gryan Miers - 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

Love it .

To think he has recieved some critism recently ... Has work to do but on the lead he is a very capable forward.

 

[Turbocat]

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.

Sometimes being a mature side is ana advantage. Others time its a draw back. I feel part of the reason that Freo has got us recently is we go in sleepy and over confident. Today we had had the double shot expresso with a sprinkle of yippee beans... and we came out "on"


...but that run of Port , that young mid group. I was glad it was the 114M width of KP and not the 141M of the G

 

[Kobe Gryant]

Imagine if they had Finlayson and Dixon to clunk a mark, honestly think we'd have lost by 10 goals with how easily they were bursting out of the guts.

We won but the core issue hasn't changed the midfield is getting smashed every week and making it very hard to compete.

Take it from me, don't expect it to change until next year.

I've been doing that for the last month or two and it changes your mindset.

The kids are too young to be A-Graders, and our older guys can only go in bursts....and we're missing our best midfielder. It's okay, it happens.

We'll look to fix it in the trade and draft periods, and we'll have a full summer to work on some new combinations, develop the kids, and get Guthrie back.

Until then, this is what we're stuck with.

 

[Kobe Gryant]

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?

There's never going to be another Joel, so it's a tough comparison...but I do agree.

I don't mind him thinking it, but I don't like hearing it if that makes sense.

It's funny, if he comes out and has a massive finals series and we go deep suddenly it changes, because then it looks like he only cares about the games that matter.

However, if bow out early or don't even make it at all...it is disappointing to see your captain speak like that.

I can completely see why he'd feel that way, but I just don't want to hear it.

 

[MisterMarcus]

I just went and had a look... some of them have lost the plot. Corrupt umpires, Ken's gotta go, players are s**t, etc, etc... completely out of proportion meltdown for a side that is sitting so high on the ladder I would've thought...

The Richmond board is even funnier.

Literally talking about leaving the AFL and forming a new league so they don't have to suffer the pro-Geelong cheating playing field.

 

[Generalissimo]

The Richmond board is even funnier.

Literally talking about leaving the AFL and forming a new league so they don't have to suffer the pro-Geelong cheating playing field.

Well, their season is over. All they have left now is hating on us.

 

[catempire]

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Imagine if they had Finlayson and Dixon to clunk a mark, honestly think we'd have lost by 10 goals with how easily they were bursting out of the guts.

We won but the core issue hasn't changed the midfield is getting smashed every week and making it very hard to compete.

I think having a defined weakness like that though is perfect going into preseason and draft/trade

Coaching staff can work on strategy to play around the weakness with the whole team buying in to what is plain as day. Cuts 80% the work out of coaching

It also makes Mackies job easier. "Hey Bailey/Darcy, we have a Bailey Smith/Darcy Parish shaped hole for you to fill, here's a 5 year contract on decent money that everyone in the team thinks you're worth"

 

[CHAWKTS]

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

Agree that I think they will want to bring in another forward option. And/or midfield. From the sounds of things Hawkins will be at least one more week away (don’t want to risk 35 yo hammy no matter how minor?)

Given Collingwood are not tall but are mobile I think they should look to bring in some pace. That may work against Neale and more toward Knevitt or Dempsey in my mind. But given they have shown reluctance bringing them in for big games maybe they do default to Bews and move Bowes forward?

 

[Hinkley29]

Miers - take a bow
Ollie - very good, he will kick 10 in a game one day
Stewart - up and down, but stood up when needed

Sav - very good, great if we can keep him but it was a reminder of what we will miss if he goes

Stengle - wow that was bad, no work rate, fumbly, rock bottom confidence. Man I hope his season has been injury/fitness affected, otherwise last year would seem to be an anomaly.

 

[CHAWKTS]

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.

Which is a bit scary…as he just seems to find it hard to put a couple of games together at full health. I love him more through the middle of the ground given Our current line up….and amazed at how he played given obviously hampered by injury

 

[fpm84]

Port got Gryan’d.

 

[hoopla]

Gritty win by the cats. More holes than a sieve to score against but they’re doing their best given the personnel and form issues. Port were able to cut through the corridor with ease at times.

Port fans complaining about umpiring but I didn’t see anything controversial. Rozee free was obvious live and correct on replay. Free kick count went the cats way which is a nice change, and especially rare at home. There was one free against Stanley that went the wrong way (port kicked a goal as a result), but that was it.

 

[Cataholic]

Has anyone identified what Hinkley's issue was about..... Grimoz thought it may've been something to do with Atkins?

 

[Cursed Cat]

Love it .

To think he has recieved some critism recently ... Has work to do but on the lead he is a very capable forward.

Exactly as you say Turbo - not the finished article, but plenty of upside.

 

[Sire of Claude]

SDK is just not holding on to his marks; he's not far off his best. But the whole back half still looks a bit flaky. Holmes started well. Duncan was very important throughout. Stengle and Close have got the fumbles. Bruhn did well against superior odds. Mieirs and Stewart great. Stewart cops it because he has to do too much. Danger lifted but his kicking...!

Knevitt and Neale should play next week, especially if Henry is out and Hawk misses again, which seems likely. A repeat of last night's performance would not be enough to challenge the Pies - I'm basing that partly on the players Port were missing and the late disruption to their team.

Sorry, but I don't agree Parfitt "made a difference", however I'll check score involvements.

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

Has anyone identified what Hinkley's issue was about..... Grimoz thought it may've been something to do with Atkins?

Once a flog always a flog.

 

[iameviljez]

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

Yeah, if I were Neale I'd be a bit offended by this.

 

[Pollywaffle]

Holmes last year was on the wing and coming off half back where we exploit his pace. Except for that 5 win window in the middle of the season,we aren't playing him there. He has attended way more centre bounces than you would expect as well.

I am not worried about him what so ever, if we had 2 extra quality mids you could leave Holmes out on one wing, Smith on the other, and they could do what they did last season.

True. Holmes plays his best games on the wing. He is not a midfielder.
Trouble is that Scott often uses the wings basically as a ‘dumping ground‘ for players shoehorned into the team.Smith is the only other player that plays that position well.

 

[iameviljez]

Once a flog always a flog.

Strongly disagree. He's just coaching his team, his first allegiance isn't us, it isn't the AFL, it's Port Adelaide and Port Adelaide alone.

Funny enough I don't recall anyone saying "once a flog always a flog" when he was streaming off half-back in the hoops