Autopsy Cats lose 4th straight to GWS by 4 points.

[Gyno79]

Missing selwood more than ever now. You just know he would have dragged us over the line last night

 

[And_ROOS]

Hawkins need to be sat in the goal square as a long option because as he gets further up the field his oppo player runs off him. We also need to get Cameron back into the f50 more often as well because he and Stengle right now are the only two capable of kicking 4+ in a match.

And we need midfield changes. 5 straight games of getting smashed early and the midfield only gets into it when the oppo midfield tires later in games.
Say what you want about Hardie, I don't understand the reluctance to give him games when we are getting so little out of O'Connor or Parfitt. We recruited a mature aged mid, he has been smashing it in the ressies in an area of the field we are struggling and we aren't rewarding the hard work with a game.

If Blicavs is out we need to bring Stanley in because Nank the Tank will be too physical for Conway over a whole match and probably Neale too. But Stanley has to be told this is last chance saloon. Dude is big and strong he needs to get physical with Nankervis.

 

[JackFlash]

The season is gone and wholesale changes need to be made with several players told they are not returning this year. We're in for a rough ride in the next few seasons.

 

[Jumping Jack]

Hawkins need to be sat in the goal square as a long option because as he gets further up the field his oppo player runs off him. We also need to get Cameron back into the f50 more often as well because he and Stengle right now are the only two capable of kicking 4+ in a match.

And we need midfield changes. 5 straight games of getting smashed early and the midfield only gets into it when the oppo midfield tires later in games.
Say what you want about Hardie, I don't understand the reluctance to give him games when we are getting so little out of O'Connor or Parfitt. We recruited a mature aged mid, he has been smashing it in the ressies in an area of the field we are struggling and we aren't rewarding the hard work with a game.

If Blicavs is out we need to bring Stanley in because Nank the Tank will be too physical for Conway over a whole match and probably Neale too. But Stanley has to be told this is last chance saloon. Dude is big and strong he needs to get physical with Nankervis.

If my information is correct then I’d say Stanley is no certain starter.

Some interesting calls loom this week. From limited vision, I’d think Humphrey might be closer to a debut off half back as a Duncan replacement.

Our ball movement from defence the last month has been very average. First 7 weeks it was dynamic.


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[Jumping Jack]

Hawkins need to be sat in the goal square as a long option because as he gets further up the field his oppo player runs off him. We also need to get Cameron back into the f50 more often as well because he and Stengle right now are the only two capable of kicking 4+ in a match.

And we need midfield changes. 5 straight games of getting smashed early and the midfield only gets into it when the oppo midfield tires later in games.
Say what you want about Hardie, I don't understand the reluctance to give him games when we are getting so little out of O'Connor or Parfitt. We recruited a mature aged mid, he has been smashing it in the ressies in an area of the field we are struggling and we aren't rewarding the hard work with a game.

If Blicavs is out we need to bring Stanley in because Nank the Tank will be too physical for Conway over a whole match and probably Neale too. But Stanley has to be told this is last chance saloon. Dude is big and strong he needs to get physical with Nankervis.

If my information is correct then I’d say Stanley is no certain starter.

Some interesting calls loom this week. From limited vision, I’d think Humphrey might be closer to a debut off half back as a Duncan replacement.

Our ball movement from defence the last month has been very average. First 7 weeks it was dynamic.


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[And_ROOS]

Missing selwood more than ever now. You just know he would have dragged us over the line last night

In 2022 we had Sel and Danger as contested and congested bull midfielders. Sel retires so it comes down to Danger who spends a lot of 2023 injured. We get into this season knowing that's the issue but we don't rectify it so its no surprise our best midfield combinations so far this year have Danger in the middle. And the games without Danger are the ones where oppo midfielders have bullied us and the bigger bodies get it out too easily.
Congested ball mids and accumulator mids don't grow on trees and at least now we have Holmes consistently getting the ball to fix the issue with no players racking up possessions, now we need to either find or develop someone into the midfield bull role.

That said it's near impossible to replace Selwoods leadership or his ability to drag a team over the line.

 

[Art Vandelay_]

Yup, as recently as last night! I accept you said you haven’t seen the game but Hogan, Riccardi and Cadman gave us a massive headache.

Cheeky adding Cadman who did 3/5 of sweet f all.

 

[bombersboy]

Anyone see Stengle give a massive spray to O Henry there right at the end. When you’re playing that third tall it’s so important to engage and put some body on your direct opponent ( Alleer was massive at the end).

Wouldn’t mind seeing Atkins have a spell and give another mid a crack.

Anyone who says they prefer Ollie Henry over Rohan at this stage of Ollie's career is kidding themselves

 

[bombersboy]

Last quarter was excellent. Leaving Parfitt out against such a good midfield was mind-boggling.

Cameron and Stewart were virtually unsighted.

Clark, Bruhn, Conway, Atkins, Stengle and Clark all good. Zach Guthrie was absolutely solid - should be captain.

Bowes played well when he came on.

Mullin a bit down and got really unlucky with that last goal. Close played pretty well.

Blicavs played fairly well. Tuohy turned back the clock a bit, but not quite enough to get us over the line.

SdK was shocking for 95% of the game.

Hawkins got absolutely shafted by the umpires again - defenders can do what they like to him.

Oliver Henry needs to do more in the forward line. He's not just there to kick goals and look good. He needs to be accountable for a defender.

Lucky for us Coniglio came off because if he played out the game we may not have gotten close.

Give me Hardie and Parfitt next week.

On to next week with a feast on the Tigers

Mullin a bit down - his opponent for most of the night, Toby Bedford had 3 touches. Somehow he was on Green for that last goal. Good as Green is he just threw it on the boot and it went through could just as easily shanked it.

 

[bombersboy]

For a club this experienced, we should not be bombing stupidly in the forward line.

True but you need to have some movement from the forwards as well to avoid bombing it. What else are you meant to do when that is all that is on offer.

 

[bombersboy]

Midfield was the issue again, man if only we had a couple of players in the age bracket we need constantly posting good numbers in the reserves getting constantly overlooked....


Honestly, 4 matches in a row and EVERY single loss has been the EXACT same area where we are losing the game.

Whats it going to take before we give Hardie a match and bring Mannagh back in? Or are we just going to bring an underdone Cam Guthrie back in and hope for the best?

What a ******* waste of a season this has become. No faith in the MC at the moment to make the right decisions since it became VERY apparent in the Carlton game our midfield is where you exploit us, and for the last 4 games we have lost EVERY single time its because teams smash us early in the middle and make it too difficult to claw it back.

At the moment the kids are leading the way, if thats the case bring in Stevens for a game and see what he can do in the middle.

Next week would probably drop Neale and Mullin, and bring in Hardie and Mannagh. Unless Blicavs gets suspended, then I would probably bring in Stanley for Blicavs and still drop Neale and Mullin.

Time to end this "Cameron roams everywhere" deal and keep him at the 50m as well, he isn't kicking goals and is wildly out of form.

Went along to watch the VFL to see what was there. My impressions were that Hardie is very vanilla and looked a VFL player. The mid that looked a step above (even though he got less possessions) was Parfitt. Mannagh is a small forward not a mid so he is competing with Stengle, Miers and Close.
Why on earth would you drop Mullin? Played on a half back flank and held his opponent to 3 possessions for the game.

 

[And_ROOS]

If my information is correct then I’d say Stanley is no certain starter.

Some interesting calls loom this week. From limited vision, I’d think Humphrey might be closer to a debut off half back as a Duncan replacement.

Our ball movement from defence the last month has been very average. First 7 weeks it was dynamic.


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If the MC is done with Stanley and they decide to back in Conway with Neale pinch hitting I am all for that, we need to get games into Neale because if Hawkins retires end of the season which is what I think will happen then we will be in a bit of trouble.

 

[And_ROOS]

Went along to watch the VFL to see what was there. My impressions were that Hardie is very vanilla and looked a VFL player. The mid that looked a step above (even though he got less possessions) was Parfitt. Mannagh is a small forward not a mid so he is competing with Stengle, Miers and Close.
Why on earth would you drop Mullin? Played on a half back flank and held his opponent to 3 possessions for the game.

Mullin had 37 percent game time so he wasnt on long enough to hold his man to 3 possessions and Mullin is better spent getting time tagging in the midfield where we lack pace if we are going to use him.

 

[D BRIDGE]

Anyone who says they prefer Ollie Henry over Rohan at this stage of Ollie's career is kidding themselves

I cannot deny that when the ball hits the ground or a big defensive play is needed, I'm not overly confident in him to get the job done.

He is very one-dimensional and a tad on the slower side.

He is good at that one dimension... I think of him as a bit of a striker, but he could handle a couple more strings to his bow.

 

[numbwombat]

Mullin had 37 percent game time so he wasnt on long enough to hold his man to 3 possessions and Mullin is better spent getting time tagging in the midfield where we lack pace if we are going to use him.

Did he? AFL app says Mullin had 82% ToG (103 minutes)

 

[bombersboy]

Positives:

* Conway looks the goods

* I liked that JHenry and SDK shook off their atrocious first halves and played good footy and important roles in the 2nd half.

* Hawkins still has it.

* Neale worked his way into the game nicely after spilling some absolute sitters early on.

* Honestly it felt more like early 2007 than back in 1999 when we dropped like nine game in a row. We won't be counted out long.

* Hommz is turning into a beast.

* Bruhn and Clark are working their way into good form and will be excellent players for us for years to come.

* Blicavs best game for months. Anyone who says he can't play midfield anymore needs their head read. What he needs is not to have to play every position simultaneously. This is how we almost ran him into the ground in ~2016-2018.

* From about half way through the 3rd quarter you could tell they didn't care anymore about being tentative in tackling because of the whole sling tackle thing. Umps'll screw us over regardless, so why not just go CRUNCH?

Conway competed ok but if it had been Stanley everyone on this board would have been talking about how Briggs slaughtered him - which he did.
Problem with Neale is that he will drop those sitters every game - VFL or AFL and I do not think it will ever change. He will then frustrate the heck out of you by taking a very good contested grab. I hope we have another tall on the radar because I do not think he will ever be a number 1 tall forward at best 2nd or 3rd tall.

 

[you pick one]

Bowes is being massively overrated in here. His defensive work in midfield has been non-existent and he makes really poor decisions with the ball in hand.

I think he needs to go back to half back because he's a good half back and seems to use the ball better with less pressure coming out of the back half.

I'd prefer to rotate Mullin through the middle than Bowes.

Overrated, that depends on whether they are rating him against what we currently have available for selection or the overall competition in general.

 

[Lana]

Mullin had 37 percent game time so he wasnt on long enough to hold his man to 3 possessions and Mullin is better spent getting time tagging in the midfield where we lack pace if we are going to use him.

That was his supercoach score, he played 80ish% game time.

I want to see us put Humphries in at his expense. We need to free up our ball movement.

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Look we are going to do a Carlton of 1976

The famous Navy Blues at the time were like the mighty Cats a Powerhouse and winning a stack of flags , so they promptly won their opening 7 games of the season , then they said , look this is a bit easy , a bit boring , we have to give the other clubs half a chance , so they lost their next 5 games in a row ( this means we lose to Rich this week-yuk )

Then they said enough of this nonsense and promptly won their next 9 games in a row and finished the season with a draw , and on top of the ladder Minor Premiers , and then promptly went out in straight sets , ha, ha , ha

What i enjoyed about yesterdays game , i had the volume turned off for the whole game , i did not hear 1 second of commentary , and even though Geel lost , its amazing how after the game you are so relaxed and not stressed out , because you have not been wound up by that screaming commentary , thus i recommend it

I also enjoyed Kolos goal in the 1st qtr- that was a 2007 PF last qtr G Ablett jnr type goal . In fact all Geelongs 5 - 1st qtr goals were beauties

Geel are in a transition period , re this year , it all hinges on when the champion captain Dangerfield returns to the side . When he is in the side Geel can be a dangerous opponent

 

[numbwombat]

Conway 17 hitouts from 58 ruck contests (4 to advantage), Briggs had 25 from 57 in the first 3 quarters then 19 from 28 in the last slaughtering Neale (total 8 to advantage). Briggs probably won but not heaps in it.

I don’t rate hitouts much and thought Conway was excellent around the ball. Should only miss if he needs a rest from here on.

 

[foxdog50]

We are bombing it into the 50 with no results. Our midfield needs Dangerfield back!
(PS, what is wrong with this? lol)

Whats wrong with this..... Ill tell you, we shouldn't have to rely on a 34 year old to be our best midfielder.. thsts the problem ..

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Anyone who says they prefer Ollie Henry over Rohan at this stage of Ollie's career is kidding themselves

With Ollie it's definitely about the future but he needs to stop trying to play as a key sized forward

 

[foxdog50]

If my information is correct then I’d say Stanley is no certain starter.

Some interesting calls loom this week. From limited vision, I’d think Humphrey might be closer to a debut off half back as a Duncan replacement.

Our ball movement from defence the last month has been very average. First 7 weeks it was dynamic.


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When you say certain starter? You mean to play next week?

 

[Catsace]

Look we are going to do a Carlton of 1976

The famous Navy Blues at the time were like the mighty Cats a Powerhouse and winning a stack of flags , so they promptly won their opening 7 games of the season , then they said , look this is a bit easy , a bit boring , we have to give the other clubs half a chance , so they lost their next 5 games in a row ( this means we lose to Rich this week-yuk )

Then they said enough of this nonsense and promptly won their next 9 games in a row and finished the season with a draw , and on top of the ladder Minor Premiers , and then promptly went out in straight sets , ha, ha , ha

What i enjoyed about yesterdays game , i had the volume turned off for the whole game , i did not hear 1 second of commentary , and even though Geel lost , its amazing how after the game you are so relaxed and not stressed out , because you have not been wound up by that screaming commentary , thus i recommend it

I also enjoyed Kolos goal in the 1st qtr- that was a 2007 PF last qtr G Ablett jnr type goal . In fact all Geelongs 5 - 1st qtr goals were beauties

Geel are in a transition period , re this year , it all hinges on when the champion captain Dangerfield returns to the side . When he is in the side Geel can be a dangerous opponent

I'd be stoked if Geelong can get three in four years for 2027, 2029 and 2030 like those Blues. Essential to get some run in the team and focus on cutting down our intercept marks we concede.

 

[Walter H White]

Don't drop Conway or Neale. Get our bigs blooded at this level. And lets work on basic skills. Terrible kicking, sloppy handpassing etc. Poor decision making. The pressure fumbles were a terrible look. Even several years back when Ablett came back, he looked like a freak. Consistent accuracy, sure hands, great decision making. "What the hell are you doing here? We don't play like that any more?!" lol

I've said this before. Too much time surfing, fishing and camping. Not enough time hard at work improving skills. AFL players are the laziest workers on earth. Seems to be actively encouraged at this club lol.