Autopsy Cats lose by 8 points to Pies.

[Vdubs]

Look it hasn't been a great season I'll admit.

But how in the actual * are we below Essendon on the ladder?

I mean really. It's like a tear in the space time continuum or something.

The vagaries of this unfair competition. Until each team plays each team h&a, anomalies like this will recur ad nauseum.

 

[David the Cat]

Esava had a better game in defense last night than SDK.

Yes...but marginal....

Sav's dropped mark ...an absolute sitter...killed us...he can toddle off to Port as far as I'm concerned.

The bloke who worries me is Holmes...he was terrible last night and a shadow of himself from earlier in the season.

Doesn't appear to be injured but who knows?

 

[Goggin Our Best]

Watching that last qtr again - Atkins played a terrific last qtr - seemed to get alot of the ball

 

[fpm84]

Look it hasn't been a great season I'll admit.

But how in the actual * are we below Essendon on the ladder?

I mean really. It's like a tear in the space time continuum or something.

They’re not a bad side but it’s as simple as this - they’ve played WCE and NM twice each, which is basically being handed an extra eight points.

 

[Finknottle]

The news doesn't get better. Our VFL team went down by 74 points to Collingwood.

 

[Vdubs]

The news doesn't get better. Our VFL team went down by 74 points to Collingwood.

Not that I care about VFL, but if that is our future... maybe a lower ladder finish this year is timely

 

[Vdubs]

Yes...but marginal....

Sav's dropped mark ...an absolute sitter...killed us...he can toddle off to Port as far as I'm concerned.

The bloke who worries me is Holmes...he was terrible last night and a shadow of himself from earlier in the season.

Doesn't appear to be injured but who knows?

SDK worries me, and I hope he's not being lured by Cookie at Carlton.

 

[David the Cat]

Watching that last qtr again - Atkins played a terrific last qtr - seemed to get alot of the ball

Yes, he was dynamic in the final quarter.

Gives his all every week.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Look it hasn't been a great season I'll admit.

But how in the actual * are we below Essendon on the ladder?

I mean really. It's like a tear in the space time continuum or something.

We will be above them come sunday round 24. Thats what matters

 

[And_ROOS]

Yes...but marginal....

Sav's dropped mark ...an absolute sitter...killed us...he can toddle off to Port as far as I'm concerned.

The bloke who worries me is Holmes...he was terrible last night and a shadow of himself from earlier in the season.

Doesn't appear to be injured but who knows?

Both wildly out of form but when we had no Stanley and Ceglar he showed a lot in the ruck, something that Esava doesnt. If we are keen on shoehorning Esava into the team this is the way to do it.

 

[AlcoaCat]

1992 for me will always hurt as I felt that was truly 'the one that got away'.

89/94/95 we went in as massive underdodgs, was disappointing but there was no real expectation there.....

Agree that some of the young 'uns on here are being a bit silly with their Debbie Downer crap based on the mere possibility we may miss finals for one whole season.

Actually, we were favoured in 95 to win it until practically the day of the game when the odds suddenly changed. Was just reading the relevant Wikipedia entry yesterday. But when you look at the respective sides, it's hard to see why Geelong had so much backing - that was a gun Carlton outfit.

 

[AlcoaCat]

I totally agree with you about Bruhn. To me he looks like a future Selwood. Strong, tough, real trier. He may not have the same natural talent and charisma (seriously, who does, Selwood was a freak), but I'm very confident he will develop into a raging bull.

 

[AlcoaCat]

I'm not sure that he is, to be honest. He's a fantastic footy player, but he doesn't seem to be a leader type - which is fine by me, it takes all sorts.

I agree. Cameron reminds me of Johnny Barnes, an unashamed larrikin. Do not see him as an 'alpha male' at all.

Just read that Barnesy became a garbologist after quitting footy and loves the work. Good for him. What a character he was.

 

[TimmyG21]

It was a mix of defence and mid. Three shocking errors in the last quarter - Smith, Kolo and Ratugolea - were the difference for me. Holmes and DK terrible. Close not much better. Miers and Stengle disappointing after qtr time. Tuohy a non event.

He played terribly, but did Kolo actually concede a Goal from his turnover?

 

[Finknottle]

Yes...but marginal....

Sav's dropped mark ...an absolute sitter...killed us...he can toddle off to Port as far as I'm concerned.

The bloke who worries me is Holmes...he was terrible last night and a shadow of himself from earlier in the season.

Doesn't appear to be injured but who knows?

Sav's dropped mark, SDK's multiple dropped marks, Kolodjashnij's additions to his impressive bloopers real, Smith's kick turnover, the list goes on. Our old stuff is better than our new stuff. Looking at the Carlton Melbourne match tonight reminded me how much we have fallen off the pace.

 

[Finknottle]

Yup, bottom 8 right now. Who would've thought it back in offseason?

We can still finish in the 8 if we win our last 2.

...and we can still finish outside the 8 if we win our last 2. It's got to that sad point that we need to hope things fall our way. The embarrassing losses to GWS and Freo at home put the kibosh on our year. You've got to admire the Sydney Swans. They looked done and dusted for finals this year but have turned it around winning 5 games in a row.

 

[catempire]

He played terribly, but did Kolo actually concede a Goal from his turnover?

Not immediately. 13:45 to go. He runs out, drops a chest mark, follows up to pick it up and proceeds to handball to no one. Pies kick inside 50 to Elliott who misses the set shot.

From the kick out, Ratugolea drops an easy mark and Pies seal the win.

 

[The Unforgiven]

Geelong supporters are way too forgiving.

Yes we only lost by 8 points but we were comprehensively outplayed. We coughed up (another) very good lead, were basically out of the game barely a quarter later, did ok with the umpires and also they had their injuries.

Geelong won the flag last year, supposedly “won” the recruiting in the off season and were hot favourites to go B2B .

Yet if results go against them they could easily finish 14/15th this year.

Why are they good things to beat St Kilda at Marvel and the Bulldogs at GMHBA? No guarantees. Both a young Fremantle and an injury riddled GWS ( both interstate teams) have won at GMHBA this year.

Regardless of where they end up, it’s an epic fail. Its probably the most underwhelming flag defence in VFL/AFL history.

Yes there has been injuries but how much of that is players starting the season complacent, unfit and unmotivated? And poor player management?

Many of them are still not fit enough it seems.

We sometime forget this is a multi billion dollar industry and players are paid big money. This is their full time job.

The Club has a new stand and 14,000 extra seats to sell next year and Geelong supporters are notoriously fickle.

I suspect that many of the easily pleased backslapping supporters are not even members.

Frankly, I think this season has been a bit of a disaster and another wasted opportunity to go B2B . That’s 4 B2B misses in 16 years despite being a very dominant team.

Something that Hawthorn (3 peat) and Richmond both managed.

It’s not really about tonight, it’s about 2023.

Hawthorn's 2009 flag defence was pretty sad. That side also missed finals. I think you're being quite melodramatic.

 

[Mattttty]

Hawthorn's 2009 flag defence was pretty sad. That side also missed finals. I think you're being quite melodramatic.

It's true, there's so much melodrama on here. We've had a lot of bad luck this year. Sometimes that happens. But I'm really looking forward to next year already. We've still got a core of great older players and I'd expect some of the younger ones to take a step up next year to fill in around them. We're an awesome team and club. Go Cats!

 

[catsfootyfan89]

It's true, there's so much melodrama on here. We've had a lot of bad luck this year. Sometimes that happens. But I'm really looking forward to next year already. We've still got a core of great older players and I'd expect some of the younger ones to take a step up next year to fill in around them. We're an awesome team and club. Go Cats!

I'm pretty optimistic at this stage too, but we really need some things to go seriously right in the midfield before we'll be genuine contenders again.

Winning stable clearances and getting the ball out of the middle has killed us this year. As good as our backline has been in recent years, it's nothing compared to the brick wall we used to put out on the park every week. (Scarlett, Enright, Domsy, Taylor) The backline has been exposed in quarters where the midfield A) can't win enough clearances and B) can't cover the opposition well enough on transition.

It's amazing how a midfield can make the rest of the team look either really good or really terrible. It's interesting comparing the game against Brisbane a few weeks ago to the Prelim last season. The Prelim was done and dusted from the first quarter simply because the battle in the midfield was completely one-sided.

 

[dazbroncos]

If Neale can get a tank he is gonna be a serious player.

He showed a lot of really good signs tonight.

mmmhmmmm

its coming - will take time.... but its coming.

GO Catters

 

[Vdubs]

Actually, we were favoured in 95 to win it until practically the day of the game when the odds suddenly changed. Was just reading the relevant Wikipedia entry yesterday. But when you look at the respective sides, it's hard to see why Geelong had so much backing - that was a gun Carlton outfit.

We won our finals easily, smashed Tigers in the 95 prelim at Waverley, Barnes brilliant, and at OO earlier that season, the only time we faced Carlton, we lost by less than a goal. I can see we were favourites perhaps, after all the GF losses. Carlton were pushed in their QF by Lions iirc, and beat NM pretty easily in their prelim.
Anyway, it all came together for them against us- they were brilliant, we were horrible, and losing Riccardi early on did not help

 

[Play it Sam]

Melbourne teams sell papers. Have to laugh at media all over Moore and Daicos when we've got one third of our best team missing, but crickets. Only people who study for their footy tips know we've been decimated with injuries. Scott was right at the time to suggest we are a danger, but Rohan and Henry on top of our other class outs is really just a bridge too far. Watch the poo pile on if we miss the eight though.
Can be philosophical and still hope but close losses rightly draw criticism on basic errors, those players not standing up.

So it's not negativity, debbie downer or whatever, it's our right to call it as we see it. Dire.

 

[Mattttty]

I'm pretty optimistic at this stage too, but we really need some things to go seriously right in the midfield before we'll be genuine contenders again.

Winning stable clearances and getting the ball out of the middle has killed us this year. As good as our backline has been in recent years, it's nothing compared to the brick wall we used to put out on the park every week. (Scarlett, Enright, Domsy, Taylor) The backline has been exposed in quarters where the midfield A) can't win enough clearances and B) can't cover the opposition well enough on transition.

It's amazing how a midfield can make the rest of the team look either really good or really terrible. It's interesting comparing the game against Brisbane a few weeks ago to the Prelim last season. The Prelim was done and dusted from the first quarter simply because the battle in the midfield was completely one-sided.

Agree with this. And I've got a feeling that adding Cam Guthrie and Jhye Clarke will be very positive for our midfield performance. Not to mention an extra pre-season for players like Bruhn and Knevitt

 

[iameviljez]

Look it hasn't been a great season I'll admit.

But how in the actual * are we below Essendon on the ladder?

I mean really. It's like a tear in the space time continuum or something.

Because the bottom two sides are North and West Coast. We play them once. Essendon plays them twice.