Autopsy Cats lose to Blues by 8 points.

[Kyuss]

It all starts in the midfield.
Our backline is horribly undermanned and inexperienced atm. So getting smashed in the mid is exposing it big time.
Need Guthrie and Danger to lift and lead from the guts.
Cam Guthrie especially looks horribly out of sorts. I don't think I've seen him turn the ball over more than what he did last night.
Think he moved to the half back line in the last qtr and looked a bit better. Hopefully gets him going for the next few weeks.

Hawkins looks like he can barely move which isn't helping.

Jezza was our best forward, mid and defender last night. God help us in the short term if he injured himself in that collision.

 

[volcboy]

Not concerned about Forward/backline, they will sort themselves out in time. Concerned about getting annihilated in the midfield though

Agree about the midfield, and it's starting in the ruck. The Stanley/Blicavs switch to get a free man behind the ball worked at the tail end of 2022, but opposition coaches have had all summer to work on countering it. Both Collingwood and Carlton have made their free man at the stoppage count in their spread against us.

Time for a new idea. Maybe two ruckmen and Blics as a full time mid?

 

[Stocks_go_Up]

Can we please replace Stanley - didn't we recruit a young ruck? Dude is a major reason we are losing clearances and contributes nothing around the ground.

 

[The Unforgiven]

Jezza Cameron, what a star! Best forward in the game, if not the best player. Curnow played a brilliant game, too, but Jezz was next level. BOG, and the only reason we were in the hunt at all.

So many players from last year have been off the boil in 2023. Cam Guthrie has been super-quiet, Danger just can't get into the game (which is most unfortunate given that he's the skipper) and even the venerable Tommy Atkins has been quiet relative to last year.

It's not all doom and gloom, though. I see real promise in all the guys we've recruited. Sure, they've all made mistakes, but I've been happy with the way O.Henry, Bruhn and Bowes have gone about it.

It's a long season and we're missing some key personnel. I'm with Scotty, I don't think it's panic stations at all yet. If, however, we drop the game to the Suns, I'll be very disappointed. 0-3 to start the season would mean, statistically, season's done.

We simply CANNOT drop the game next week.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Stengle has rarely put a foot wrong since joining the club but last night I thought he was not only poor but selfish

Hopefully someone has a quiet word in his ear

 

[fpm84]

Scott confirmed in his presser that Kolo is a likely starter next week and Duncan more than likely for Easter Monday

 

[Johnny Cattery]

If we are persevering with Esava in the backline that’s the last game I watch this year.
1.5 minutes left and we need 2 goals to win. Takes a mark and chips it backwards. Has no idea.

That is not what lost us the game, and the general Esava bashing just makes no sense. He did some spectacular things; if a guy playing his second game in a key position gets this kind of opprobrium, when factors like mids, umpiring (which was was genuinely game changing in the first half), injuries and fitness aren't on your radar, then yes, might be better not to watch.

 

[UnitedWarrior93]

Scott confirmed in his presser that Kolo is a likely starter next week and Duncan more than likely for Easter Monday

Take it one week at a time now. Focus on the suns, it's possible both teams will be 0-2, it'll be a tough match, but one we simply must win.

Can build from there.

 

[Johnny Cattery]

Sav doesn't read the flight of the ball well and is often caught out of position. The amount of times the ball found its way out the back due to misjudgment is a cardinal sin for a backman and we saw this multiple times tonight. Unfortunately he is all we have at the moment and that is on the list management team.

What I saw was him coming off his man to cover an unmarked Carlton player ...

 

[Drunkcat]

Stengle has rarely put a foot wrong since joining the club but last night I thought he was not only poor but selfish

Hopefully someone has a quiet word in his ear

Spot on we need Eddie back, Stengle is giving away dumb free kicks and dump 50 meter penalties, and not doing the team things

 

[bombersboy]

Esava will be alright down back. Need to be patient and give him 20 to 30 games down back. Would be a lot better with Stewart and Henry around him and a competitive midfield.

 

[catempire]

“My eagerness to see more debutants is driven solely by a view that we need to turn over our midfield quickly and that the current mix can’t win the flag. I think the only way we can win the flag is with a kickstart to the midfield with some fresh faces in there.”

Me, 12 April 2022

To be honest, if I hadn’t seen the rest of the year play out as it did I’d be saying the same thing now. And we are down Selwood now.

 

[winty]

Mildly amusing seeing all the Carlton and Collingwood fans giving each other high fives on social media this morning.

I guess when we've been as successful as we have been over the last 15 years, you have to take the wins when you can get them.

 

[Strange Cat]

Mildly amusing seeing all the Carlton and Collingwood fans giving each other high fives on social media this morning.

I guess when we've been as successful as we have been over the last 15 years, you have to take the wins when you can get them.

Round 2

They are getting abit ahead of themselves , however if we lose against the suns I’ll be saying we are cooked

 

[thejester]

Tbh although we're clearly underperforminng, I do think our start to the year discredits a lot of the narratives about the moves Mackie and co made late last year. We were overly hyped over the summer on the back of weird media and fan groupthink about the premiers supposedly getting better based what we did during the trade period. "The rich get richer" blah blah blah. Meanwhile, in reality, we're actually one of the only finals sides that actively got worse over the summer (due to the loss of an elite midfielder and inspirational leader in Selwood) and didn't upgrade their 2023 best 22 through trade/free agency. Dont get me wrong, we did have a good trade period....but more from the perspective of medium-term list-building than anything else. In that forward planning sense I guess we did become stronger. But from a 2023-only perspective the narrative that we made ourselves better over the offseason was nonsense.

Bruhn, Bowes and O. Henry will be good for us but at this stage are fringe development players who are yet to prove themselves ag AFL level with any consistency. Right moe they're not an upgrade on anything we had last year. It's bizarre that us bringing that group in was portrayed as Geelong "becoming even better" in 2023 while the likes of Brisbane, Collingwood, Melbourne and Richmond recieved less media hype for their trade periods despite all bringing in proven AFL guns that were significant and immediate upgrades to their 2023 best 22.

Agree with this with the exception of Bowes. Had a few bad moments last night but so did everyone - I thought he was still one of our best and has already shown more than Bruhn and Henry.

 

[bombersboy]

“My eagerness to see more debutants is driven solely by a view that we need to turn over our midfield quickly and that the current mix can’t win the flag. I think the only way we can win the flag is with a kickstart to the midfield with some fresh faces in there.”

Me, 12 April 2022

To be honest, if I hadn’t seen the rest of the year play out as it did I’d be saying the same thing now. And we are down Selwood now.

I agree but I walked away from the game thinking
Hawkins rest him till he is fit and play Neale
Danger and Guthrie to play seconds till they are fit and try a couple of kids
Close to seconds till he finds his work rate

 

[thejester]

Can we please replace Stanley - didn't we recruit a young ruck? Dude is a major reason we are losing clearances and contributes nothing around the ground.

We won the clearances last night.

 

[Live in hope]

Disappointing but not panic stations.

6 days, off shorter pre- season, missing key players - not surprised we looked flat in first three qtrs.
Last qtr very encouraging although I suspect Carlton were gassed after last week’s draw and running hard for first 3 qtrs.
Couple of thoughts-

• mid field is main concern - not just fitness - really missing Selwood and Duncan’s odd turn. Danger’s body means he’s always going to have quiet patches and miss games. I was a critic of not pursuing a KPD on trades/ND, however seeing our mid weakness it was right to focus on mids. Bruhn will be good but needs more years. Need to see more of Bowes in middle to have a view, but doubtless he’s also going to need time.
• Sav - persist, great contest in the air and quick for size, has been pretty reliable with ball in hand. Also seemed to learn lesson from last week of when to spoil rather than try to mark. Ideally the agile, mobile forwards like Curnow should be covered by Henry maybe Kolo - Sav should be on more of the MacKay types. (Though Not much option at moment).

Sav definitely needs more coaching on the 1 on 1’s, but for relative newcomer to defence the move so far is a net positive.

 

[FredLeDeux]

I agree but I walked away from the game thinking
Hawkins rest him till he is fit and play Neale
Danger and Guthrie to play seconds till they are fit and try a couple of kids
Close to seconds till he finds his work rate

The only way Close could improve his work-rate is by running a marathon before the game - he is already running one during the game

 

[FredLeDeux]

We won the clearances last night.

Probably because Stanley absolutely smashed them in the ruck, until injured

 

[Cataholic]

I agree but I walked away from the game thinking
Hawkins rest him till he is fit and play Neale
Danger and Guthrie to play seconds till they are fit and try a couple of kids
Close to seconds till he finds his work rate

Neale is a faint possibility, but the rest will never happen.

 

[catempire]

The only way Close could improve his work-rate is by running a marathon before the game - he is already running one during the game

He should try running to where the pill is. 18 possessions in two games.

 

[The Unforgiven]

Mildly amusing seeing all the Carlton and Collingwood fans giving each other high fives on social media this morning.

I guess when we've been as successful as we have been over the last 15 years, you have to take the wins when you can get them.

When you win four flags in 15 years, most other clubs will revel in your downfall. It will truly suck for them if we get our key personnel down back over the next month and start the momentum rolling again.

I'm not saying that it will happen; we could very much be cooked. However, the rest of the comp would hate being lulled into a false sense of security, only to see the giant (no, not GWS) arise from its slumber and start stringing some solid results together.

 

[thejester]

Probably because Stanley absolutely smashed them in the ruck, until injured

And his injury meant Blicavs went off Cripps, who then started having an impact.

 

[FredLeDeux]

He should try running to where the pill is. 18 possessions in two games.

Yes, definitely playing poorly, but not through lack of effort