Autopsy Cats lose to Demons by 8 points

[catempire]

Unfortunately none of these are our KPIs.

But hey, we had someone get 30 disposals so Warhorsey should be happy.

In pre-game planning we would have thought that breaking even in the midfield would mitigate our key risk exposure. We did that but failed to execute the parts of our game we can usually rely on.

 

[Mr Meow]

In pre-game planning we would have thought that breaking even in the midfield would mitigate our key risk exposure. We did that but failed to execute the parts of our game we can usually rely on.

Yeah that's all I meant, that hitting our KPI's and losing the clearances etc by a bit more is still a stronger indicator of success for this Geelong team.

 

[Jumping Jack]

Wouldn’t lose too much sleep. 7-1 is a great start regardless.

I think C Scott just sat back and watched the game play out - and let the players adjust. Guaranteed next time we play Melbourne he’ll have a plan for Lever and May.

Gawn is Gawn. I think his influence was bigger than hit out / clearance stats suggest. Stanley was still a better option than Conway though. Conway will play Vs Port.

Parfitt and MOC would have been handy but the plan is clearly to rotate and rest blokes, and Scott won’t deviate.

8 point loss - felt like we were lucky to be that close.if Jezza had kicked those two we would’ve had an undeserved win IMO. Not the worst time to get a wake up and deflate a few egos.

And finally Duncan. He’s been a fav for a long time but even outside of last night I’ve been worried. He’s good enough to still have good patches and he still uses the ball well. But I suspect we’ll start to see more of last nights games than the games where he is influential. He’s never been quick but he looked a liability last night on a bigger ground. There were a few passages where he just couldn’t get to contests and his opponent just burnt him. Cats rely on an outnumber at contests - Duncan doesn’t help in that regard.


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[year of the cat]

Wouldn’t lose too much sleep. 7-1 is a great start regardless.

I think C Scott just sat back and watched the game play out - and let the players adjust. Guaranteed next time we play Melbourne he’ll have a plan for Lever and May.

Gawn is Gawn. I think his influence was bigger than hit out / clearance stats suggest. Stanley was still a better option than Conway though. Conway will play Vs Port.

Parfitt and MOC would have been handy but the plan is clearly to rotate and rest blokes, and Scott won’t deviate.

8 point loss - felt like we were lucky to be that close.if Jezza had kicked those two we would’ve had an undeserved win IMO. Not the worst time to get a wake up and deflate a few egos.

And finally Duncan. He’s been a fav for a long time but even outside of last night I’ve been worried. He’s good enough to still have good patches and he still uses the ball well. But I suspect we’ll start to see more of last nights games than the games where he is influential. He’s never been quick but he looked a liability last night on a bigger ground. There were a few passages where he just couldn’t get to contests and his opponent just burnt him. Cats rely on an outnumber at contests - Duncan doesn’t help in that regard.


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You’d think Duncan will be rested with Stanley next week. He is one though whose position for the first time in about 13 years is no longer a lock. His movement as you say is of someone who’s at the end struggling to keep up. He’s also not getting down to the footy anywhere near like he has.

 

[bulletproof]

I was unable to watch the whole game but I saw us burn a number of goals in transition, where we have been absolutely flawless this year.

I think the Demons contributed to that with some great defensive positioning, but that part of the game was uncharacteristically sloppy and that is where we lost it.

 

[Jumping Jack]

You’d think Duncan will be rested with Stanley next week. He is one though whose position for the first time in about 13 years is no longer a lock. His movement as you say is of someone who’s at the end struggling to keep up. He’s also not getting down to the footy anywhere near like he has.

Yeah I’m worried for him. He’s been a great servant but it’s getting harder to mount a case he’s best 22.

Possibly better to get games into Mullin or O’Sullivan off half back. I like our balance of youth and experience but Duncan is getting exposed when we don’t have the game on our terms.


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[Warhorse]

Demons played poorly but there defensive positioning was top notch and was enough to get the win. To me they had done their homework.

 

[MisterMarcus]

Such an unforgiving game at times.

Bruhn has been epic for us thus far, but he has already accrued his share of wear and tear at a tender footballing age.

I witnessed a bit of banter involving Geelong supporters ragging Tigers fans that Jacob Hopper was a bust for them; big contract; oft-injured.

Tanner is still establishing himself as a an AFL fixture, and he's made a really good fist of things since coming to Geelong, no doubt at all. But he's already missed his fair share of games with niggles and knocks.

I think he is potentially our most important player going forward; he could be our Zak Butters. But he will take a lot of managing.

An even better approach would be to spread that midfield load as evenly and diversely as possible. Easier said than done; that's the art of list management.

We give up a 1st and 2nd for Hopper, we have no picks for Bruhn or O Henry.

We give up say $600,000 for 5 years for Hopper, we probably can't get the Bowes deal done.

So it's not 'Hopper vs Bruhn', it's 'Hopper vs Bruhn + O Henry + Bowes + Clark'. Even if Bruhn has his own injury disruptions, we got 3 other players from how it played out.

 

[hoopla]

I think CS summed up the night well in his press conference. Paraphrasing…“We were a little off from the start but happy that we gave ourselves a chance to win it”.

 

[Ratcat]

I think the forwardline needs to have a long look into a mirror and ask themselves some heart questions. Sometimes you just got to fight, that's our archilles heal imo.
Looks great sometimes, in finals it gets agressive and tough and the umps won't help.

 

[Commando]

Cam Guthrie no influence last night second game back.I can see us carrying him now for 4 to 6 week while he gets match conditioned, as he won't be asked to play VFL.

Classics second game blues.. players focus so much on the comeback they lag the following week

 

[mcwilrob]

Not a chance. As bad as hawkins is playing he still has a football brain. Sav will never have one.

No doubt our coaches will try to exploit that.

Hoping we see Ratogol-error next week!

 

[Commando]

Looking at the fixture we have a bit of an opportunity to manage players coming up
Power, Suns, Giants, tigers, swans, bye
So a few veterans can play every second week

I'd advocate wholesale resting for Darwin game

 

[catscratchfever]

Media before the game against Melbourne: “Geelong haven’t beaten anyone”

Media after the game against Melbourne: “Demons the real deal after taking down Cats” (This morning’s headline in The Age)

So, in other words: Geelong are rubbish but Melbourne are contenders because they beat rubbish.

Fork the media.

 

[Jumping Jack]

Our coach always makes mention of “not who you play but when you play them”.

We’re probably getting Port at a good time. They’re a bit banged up but still dangerous. Parfitt and MOC back - Bruhn will be a test on that shoulder. And a few blokes with a point to prove after last night.


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[mcwilrob]

Clangers - uncharacteristic for 2024 Cats - probably indicative of Melbourne's effective pressure on the ball... Also, lower mark numbers, handball to kick, etc.

 

[STPer18]

We’re you guys complaint about the 50 metre penalty against Harry McKay last week?

 

[cats_09]

More so felt like we missed him extracting the ball and bringing that midfield grunt

We actually did ok in that regard though and was able to get the ball forward - we just didn't seem to move it forward with purpose for long enough

Not sure Dangerfield picking up the ball & just throwing it on his boot is really what we missed last night

 

[mcwilrob]

Zach Guthrie is such a good mark under pressure. He hardly ever gets worried out of it. You wonder how he can do it when so few others can. Stewart and Stengle can do it. Most players go to jelly as soon as they feel pressure or even perceive pressure.

How great is it to see the improvement in young Zach? So good!!

 

[Vdubs]

From what I have seen this year we're still chasing the likes of Collingwood, GWS, Melbourne and Sydney.

But we're a good 2024 team.

EXACTLY how I see it.
I also think when Carlton get Saad, McGovern, Doc, and Marchbank back, their defence will be so much better, as their current bottom 4-6 are very poor.

 

[Catsmaninamerica]

We’re you guys complaint about the 50 metre penalty against Harry McKay last week?

Can anyone translate this for me?

 

[Pure_Ownage]

I could get on board with Conway/Neale in combination if both Stanley and Hawkins is out.

Think that'll be a back half of the season thing off we see it though

You wont see that until say the last month before finals if we are certain of top 4 and then heavily resting players.
Conway and stanley will rotate every 2nd or 3rd week but its pretty clear scott will keep backing hawkins in and only minimal rests.

In one sense i get it sav and zerk are the type of players hawkins normally feasts on (so long as someone like henry or rohan can play a defensive role on allir and keep him busy) so it might get him back into form.
But if it was me id rest hawkins more than they are.

We definitely need to manage duncan this week though.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

EXACTLY how I see it.
I also think when Carlton get Saad, McGovern, Doc, and Marchbank back, their defence will be so much better, as their current bottom 4-6 are very poor.

Carlton have a lot of injuries yes (and they have some elites at the top end) but at their best they are still not better than us.
Nor is anyone bar maybe gws.
Its a very open year and we are a real chance. Every team has lots of flaws this year.

 

[Cursed Cat]

EXACTLY how I see it.
I also think when Carlton get Saad, McGovern, Doc, and Marchbank back, their defence will be so much better, as their current bottom 4-6 are very poor.

Yes you’re right, Carlton have been a little stretched over the past couple of weeks yet still highly competitive in their two losses to us and Collingwood.

 

[Vdubs]

Just a stray thought for some positivity, we've been the most rewarded fans for the past 20 years, and it's not even close. And somehow the next 10 years also looks like it should be a good period. Always disappointing to lose but I wouldn't want to support any other team - we have it good.

I remember as a young kid in the late 80s I was at that stage where I was working out which team to support - my parents weren't into AFL so I had no input from them. I liked the Tigers because of the animal, and I liked Dunstall and Ablett for obvious reasons - so it was out of those three clubs. Funnily enough if I chose either it would've turned out ok in the future, premiership wise.

But because of Ablett's brilliance me and my brother chose Geelong (even though we lived in North Melbourne and had zero connection to Geelong), and after enduring the heartbreaking 90s and early 2000s we've been spoiled beyond belief.

It's ridiculous actually how good the past two decades have been. Some fans might go their whole lives without seeing a premiership, and meawhile we smoke teams by 119 and 81 in grannies.

Brilliant post.
My son, now 31, remarked to me in early 2000 that he bemoaned the fact we were all committed Cats supporters, and that his best mates were Bombers and Pies fans... I said to him to be patient, our time was coming, and I hardly believed that, but it certainly has come, and in his lifetime, we have been the most successful team.