Autopsy Cats lose to Lions by 11 points

[Mr Meow]

Personally, my opinion is that everything has an impact on what happens on the field, to varying degrees. The flight to Perth has an impact on what happens on the field, the crowd noise at the MCG, even what the players eat for breakfast has an impact. As an example, I genuinely believe that Hardwick whining about Etihad would've made its way to the team they played there, and that would have adjusted the scales of the game, even if only by a couple of percent.

Somebody like Chris Scott is pretty adept at narrative construction / perception management, but there are interesting things that slip through the veil when you watch people answering questions in an un-edited format.

My knowledge of sport stars is that a lot of them spend a huge amount of time following social media and sports news. For the same reason players always watch their own replays on the big screen during the game. How can you not? Given that, public comments like "We are the danger, everyone better watch out" etc just don't seem very wise, all things considered. When you contrast it with the messaging from Chris last season, it seems less likely to be helpful. I remember last season how he focused a lot more on the notions of opportunity and taking your chances. Both points are valid. Yours is valid, but so too are the people who see it the other way. Opinions are, after all, a person's best guess at truth given their limited knowledge.

Fair enough. I can see what you're saying when players or coaches specifically talk about other teams. But it was just a slightly less vanilla way of saying the timeless cliché "we think our best is good enough". The fact that he briefly did a Walter White impression - as far as I can see - is simply a source of amusement for opposition fans if it turns out to be hubris.

I simply don't trust that Scott echoes all of his media sound bites to his team talk and management of the team behind closed doors. And I'm fine with that. I see pressers as a whole lot of smoke and mirrors to keep the $$$ cogs going. The loaded questions if possible generate controversy if someone avoids "we're taking it one week at a time" forward defensive shots. It feels like bait to me and nothing more. I understand some others take more out of it though. But it usually seems as a source of annoyance and nothing more.

 

[mcwilrob]

Extremely frustrating night. Being at the game I could finally see how we set up behind the ball and we were miles off the pace. I lost count of how many times brions had an extra in their forward 50 and that extra was hit up repeatedly. The amount of turnovers in the first half was embarrassing.

Bowes, miers, danger good. The rest meh.

And if we kick straight in the second half we win. Frustrating!

I don’t disagree overall but if brions had kicked straight in first qtr, accuracy of our kicking in last might well have been irrelevant

 

[Mr Meow]

I don’t disagree overall but if brions had kicked straight in first qtr, accuracy of our kicking in last might well have been irrelevant

Overall though, it's hard to conclude that their 19 scoring shots were easier than our 18. Not that it will ever change anything, but I'd be interested to see how expected scores turned out. I have no idea if they use quality of scoring chances only, or give a read out of other key areas (e.g clearance differential).

 

[standupand]

And the lions supporters booing absolutely everything is the weirdest. The entire game boo boo boo. Especially jezza. Why are you booing? Weird supporter base

Jezza I can understand. He KOed Harris Andrews years ago in a horrible act.
Can't understand the booing of others like Hawkins etc.

 

[Scottland2007]

I did like Hawkins giving a spray to the backs. Haven’t seen him like that before

For a bloke that’s normally calm and collected it’s very unusual. I’d love to know what he said? Probably “hey guys, see if you can hit a Jeremy Cameron lace out like the lions players”

 

[catempire]

Looks like I’ll need to get more of those “It’s the midfield stupid” t-shirts printed.

 

[Scottland2007]

Pies lost to the lions at the Gabba by 5+ goals this year, Melbourne lost by the same margin as us - Brissy are undefeated up there,

While this is true, unfortunately we are in a position where if we drop one to many games we won’t be playing finals.

 

[Scottland2007]

Lol @ anyone Geelong calling anyone cheats.

He’s a goddam flopper and you know who I’m talking about. Even crumbled in a ruck contest today!

 

[ShaunWDT]

Why do the words "he's not right" appear so many times about Cameron. Head injury? Leg injury? Confidence shot? No way he's out there playing still injured, given our strict standards. Truth is, he was struggling just before injury, after a flying start. He's been given absolutely no space for Jezza tricks and miracles, and lost some accuracy on the rare occasion he set shots. Like Hawk, no clear delivery into the forward line, no system, and no marks across the centre because he's not free and being worn like a hairy coat. He's never been that good at retrieving a ball from a pack on the forward line, he's a receiver. Bit hard when it's not being given or a hopeless (and covered )long bomb.

Think its pretty obvious hes out there on one leg, hobbled around the whole game, expect that massive cork he copped was worse than it initially looked the other week, not sure his shoulder is 100% yet either, still managed to kick 3 though which is why they roll the dice.

 

[Warhorse]

Looks like I’ll need to get more of those “It’s the midfield stupid” t-shirts printed.

No Sav to blame this time. Surely we can find another defender to pin it on

 

[Tristan34]

Might want to try getting a kick before he starts spraying blokes, reeked of entitlement didn't like it at all personally.

The midfield is letting the team down.. I wouldn't call it entitlement, i would call of frustration...

 

[catsfootyfan89]

Looks like I’ll need to get more of those “It’s the midfield stupid” t-shirts printed.

Going over the replay, it's just so painfully obvious. Single efforts with no follow-up, ball-watching, chasing players instead of chasing the ball etc. We played the first three quarters of that game the same way Sydney played the Grand Final last year. If you watch the first five minutes of the 1st and 4th quarters, it hits home in a big way. It's not about structure, gameplan, momentum or any other lazy excuse you'd hear in a press conference. It's effort and intent. Plain and simple.

 

[Lana]

Cannot play Duncan and Menegola in the same side - they are to slow

That seems arbitrary

 

[juzcat]

Reckon Rohan is more crucial to our side than he gets credit for. Broke down a lot at CHF where he would ordinarily provide a contest in the air, lock the ball in or at least pressure the rebounding defender.

Read that as Wrecking Rohan

Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

 

[Vdubs]

Seriously you thought we were cooked when we smashed the pies by 100 in the last rnd of 2011.. let’s take a breath

garbage

 

[Cataholic]

Only game I've seen live at the ground this season and it was "one of those".

Had plenty of distractions around me in the stands, but what was obvious from the full-ground pov was the discrepancy between the two sides in terms of effort around the ball.

No-one wins a game that way.

When we did get our hands on it I thought we actually moved the ball more smoothly than them. But we hardly had it.

Scott likes to challenge his interviewers to do the analysis themselves rather than he himself giving anything away tactically.

Here's my uneducated take: this side is treating the entire H&A as a glorified practice match. The focus today was seeing how our defensive back six cope with a barrage of entries against a (fairly) dangerous forward line.

There are areas of our game that were simply non-existent today. Clearance work. Forward pressure. How do you explain it? Those aren't areas that an experienced side like we have suddenly forget how to execute from one week to the next. However they are areas that can be difficult to maintain at a high level by the same players for multiple weeks in a row.

Call me naive but I just think we're looking at a team in full tournament mode. Until we get to the knockout phases, don't pay much attention. It's an exercise in data gathering more than anything else.

If that is the case, Scott & Co must have an extreme confidence in their ability to successfully flick the switch at a moment's notice.

Some would call that arrogant.

 

[kickazz]

Did anyone watch Port v Pies last night?.

Chalk and cheese with our game, it looked like a final.

Now I'm not saying we won't be able to kick it up a notch or two come finals if we make it, but I'm concerned we are conditioning ourselves with too much mediocre, low intensity stuff like this Bris game and Sydney


I liked how we finished off attacking and taking risks though

 

[Cataholic]

Personally, my opinion is that everything has an impact on what happens on the field, to varying degrees. The flight to Perth has an impact on what happens on the field, the crowd noise at the MCG, even what the players eat for breakfast has an impact. As an example, I genuinely believe that Hardwick whining about Etihad would've made its way to the team they played there, and that would have adjusted the scales of the game, even if only by a couple of percent.

Somebody like Chris Scott is pretty adept at narrative construction / perception management, but there are interesting things that slip through the veil when you watch people answering questions in an un-edited format.

My knowledge of sport stars is that a lot of them spend a huge amount of time following social media and sports news. For the same reason players always watch their own replays on the big screen during the game. How can you not? Given that, public comments like "We are the danger, everyone better watch out" etc just don't seem very wise, all things considered. When you contrast it with the messaging from Chris last season, it seems less likely to be helpful. I remember last season how he focused a lot more on the notions of opportunity and taking your chances. Both points are valid. Yours is valid, but so too are the people who see it the other way. Opinions are, after all, a person's best guess at truth given their limited knowledge.

Well said.

 

[kickazz]

Only game I've seen live at the ground this season and it was "one of those".

Had plenty of distractions around me in the stands, but what was obvious from the full-ground pov was the discrepancy between the two sides in terms of effort around the ball.

No-one wins a game that way.

When we did get our hands on it I thought we actually moved the ball more smoothly than them. But we hardly had it.

Scott likes to challenge his interviewers to do the analysis themselves rather than he himself giving anything away tactically.

Here's my uneducated take: this side is treating the entire H&A as a glorified practice match. The focus today was seeing how our defensive back six cope with a barrage of entries against a (fairly) dangerous forward line.

There are areas of our game that were simply non-existent today. Clearance work. Forward pressure. How do you explain it? Those aren't areas that an experienced side like we have suddenly forget how to execute from one week to the next. However they are areas that can be difficult to maintain at a high level by the same players for multiple weeks in a row.

Call me naive but I just think we're looking at a team in full tournament mode. Until we get to the knockout phases, don't pay much attention. It's an exercise in data gathering more than anything else.

Good call, but are we forming bad habits, not conditioning ourselves for finals footy?

 

[Johnny Cattery]

Some observations from the stands.

I don't agree with the posts about effort. The Gabba is a wide ground but the Lions made it it a really "skinny" game, so there was far more close, contested work than it looked like the Cats had expected and, more importantly, it was incredibly hard to find free players. look at how many hospital passes there were. Everything was jammed in very tight.

The Cats tried their usual ploy of trying to force exits from defence onto the wing but it just did not work - Lions came through the middle and had the talent to do so.

When the Cats managed to open out the game in the fourth quarter it looked completely different, but it was happening because there were players all over the ground, rather than being ranged in a 20- or 30-metre wide strip for the length of the ground as they had been until then. It is pure speculation, but it just looked like the game had not panned out as coaches had predicted and the players looked a bit lost/uncertain. but they cracked in, bloody hard, especially the smaller guys - Bruhn, Meiers, Close. Tommy Atkins perhaps a bit overwhelmed by his 100th?

The clearances were just a nightmare, which I'm sure was obvious also on tv. It was like we were hunting players and they the ball. Duncan played forward and back (in the first half he spent a lot of time on Lincoln) and Danger was off for a long time after the collision with Zorko, but gee we missed Guthrie senior. Blitz did an enormous amount of defensive work at the stoppages but it really was like Brisbane knew where Stanley was going to put it much better than we did.

There was a bit of friction between players, contrary to Scott's comment post game. It was hard to tell, at a distance, what was just keeping people accountable, and what was exasperation. But one very impressive thing: after Mullin had that goal kicked on him he was suddenly alone, in the midst of the celebrating Lions. Bowes saw it, and ran 30 metres to give him a word and a pat on the shoulder. Less impressively, no-one else did.

Cameron played in pain, regardless of the general fact that we try to protect players. Two clear pieces of evidence through binoculars, but I would rather not post details.

 

[rapidfire7]

Please please dont play Mullin AFL for the rest of the season...
Yes he has potential, but that potential let it happen in the VFL this year, just let him get game time and runs on the board playing VFL..
For crying out loud this is first year at playing AFL or any kind of Aussie Rules.

Exactly. Especially, when we have guys like Knevitt, Dempsey and Menegola available. I don't get it at all.

 

[rapidfire7]

Yes it was round 1....but in all honesty how ridiculous is it that we have to play the top team twice on their home ground during the season.... absolute armchair ride they get.

Yeah it stinks. About time they came down to Geelong again. It has been 24 years afterall.. Hopefully, when our stadium is complete, they will have no more excuses, but I doubt it.

 

[catsfootyfan89]

Two clear pieces of evidence through binoculars, but I would rather not post details.

 

[Cataholic]

Some observations from the stands.

I don't agree with the posts about effort. The Gabba is a wide ground but the Lions made it it a really "skinny" game, so there was far more close, contested work than it looked like the Cats had expected and, more importantly, it was incredibly hard to find free players. look at how many hospital passes there were. Everything was jammed in very tight.

The Cats tried their usual ploy of trying to force exits from defence onto the wing but it just did not work - Lions came through the middle and had the talent to do so.

When the Cats managed to open out the game in the fourth quarter it looked completely different, but it was happening because there were players all over the ground, rather than being ranged in a 20- or 30-metre wide strip for the length of the ground as they had been until then. It is pure speculation, but it just looked like the game had not panned out as coaches had predicted and the players looked a bit lost/uncertain. but they cracked in, bloody hard, especially the smaller guys - Bruhn, Meiers, Close. Tommy Atkins perhaps a bit overwhelmed by his 100th?

The clearances were just a nightmare, which I'm sure was obvious also on tv. It was like we were hunting players and they the ball. Duncan played forward and back (in the first half he spent a lot of time on Lincoln) and Danger was off for a long time after the collision with Zorko, but gee we missed Guthrie senior. Blitz did an enormous amount of defensive work at the stoppages but it really was like Brisbane knew where Stanley was going to put it much better than we did.

There was a bit of friction between players, contrary to Scott's comment post game. It was hard to tell, at a distance, what was just keeping people accountable, and what was exasperation. But one very impressive thing: after Mullin had that goal kicked on him he was suddenly alone, in the midst of the celebrating Lions. Bowes saw it, and ran 30 metres to give him a word and a pat on the shoulder. Less impressively, no-one else did.

Cameron played in pain, regardless of the general fact that we try to protect players. Two clear pieces of evidence through binoculars, but I would rather not post details.

Your second last paragraph.......I noticed the same things, and it makes me wonder if there's a bit of discord amongst the playing group for some reason?

The moment with Mullin underlined a lack of leadership and unity.

 

[Cataholic]

I don't think he / she wants to post it on a public forum.

PM it instead catsfootyfan89?