Autopsy Cats lose to Suns by 19 points

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

As an aside I suspect we will be slammed by media this week - David King has already started it

I don't think Kingy slammed Geelong; he just stated his opinion, just like you have. I don't think the club is a few games away from shaking off the cobwebs and getting their season going. We may have to accept that the cliff has come at last. Maybe. But it's a work in progress, and like you, I can only wait and see how it all unfolds. What happens next is up to the Cats.

 

[goyoucatters]

Difficult to compare given Ceglar faced a top 2 ruck whereas Stanley faced Cameron/Cox and then TDK/Pittonet. Witts played about his usual game. Ceglar's main issue was coughing the ball up with some sloppy handballs. I actually didn't read anything about Ceglar's inclusion acting as any kind of motivation for the managed Stanley. Or that Stanley's position as first choice is in question. I think it's obvious Ceglar is simply back up for these types of situations, same as last season.

There was a post here pointing out that Ceglar being picked in the team with Stanley as emergency would hopefully keep Rhys from becoming complacent. Four other posters liked the viewpoint as well.

While I agree with you that this 'shake Rhys up' idea was not the intention of what happened with the team selection for the Suns game, I do find it confounding that Ceglar is considered to be anything other than the 'break glass' option for ruck duties by some on here. He is the dictionary definition of 'barely going' to me.

To add more insult to injury (pun intended), I think it's clear that a clear run at it for Conway until now would have seen him fronting up for a game like this last one. He's yet another frustration on the injury front for a club that can clearly ill afford them right now.

 

[BORIS332]

Lots of carry on in this thread, and I get it, but there’s still lots to be positive about. Duncan and Kolo back soon, Hawkins still building, and we’re still working out how Bruhn, Bowes and OHenry fit in. We’ll bounce back.

 

[catempire]

Ceglar was as useless as a chocolate teapot yesterday.

He actually exceeded my expectations in the 2nd half which is saying something.

 

[Partridge]

On a positive: How awesome was tom stewart yesterday. Shouldnt of even been playing. 30 possessions, 558 metres gained, took some fantastic marks and continously sweeping up the defence. Would of lost by more than 8 goals if he didnt play yesterday.

I actually thought he was below par. Got a bit of the ball but had no impact with his possessions and made some absolute howlers under pressure.

Being a star player he gets viewed differently to others but thought he was solid at best. Yesterday also exploded the notion that him missing was the reason we lost in Round 2 in particular. He was back yesterday and if anything we were much worse.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I guess by transitional I meant that we wouldn't be challenging for the premiership

Well it's tough to say really, I mean with respect to the competition, I don't really think we all know what challenging for a premiership really means. I mean I know what I think it means and that means that your team can win the grand final, but if that's your threshold for challenging then I say yes we are but I say that knowing there's probably 10 other teams in the same if not better position than we are. I mean I'd like to give you more clarity on that but I think the truth is that no one really knows, and if be making it up if I gave you a determinate answer

 

[Sire of Claude]

I can't comment on fitness but what is very clear is as follows.

The current performance of our mid-field is frankly woeful - established players are out of form and the new lads are not delivering. You could mount a decent case to say that right now we have the weakest mid group in the whole comp.

We can't hit targets; the number of errant kicks and handballs is staggering. This was one of key strengths last year; we were brilliant moving the ball. So what happened....?

Stars from last year can't get a kick - Stengle is but one example.

Further, the players we've brought have so far failed to live up to expectations, with the possible exception of Henry who was OK in the first 2 games.

Dempsey - who is wasted playing up forward in the VFL - deserves another opportunity for his fitness and run, as does Neale.

I watched the VFL game and can't say I saw much else to get excited about, although VFL footy is a strange beast. Pity Willis can't get on the park as he looked rather better than Clark on the small sample we've seen of each; but early days.

 

[fpm84]

It's not about effort. The lads are not match fit. They don't have the energy for gut running.

Being at the game yesterday, effort is not the issue. But even if I wasn't at the game, effort is never going to be the issue with professional athletes.

The boys were hungry, and they were shattered after the game. Heads lowered. Clearly deeply embarrassed. Despite what we all think, no one cares more that the Cats lost yesterday than the Cats themselves. But if you don't have the energy during a game, then you simply do not have the energy.

We messed up our pre-season. We're looking to peak at the end of the season, but we've done so in a way that has meant the boys are comically underdone at the start of the season. The issue is our program. We nailed it last year. We didn't nail it this year. It happens.

Forever grateful for our flag last year. No complaints from me.

The coaching group is deeply clever and will make the best choices going forward. But, at the end of the day, if we are not match fit, there is little to be done about out it now except ride it out until we build up that fitness as the season goes on.

Good post. I was at our R1 and 2 games and completely agree that fitness is the number one concern.

Players look like they’re running with concrete boots on and even young, fast players like Holmes and Close seem to have no zip.

The amount of goals we are conceding late in quarters is alarming, and Collingwood and Gold Coast won by 3-4 goals each after scores being basically level early in the last quarter.

People can talk about complacency and injuries and old players falling off the cliff and maybe all of those things are factors, but to me, fitness is clearly the number one issue.

 

[Gavin Excell]

Good post. I was at our R1 and 2 games and completely agree that fitness is the number one concern.

Players look like they’re running with concrete boots on and even young, fast players like Holmes and Close seem to have no zip.

The amount of goals we are conceding late in quarters is alarming, and Collingwood and Gold Coast won by 3-4 goals each after scores being basically level early in the last quarter.

People can talk about complacency and injuries and old players falling off the cliff and maybe all of those things are factors, but to me, fitness is clearly the number one issue.

Once you are behind the 8 ball fitness wise, can it ever be adequately recovered during the season.

I find the whole fitness preparation somewhat mysterious

 

[goyoucatters]

Once you are behind the 8 ball fitness wise, can it ever be adequately recovered during the season.

We'd better hope so. Although when you're conceding 'L' after 'L' in the meantime, it may well not matter in the end.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

Once you are behind the 8 ball fitness wise, can it ever be adequately recovered during the season.

I find the whole fitness preparation somewhat mysterious

Other sides will decrease in fitness as their preseason conditioning wears off. Meanwhile we can build match fitness. After about round 6 it shouldn't be a excuse

 

[Seeds]

He had 24 kicks and at least 18 of them would have been 15-20 metre dinks to a player going nowhere. May not have been any other options but shows a lack of an attacking mindset.

558 metre gained. Thats pretty solid.

 

[PzBlinky]

He had 24 kicks and at least 18 of them would have been 15-20 metre dinks to a player going nowhere. May not have been any other options but shows a lack of an attacking mindset.

Watching from the ground, he - and none of the backline - had options up the ground. It was an unmoving, stagnant morass - which is why our backline players seemed to freeze up whenever they had the ball and looking up the field.

 

[catstragic]

After 3 games.... jezza and Zuth have maintained their 22 form, MOC looks to have lifted a little.... everyone else has gone backwards. Mids not covering, no defensive pressure in our attack and defence is all over the place. Im sure we will improve but dire start. Biggest plus is we held on to our rd1 this year so if the wheels do totally fall of we can at least get a decent pick and with Ollie/clark and Braun weve jumpstarted our next build. Not freaking out, if the time has come so be and I expect we will be better later in the season... but its gonna be a moot point if we dont bank some points soon.

 

[goyoucatters]

After 3 games.... jezza and Zuth have maintained their 22 form, MOC looks to have lifted a little.... everyone else has gone backwards. Mids not covering, no defensive pressure in our attack and defence is all over the place. Im sure we will improve but dire start. Biggest plus is we held on to our rd1 this year so if the wheels do totally fall of we can at least get a decent pick and with Ollie/clark and Braun weve jumpstarted our next build. Not freaking out, if the time has come so be and I expect we will be better later in the season... but its gonna be a moot point if we dont bank some points soon.

 

[caitsith01]

Stewart, Cameron and then the empty plastic bag that rolled across the ground at some point in the third quarter were our top 3 today.

MOC is way overrated on this board and has been for awhile now. We have enough players like him in the team and they are all playing at the expense of genuine midfield options. At this stage id like to try some combination of Parfitt, Simpson, and Clohsey in the team to bolster what is without a doubt the weakest area of our game: the midfield.

Disagree, he's not flashy but he got to a lot of contests in the first half. Take him out and it would have looked a lot uglier. Whereas take out Hawkins, Dangerfield, Close, Ceglar, etc etc etc and it looks about the same or maybe even marginally better.

 

[Seeds]

I actually thought he was below par. Got a bit of the ball but had no impact with his possessions and made some absolute howlers under pressure.

Being a star player he gets viewed differently to others but thought he was solid at best. Yesterday also exploded the notion that him missing was the reason we lost in Round 2 in particular. He was back yesterday and if anything we were much worse.

just shows how good he is. A below par game with 29 disposals, 558 m gained and 13 marks. very high disposal efficiency too in a game where everyone else kept miskicking it like it was a deflated balloon. Was regularly cleaning up the mess created by the mids. Would of lost by 8 goals plus if he didnt play.

and this all despite coming off an injury that keeps most players out for twice as long. He did look slightly slower yesterday

 

[caitsith01]

Lots of carry on in this thread, and I get it, but there’s still lots to be positive about. Duncan and Kolo back soon, Hawkins still building, and we’re still working out how Bruhn, Bowes and OHenry fit in. We’ll bounce back.

That was the kind of game where I honestly take zero positives out of it. Cameron is a gun, but we already know that. Otherwise... what? Tom Stewart didn't get injured again?

SDK injured, not one single Cat willing or able to stand up and turn it around in the midfield, Hawkins looking like a 90 year old, Geelong players unable to hit free targets 25 metres away on a sunny day... just a horror game all round. We didn't even use it to get games into younger players which would have made it less of a total waste of time.

I am also annoyed that we have already surrendered the psychological advantage of being premiers. Other teams will not fear playing Geelong at all this year, which makes us easier to beat.

 

[caitsith01]

Other sides will decrease in fitness as their preseason conditioning wears off. Meanwhile we can build match fitness. After about round 6 it shouldn't be a excuse

I can't believe people are willing to give this much slack.

Some of these players didn't even play in September, WTF excuse do they have for looking slow and fumbly?

 

[calder_daddy]

Both Close and Holmes are terribly out of form. Anyone notice if either or both are copping hard tags or just not working hard enough

It doesn’t help a kid 20 games into his career when your captain and coach talk about how much of a star this kids going to be and comparing his game style to Judd

A lot of pressure for a kid, just pumping up his tyres after breaking his heart last September

 

[someday-somehow]

It's not about effort. The lads are not match fit. They don't have the energy for gut running.

Being at the game yesterday, effort is not the issue. But even if I wasn't at the game, effort is never going to be the issue with professional athletes.

The boys were hungry, and they were shattered after the game. Heads lowered. Clearly deeply embarrassed. Despite what we all think, no one cares more that the Cats lost yesterday than the Cats themselves. But if you don't have the energy during a game, then you simply do not have the energy.

We messed up our pre-season. We're looking to peak at the end of the season, but we've done so in a way that has meant the boys are comically underdone at the start of the season. The issue is our program. We nailed it last year. We didn't nail it this year. It happens.

Forever grateful for our flag last year. No complaints from me.

The coaching group is deeply clever and will make the best choices going forward. But, at the end of the day, if we are not match fit, there is little to be done about out it now except ride it out until we build up that fitness as the season goes on.

Good post - since you were at the game you would see more than we could see on the telecast. It seemed to me there was almost no rebound off half back for most of the day and unlike last year our defenders would chip accross half back rather than move forward at all costs, I am assuming it's because they had nothing to kick it to upfield most of the game - can you confirm?

 

[Scottland2007]

Actually was watching F1 but that got a bit boring, and kind of watched on split screen when I saw the score. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed it. And I bet you’re loving that we’re currently struggling. It’s been a pretty good rivalry over the years and next week could be quite interesting….albeit expecting you guys smashing us, but I never expected us to win last year either.

The irony being that if we end up going the “play the youth” route later this year, Cooper Stephens would have been one of the first to be getting game time. Hope he’s going ok for you guys. He looked good at Geelong but needed game time.

 

[Partridge]

Other sides will decrease in fitness as their preseason conditioning wears off. Meanwhile we can build match fitness. After about round 6 it shouldn't be a excuse

It's not an excuse in Round 1. Clubs and the media repeat it so frequently supporters buy it. And repeat it.

They actually have this thing called a fixture. It has dates and everything. Clubs actually get to know when Round 1 is, and it's generally around 6 months after the Grand Final. If players aren't fit enough it's their own fault.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

I can't believe people are willing to give this much slack.

Some of these players didn't even play in September, WTF excuse do they have for looking slow and fumbly?

I'm not giving them slack. I'm saying they're unfit. Too much pizza and watching their own highlights.

 

[CatToTheFuture]

It's not an excuse in Round 1. Clubs and the media repeat it so frequently supporters buy it. And repeat it.

They actually have this thing called a fixture. It has dates and everything. Clubs actually get to know when Round 1 is, and it's generally around 6 months after the Grand Final. If players aren't fit enough it's their own fault.

I don't disagree with any of that.

I should re-word to say base level fitness should be comparable to the comp by rd 6ish