Review Cats take THE RIVALRY from the Hawks again with 51 point win

[Seeds]

I'm finding Clark hard to read. He's like a mix of Atkins & Parfitt, but once or twice a game he pulls some super classy shit that those others cant do.

I think you may be forgetting how classly parfit could be. Had an awesome shimmy.

 

[GeelongFTW]

Thats what worries me. We will get away with it now and even next week (no cox or mihocek for coll) but in a prelim or an SF im not sure it holds up. And we have no other options as COS isnt ready and jeka isnt that type of kpd.

Blicavs/sdk key defense, neale full time ruck? In a emergency perhaps.

 

[Cursed Cat]

Post it!

It was really long and I wanted to write way more too - but it was also kinda boring and indulgent.

Here is the super short version:

- Dangerfield + Stewart midfield = big n' tough.

- The manner of Mannagh's success tonight was more impressive than the success itself; keep on tacklin'!

- De Koning vs Meek interesting statistically, SDK impressive, 2 goals a bonus on a bad-kicking day, his early-game tackling was perhaps more heartening still

- The Big Cowboy Neale's 2024 season is proving to be a real bonus imo; raw-boned but promising. I could have written 1000 words on Neale alone, lots to parse there.

That was about it, although I was weighing up whether to use ''Sam De Koning's Big Rucking Adventures'' or not..

 

[Lana]

Overall we beat Hawthorn up, this season has shown that long chains of form more accurately reflect who a team has played rather than how a team is going.

If we took this team into a final I'd be pretty happy. There is a connection between how we play and who players are in the 22. There was no player out of place. My only main concern is that De Koning and Cameron are getting pretty beaten up. By having more options then the opposition can cover we create space that we can move through.

Putting Tuohy in as the loose in defence at start of games is great, clubs can chose to tag him if they want...
Depending on where the ball is either Stewart or De Koning rotate as the spare defender. The close the ball is to our scoring end the more likely that De Koning is the spare. There doing a Stanley/Hawkins split with De Koning and Neale.
Once the game settles we're more willing to put Stewart behind the ball confident that teams would be able to switch a tag on that quickly. Stewarts looked a lot more comfortable, he went to ground a lot less. With an extra ball user down back our ball movement is a lot more fluent. We have more ways to shift the zone in close that helped avoid the bail out kick. When we were forced into the bail out kick we found ourselves in a bit of trouble. But it didn't happen often, the midfield battle will be a big factor in how often this happens.

Hawthorn played a lot of dumb football rebounding from D50, it is clear that they didn't invest the time to challenge our game plan. They made the ground very narrow on offense which played into our hands and gave us the forward half turnovers that can cover up our midfield, that being said, we kicked their ass around the ball in the first half even though they had the extra there, in the 2nd half we were more willing to equalise the numbers.

Neale will have to spend the summer trying to find another 5 metres in his set shot. But his confidence is growing, he is starting to hit pack. O.Henry spent he first half of the year being that guy for us, our guys will learn to get out of the way.

As the game went on they started rotating Mannagh further up the ground, mirroring what he was doing at VFL level the last couple of games, as an extra around the stoppage. In the last quarter he was attending centre bounces. Which gives him a point of difference from our other small forwards. He won't get 14 tackles every week, but he must have known that if he didn't prove himself this week he might not get another chance. I hope he mirrors Menegola's career from this point on.

Jhye Clark had a lovely pass off his left in the 2nd half

Rohan almost had a massive game but decided against it.

Bowes has a talent of getting away with incorrect disposal

Atkins was great at flying the flag after a Hawthorn player tapped Kolodashnij in the head while he was on the ground.

Really classy game by Close, it is good that he pulls these every once a while, it forces the opposition to respect him.

Holmes short kicking license in the corridor is temporarily revoked.

It will look awkward but Henry and Kolodjashnij are doing great.

Took him a while to get into the game but Humphries is showing pretty much exactly what he did at VFL level, it shows the advantage of having a competitive squad in the VFL.

 

[Cursed Cat]

I think you may be forgetting how classly parfit could be. Had an awesome shimmy.

He did.
Its the decision making and execution that lets him down.

 

[Seeds]

Not sure whether to praise the MC for the positional shifts and personell changes (all of which worked) or criticise them for not making the changes sooner, given that many of us have been calling out for Humphries and Mannagh to be included for a month or more, and for Stewart to be moved to the midfield for just as long.

Unsure why we persisted with the MOC, Parfitt, etc mix for so long when it so clearly wasn't working. It arguably cost us games. But anyway, better late than never lol.

How did we persist with parfitt for so long? He hasnt played for 9 weeks. And barely got a game last year.

Trying to blame parfit for the slump in form is just weird. We have a win loss record of 6-2 with parfitt playing this season. He was huge against the hawks earlier this year.

 

[Seeds]

He did.
Its the decision making and execution that lets him down.

Agree with you on execution. He aint the best kick.

 

[Baudolino]

Blicavs/sdk key defense, neale full time ruck? In a emergency perhaps.

Blicavs is the obvious option if we feel J. Henry is undersized. I genuinely don't understand why people are acting like COS and Jeka are all we have in reserve when we have a guy on the list who won a Carji and made the AA squad as a key defender. To me he's the self-evident "break glass in case of emergency" KPD. Re-deploying him to KPD while SDK is rucking is no more radical a positional shift than moving Stewart to midfield or SDK himself to ruck. We don't need to be gambling on unproven kids or journeyman list-cloggers, we have better alternatives available.

 

[catempire]

Soooo does Henry cop the sub gig twice in a row next week or does he come in for Neale/Rohan?

Rohan has the third tall job ahead of Ollie Henry for mine... but I doubt we'd play him sub twice in a row and Neale went ok.

Also do not see any reason to mess with the smalls... Mannagh, Miers, Close and Stengle can all play together.

Scott asked about this in the presser. Being sub was mainly to ease him back in. Pointedly said no one should interpret it as him not being in our best forward line, “he is”.

 

[StonedCat]

Stoned Cat??
Im waiting for it FARKEN......!!!

Sorry I just got home but

WEKILLTDEMFARKIN !!!!!

 

[Heckler]

Kudos to entire Cats team for huge defensive effort.
Dawks couldn't take two steps before being tackled.
Every disposal was met before any prior opportunity
Zone was like as a boa constrictor squeezing resistance.

Last weeks win lifted the burden of the losing streak.
Cats not over committing and chasing but anticipating.
Not desperate individual efforts but working as a team.
Cats took control early making the game a joy to watch.

The disappointment's were few, Three stood out.

Q3: Dempsey took a brilliant mark 7m out 45°
Then botching the around the corner snap...again.
Jezza, please teach him the correct technique.

Q3: Defenders f*ing around by short passing zigzag
Finding out backline clangers end with easy Dawks goal.

Q4: Neale running onto a perfect weighted pass as...
Desperate to get involved OHenry crashing in from the side

 

[Seeds]

Does bruhn fit straight back into this side?

I like stewart and danger in the middle.

 

[Gunf]

Hard to pick any players who didn't do a decent job or better.

I would either keep Henry as the sub next week or drop him to the 2s

As Mannagh played well enough to keep his spot and i wouldn't be dropping anyone else from the forward group

 

[Seeds]

Scott asked about this in the presser. Being sub was mainly to ease him back in. Pointedly said no one should interpret it as him not being in our best forward line, “he is”.

You keep clinging to this while we watch rohan stamp his spot on the third tall roll. And now mannagh add to the dangerous small foward mix of close, stengle, miers and dempsey.

There is literally no room for henry in this side.

 

[strauchnyy]

Great win, most complete performance of the year but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, hawthorn are not a good team. No matter what narrative the media peddle.

Think Rohan offers more then Henry. I like Henry as a sub.

Humphries stays in as a hbf.

Must keep Stewart in as a mid for large chunks when the game is in the balance. A big body with composure is a new look for our mid. Works well with danger.

I just don’t see much ceiling in Clark. Atkins 2.0. Probably the only player at risk of losing his spot.

With Bruhn and Guthrie injured I would have MOC as the next in, if form warrants. Just don’t see it in knevitt the way this board does. Otherwise guth and bruhn are the only others that I think help us outside of this 22.

Must play Mannagh going forward. Offers a new dimension in the middle, can take Clark’s role as that defensive mid link and offers more up forward. Is mercurial.

SDK has his confidence back which is the best story of the game. Let’s hope he’s recalibrated and continues on his 2022 trajectory.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Soooo does Henry cop the sub gig twice in a row next week or does he come in for Neale/Rohan?

Rohan has the third tall job ahead of Ollie Henry for mine... but I doubt we'd play him sub twice in a row and Neale went ok.

Also do not see any reason to mess with the smalls... Mannagh, Miers, Close and Stengle can all play together.

Scott seemed to suggest henry will start next week and was fairly strident on him being b22 (although scott misdirects the media a lot). Certainly will be a logjam for the forward spots.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

You keep clinging to this while we watch rohan stamp his spot on the third tall roll. And now mannagh add to the dangerous small foward mix of close, stengle, miers and dempsey.

There is literally no room for henry in this side.

I mean there is if they are adamant he will play then he will.
The question will be which of rohan or neale gets left out (one of them will in that scenario).
I do agree mannagh must be in but he can he in the midfield group.

 

[Pollywaffle]

Blicavs is the obvious option if we feel J. Henry is undersized. I genuinely don't understand why people are acting like COS and Jeka are all we have in reserve when we have a guy on the list who won a Carji and made the AA squad as a key defender. To me he's the self-evident "break glass in case of emergency" KPD. Re-deploying him to KPD while SDK is rucking is no more radical a positional shift than moving Stewart to midfield or SDK himself to ruck. We don't need to be gambling on unproven kids or journeyman list-cloggers, we have better alternatives available.

He was back a few years ago and looked comfortable in the role.

 

[catters05]

.

It's good that Rohan is getting games but he needs to managed very conservatively.

Rohan needs to be at the start of the game next week imo.

 

[catempire]

You keep clinging to this while we watch rohan stamp his spot on the third tall roll. And now mannagh add to the dangerous small foward mix of close, stengle, miers and dempsey.

There is literally no room for henry in this side.

Thursday 6:25pm you will see you are wrong.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Blicavs/sdk key defense, neale full time ruck? In a emergency perhaps.

Potentially. The problem is im not sure neale is best 22 but its nice to have the option to ruck him and put sdk back if the oppo is getting off the chain in their fwd line.

 

[Commando]

Was Knevitt dropped or injured for this one?

 

[Willo_]

I don't have anything overly deep to add, Hawks aren't much chop, their wins have largely all been against the bottom sides.. But still **** them and I enjoyed the absolute shit out of that


Was fantastic to see us just be on from the start.. Game should have been over at quarter time, as it was it never really was a contest.
Ollie Dempsey continues to blow me away, I thought Mannagh was just pure energy and there was a buzz and swarm back to our forwards.
People need to stop suggesting Neale will come out, he's a 10 or so game young key forward, key forwards always take time to develop as well but he's showing a really handy knack of hitting the scoreboard even if he isn't having a huge game. He kicks straight today and he had a huge game. Chases, puts in multiple efforts and is starting to throw himself into packs and compete for the ball.. We just need to back him in and be patient with him, but he's showing more than enough IMO.
Stew in the guts, SDK in the ruck.. Scotty appears to have pulled the right reigns here if nothing else he's got the players back and performing from it, I was sceptical but you have to tip your hat to the moves

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Great win, most complete performance of the year but let’s not get ahead of ourselves, hawthorn are not a good team. No matter what narrative the media peddle.

Think Rohan offers more then Henry. I like Henry as a sub.

Humphries stays in as a hbf.

Must keep Stewart in as a mid for large chunks when the game is in the balance. A big body with composure is a new look for our mid. Works well with danger.

I just don’t see much ceiling in Clark. Atkins 2.0. Probably the only player at risk of losing his spot.

With Bruhn and Guthrie injured I would have MOC as the next in, if form warrants. Just don’t see it in knevitt the way this board does. Otherwise guth and bruhn are the only others that I think help us outside of this 22.

Must play Mannagh going forward. Offers a new dimension in the middle, can take Clark’s role as that defensive mid link and offers more up forward. Is mercurial.

SDK has his confidence back which is the best story of the game. Let’s hope he’s recalibrated and continues on his 2022 trajectory.

I agree with most of that.

But clark does some very good things each game. His vision by hand and his defensive pressure are super and the kicking is improving. He just has no tank hes always in our bottom 3 for TOG. When the tank improves he will be clear b22.

But for now mannagh should be in and clark should either be in for someone else (tuohy etc) or developing in the vfl at times.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Was Knevitt dropped or injured for this one?

Scott said he woke up with illness today.